Letter from Sándor Ferenczi to Sigmund Freud, May 27, 1917

Budapest, May 27, 1917

Dear Professor,

The apartment in Csorba should be regarded as assured, according to Dr. Lévy, Sr. He advanced you 200 crowns as a deposit, which I will deduct from my honorarium for this month, so that you will owe me the money.

I had a telephone conversation with Dr. Freund, in which we decided the following about your summer:

Since the apartment in Csorba will be rented only until August 20, you could go for a follow-up cure to the Plattensee—health resort Balatonföldvár—where around August 25 Dr. Freund's villa (three rooms, good food) becomes available. Things have been taken care of for the time in between. Dr. Freund has a villa near Budapest,1 which he will set up appropriately for the days of your planned stay here. You could spend all of September at the Plattensee.

Reassure your wife, there are no linguistic or other difficulties in Csorba. If you permit, I intend to try to get you a workroom—if not in the same villa. My publisher, Dick, will send you a travel guide on the Tátra spas.

—It is not beyond the realm of possibility that in the near future I will be successful, by means of a munitions transport at the Vienna arsenal, in having more important provisions than bread (sugar, lard, flour) sent to your address. It won't be goose liver.

I have a personal gripe with the military. Yesterday, very suddenly, they ordered me to Neupest2 as head of the mental hospital. I want to do everything possible to reverse this. (—Much work, unmasking of malingerers—inspection duty, etc.) My health would suffer under it.—

I received the sad news from Emden about the death of the secretary of the Dutch Society, J. Stärcke.3 I didn't know him personally. What a pity about that active and clever man.

Róheim won't report to me until tomorrow. His paper has to be translated into German first, so it will take some time before it is publishable. But it will be.