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Heinz Hartmann is now in his seventieth year. His paternal grandfather fought for freedom and became a professor of German literature and history. His maternal grandfather became the most eminent of all Viennese physicians, outstanding in gynecology and obstetrics. He had unwittingly put Freud on the track of the sexual etiology of the neuroses. His father, a great scholar, humanitarian, and professor of history, had his son tutored at home because he opposed religious practices. Hartmann, therefore, was surrounded by excellent prototypes for identification. His mother was a musician and sculptress. He studied violin, was a self-taught pianist, wrote poetry, and became proficient in water colors.
After service in the Army, Hartmann's educational pursuits brought him in contact with Max Weber, Jodl, Stöhr, Gomperz, Swoboda, Kurt Lewin and, as secretary to his father when he was Ambassador to Berlin, he experienced history as a living process. He combined classical psychiatry with psychoanalytic insights. He was associated with Federn, Rado, Waelder, and Ernst Kris. Following a second training analysis with Freud (1934-1936) he published Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation which extended psychoanalysis into new areas. This brought to full fruition his unusual gifts and the vast knowledge and experience he had accumulated.