In light of the upcoming conference of the European Psychoanalytical Federation (EPF) in Dresden, this letter deals with the eventful history of psychoanalysis in East Germany, especially in the state of Saxony. After a first heyday between 1923 and 1933, marked above all by the early clinical and scientific work of Therese Benedek, the development came to a sudden end with the seizure of power by the Nazis and could not be revived after the Second World War under the communist regime. This dark period of history clearly demonstrated that psychoanalysis can only flourish under social conditions of freedom. While psychoanalytic thought is slowly recovering from its decline during the two German dictatorships, psychoanalysts are facing the dark clouds of the resurgence of antiliberal and intolerant political movements that threaten liberal democracy in Europe and other parts of the free world.