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IT'S A PLEASURE FOR ME to discuss Dr. Koerner's paper since Dr. Koerner and I are fellow countrymen, and we are both from Berlin. Dr. Koerner has undertaken the task of presenting his own work to an audience mostly foreign to him. It is difficult enough to present one's clinical work to one's colleagues who are fellow countrymen. Furthermore he tries to place his work in the context of the ideological and political debate between the German Psychoanalytic Association (DPV) and the German Psychoanalytic Society (DPG). Dr. Koerner had to integrate loyalty to his group and loyalty to himself. I want to commend Dr. Koerner on his lively and illuminating presentation, and on his efforts to bridge and integrate differing schools of thought.
I would like first to address briefly the issue of psychoanalysis in Germany during the Third Reich, and report on some pertinent studies. Secondly, I want to review the theoretical part of Dr. Koerner's presentation; and thirdly, discuss the clinical case.
Having been born and raised in Germany, I believe I have an appreciation for the intensity with which in Germany a discussion about what is right and what is wrong to this day can be conducted. "Richtig" and "falsch" (or right and wrong) have been used in German child-rearing and held over the infant's head with much greater power of suggestion I think than the categories "good" and