Confrontation in Vienna by Leopold Bellak Larchmont, NY:  C.P.S., 1993,  240 pp., $26.70.

The world of old Vienna was one of the high points in Western intellectual history, and therefore memoirs, such as those by the distinguished psychoanalyst Leopold Bellak, are bound to be welcome. Bellak grew up there after World War I, and was politically savvy enough to see the writing on the wall regarding his future; when the Nazis invaded Austria in 1938, Bellak was already on the waiting list for emigration to the United States. He believes that he was one of the lucky ones, since he and his most immediate family managed to get away, yet he remains bitter about what happened in his early life, and outraged by the brutality of the anti-Semitism of his youth.

By 1938 Bellak was already mid-way through his medical studies at the University of Vienna, and committed to becoming a psychoanalyst. His analysis with Ernst Kris was interrupted by the political upheavals associated with the Nazi take-over of Austria. For those of us raised on this continent, it is unfortunate that Bellak did not choose to share more about what was most characteristic concerning Kris's clinical approach, and how it stands up in the light of Bellak's later experience.

Bellak does provide us with a compelling account of the worst sides of Viennese prejudice and barbarity. Confrontation in Vienna begins with an invitation to Bellak to attend the 50th reunion of his gymnasium class. Bellak knew from the outset that returning to Vienna for such an anniversary would bring him in contact not only with painful memories, but former classmates of his, many of whom were active Nazis, would also have to be confronted. Bellak nonetheless chose to attend.

He took the precaution of arranging to meet with some congenial old friends before the official ceremonies. Bellak was outspoken in public, and refused to accept the handshake offered him by a former tormentor. Bellak's violent feelings were controllable