Over 1600 individuals, approximately 700 members, from all over the world, registered for the 30th Congress of the IPA, held in Jerusalem August 21-26. It was the first time such a meeting was held outside of Europe since the initial Congress of Salzburg back in the early twenties.
The conference was opened with a brief performance of Haydn by the Jerusalem Art quartet, followed by greetings from Mayor Kollek and IPA's outgoing President, Professor Serge Lebovici, who proceeded to deliver the Karl Abraham Centenary Lecture. The plenary session continued with a panel on the central theme of the meeting, Affects in the Psychoanalytic Situation. Jacob Arlow of New York and Adam Limentani of London discussed their pre-published papers, while Andre Green of Paris served as moderator. The following day was devoted to three simultaneous dialogue meetings, followed by a series of workshops around various aspects of the Congress theme. After a day devoted to business matters, the conference resumed with the presentation of individual papers in the morning and three simultaneous colloquia on miscellaneous subjects in the afternoon. The conference concluded with a plenary session that dealt with the identity of the psychoanalyst and, secondarily, with the goals and standards of psychoanalytic training, which had been the theme of a pre-Congress meeting of representatives from all member institutes of the IPA, August 18-20.
The business meeting, held in the middle of the week, resulted in the election of new officers. In the absence of opposition, Edward D. Joseph of New York was named President of the IPA, to succeed Professor Lebovici. Among the ten Vice-Presidents of the new Executive Committee, Kenneth Calder of New York, Robert Wallerstein and Edward Weinshel, both of San Francisco, were elected to represent the U.S. The new President named Francis McLaughlin of Baltimore as the Secretary of the IPA, to replace Daniel Widlocher of Paris. After confirming New York as the site of the 31st Congress for July, 1979, the question of the site for 1981 was considered, in particular the German Society's invitation to hold the Congress that year in Berlin. As the idea proved to be controversial, it was agreed to call a referendum for the entire membership to decide through correspondence.
The highlight of the conference was the inauguration of the Sigmund Freud Chair of Psychoanalysis at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Because of the weather, the ceremony took place at the convention hall rather than the Mt. Scopus amphitheater of the University as originally planned. Its President, Professor Harman, made the opening address, followed by Martin Wangh of New York, whose initiative revived the idea of the Chair, first suggested by Freud himself in a letter to Einstein. The inaugural lecture was by Anna Freud; but, as she could not attend, it was read by Arthur Valenstein of Boston.