Letter from Berlin1

Since the 13th EPF Conference entitled “Love, Hate and Violence” took place in Berlin in 1999, this city has seen great changes, as has the whole of Germany. Due to brisk building activity the Berlin cityscape has been massively transformed and is constantly experiencing further change. The same goes for the political and social situation. This year, in 2015, Germany is celebrating 25 years of unity. Integration of the two parts of Germany has progressed. In terms of foreign policy, Germany is gradually assuming a more active role on the international stage. Owing to the shift in Russian politics, a cold wind is blowing from the east. Moreover, the dramatic deluge of refugees from the Near East is currently making great demands on the social stability of our republic. Meanwhile, Berlin—the place from which death and destruction were wrought across large parts of Europe during the Nazi period—has become the stronghold of freedom and salvation for many refugees. It remains to be seen whether the social order can be maintained during this onslaught, as well as the necessary authority. Let us hope they can continue to develop fruitfully, particularly given these dramatic changes. Whether and how psychoanalysts are also participating in these processes is an open-ended question.

How has psychoanalysis in Germany and Berlin evolved since 1999? That year there was only one host in Berlin, the German Psychoanalytical Association (DPV), represented in Berlin by the Berlin Psychoanalytical Institute (Karl Abraham Institute). As the onerous legacy of the expulsion of psychoanalysis from Germany during the Nazi period, two large psychoanalytical groups existed cheek by jowl: the German Psychoanalytical Association (DPV) and the German Psychoanalytical Society (DPG), of which only DPV belonged to the IPA as a Component Society. Since 2007 DPG has been a Component Society of the IPA too, the peculiar thing being that only a proportion of its members have also applied for membershi