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The death of Dr. Georges Parcheminey in September 1953 is a great loss to the Société Psychanalytique de Paris.
Not long before his death Dr. Georges Parcheminey had been elected President of the French Psycho-Analytical Society for a second term of office when that Society was dealing with grave internal difficulties. Born in Haute-Saône, he had come to Paris to study medicine and subsequently had become a teacher in the pre-clinical subjects. His intellectual curiosity made him turn towards psycho-analysis some thirty years ago and he founded with some young psychiatrists a Society for Psychiatric Evolution which later became the French Psycho-Analytical Society. He devoted himself to the study of Freud's work and his familiarity with German made it easy for him to acquire an intimate knowledge of our literature. He accepted and practised Freud's technique with the same care that had already characterized his work as a pathologist and medical practitioner. His judgement, tact, and diplomatic skill helped greatly in re-establishing harmony and tolerance within French psycho-analysis. No sacrifice or personal suffering was too great for him, and he thoroughly disliked conflicts rooted in the craving for power. The same ideal of self-control and sensitiveness made itself felt in his personal conduct with patients, colleagues, friends, and last, but not least, in his piano playing.
His psycho-analytic publications are numerous and cover many aspects, predominantly those of hysteria and conversion symptoms.