For the first time in its history, the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) will hold a Congress in Vienna, the city in which psychoanalysis had its beginning. The Congress will take place in July, 1971; for the occasion Miss Anna Freud plans to go to Vienna for the first time since she fled Austria with her father in 1938.
In a recent letter to the Newsletter, Dr. Frances H. Gitelson, Secretary of the IPA, advised that enormous interest is being shown in this congress. An unprecedented number of papers have been submitted and accordingly a greater number than usual will be read. The topic that has been chosen is: “Psychoanalytic Concept of Aggression: Theoretical, Clinical and Applied Aspects.” Following the afternoon panel on this topic there will be a day of small group discussions. These groups will consist of 20-25 members with a moderator and bi-lingual or multilingual colleagues included. Additionally, it is hoped that colleagues of member societies, representing different ages and experience, will participate. These small groups will consider aggression in relation to such subjects as: addiction, anthropology, creativity, delinquency, etc.
Another “first” being planned for this Congress is a Student's pre-congress conference which is to meet all day Saturday and half a day on the Sunday preceding the main Congress meetings. An international committee of students, including European and American representatives, is planning the event. It is anticipated that this conference will be useful for both the students and members of the International who will hear a full report of the student's conference on the closing morning.
The Congress meeting will be held in the Hofburg Palace, the Pre-Congress conference on Training in the Palffy Palace. The Wiener Medizinische Akademie, Stadiongasse 6-8, A 1010 Wien, is in charge of registration, hotels, etc. and is the agency to be contacted for information. Those involved in planning the Congress anticipate an interesting as well as historic event.
In connection with the forthcoming Congress it is of interest to note that the Austrian Government in November, 1968, founded the Sigmund Freud Gesellschaft, for the purpose of reestablishing Freud's apartment at 19 Berggasse as a museum. A former Viennese, Dr. Frederick J. Hacker, who is now a member of the APsaA practicing in Beverly Hills, California, is the President of the Freud Gesellschaft. The Freud apartment is under reconstruction; it is hoped that its renova-will be completed by July, 1971, and the IPA has agreed with Dr. Hacker that the apartment be available as a place for Congress participants to visit.