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VS: When did you first meet Anna Freud and what impression did she make on you personally?
AMS: I first met Anna Freud in November 1950. I had somewhat belatedly arrived from Geneva to start the Hampstead Clinic training. My first visit was to Anna Freud. I was rather nervous about this visit and I had anxiously prepared myself to answer the many questions I expected to be asked about children and psychoanalysis. When I rang the bell at 20 Maresfield Gardens, Paula, the housekeeper, opened the door, and told me that Miss Freud was waiting for me on the first floor. Anna Freud greeted me very graciously, took me into her consulting room and commiserated about the very cold weather. She then started to speak a little bit about the work of the clinic and suddenly turned to me and asked in a concerned voice: ‘Are you wearing warm underwear? It is very important here with all the draughts and dampness of English houses!’
Anna Freud was genuinely concerned about people but she could give the impression of being distant or even haughty. I always felt that this was due to shyness. Anna Freud was a very private person and to us at the clinic she only showed her professional self.
For Anna Freud, to be a psychoanalytic child therapist or analyst was a work of dedication to the cause and so issues of salary and increments were not of interest to her. This made it very difficult for staff who had a young family. She also found it difficult to be sympathetic to a trainee who would become pregnant during her training. Her sympathy was with the patients who would be displaced and whose treatment would be interrupted.
On the other hand, her loyalty and generosity was substantial.
Before I left for Israel she invited me to 20 Maresfield Gardens. I was convinced I was leaving England for good and I found this extremely difficult. She knew it and was very kind and supportive, refusing to let me step down from the training committee of the clinic. She said she was sure that I would come bac