Unhappily, the material needed to describe and understand Freud's attitude during the Nazi period is sadly lacking. Consequently, one has to reconstruct. I shall start with the hypothesis that it is impossible to understand Freud's attitude and to form an opinion about it without first going back into the past and placing the issues at hand in their historical and ideological contexts. Second, I shall attempt to assemble certain elements on the basis of which I believe it will be possible to reach some kind of conclusion regarding Freud's sentiments and his attitude towards Nazism.

Much of what will be developed in this section can undoubtedly be given more extensive documentation by a historian. The thrust of most historical accounts concerning the Jewish origins of psychoanalysis center around the fin de siècle