Hermine Hug-Hellmuth contributed a stream of papers from 1912 onwards on child observation and child analysis, using material from her nephew, Rolf. Her papers ceased in 1924 when Rolf murdered her.

Rolf was the illegitimate son of Hermine's illegitimate sister. After his mother died when he was aged nine, he became more or less uncontrollably delinquent. Though he had guardians, first Viktor Tausk and then Isidor Sadger (Hermine's own analyst), he looked to his aunt for money and affection. The first he got, unwillingly, from her; the second she was probably unable to give. He had his home with this cold, reserved and friendless aunt until 1922 when Sadger put him in a home for delinquent adolescents. A few days before her death she made a will leaving him everything; possibly it was made under his threats.