Edward Bibring—1895–1959

On 11 January, 1959, Dr Edward Bibring died at the age of 64 after a long illness, leaving behind his wife and closest professional collaborator, Dr Grete L. Bibring, and two sons.

Edward Bibring was one of that small group of psycho-analysts in Vienna who were closely associated with Freud in the years following the First World War. Like a number of his friends and colleagues whose contributions and lifework were identified with the main stream of the development of psycho-analysis, his interest in that field followed upon earlier studies in the humanities.

He was born in Stanislav, Austria, and was studying philosophy and history at the University of Czernowitz when the First World War broke out. He immediately volunteered for service, and by 1915 he was fighting on the eastern front, where he was soon taken prisoner. With the revolution in Russia he escaped and made his way back to Austria, where he was granted leave to resume his studies. He then went to Vienna to study medicine.

He developed an interest in psycho-analysis and while still a student at the University of Vienna Medical School in 1920 became formally associated with the Vienna Psycho-analytic Society. In 1927 he became a full member of the Society, and from then on, until the Nazis came, he took an increasingly active and responsible part in its affairs. From 1928 to 1938, he was director of the outpatient department for mental diseases of the Vienna Psycho-analytic Institute. In 1935 he was chosen Honorary Secretary of the Committee on Professional Training of the International Psycho-analytical Association, whose task was the revision and reorganization of training standards. he was appointed co-editor-in-chief of the Internationale Zeitschrift für Psychoanalyse in 1935, and in this capacity he collaborated with Freud, the founder and sponsor of the Zeitschrift. He continued this activity from London until war conditions made further publication impossible. The courageous way in which Bibr