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14 March 1920
Vienna IX, Berggasse 19
122F
Prof. Dr. Freud
Dear Dr. Binswanger,
When your admonitory postcard1 came yesterday, I had to ask myself: was your full and friendly letter of 7 January really left unanswered? Yes, it was, and the explanation is to be found in the sad events of that month. First, day after day, I was affected by the gradual failing of a dear friend,2 whose name you will discover from an obituary in the Zeitschrift, 1920, No. 1. When I tell you that your own fate gave me hope for him for a year and a half, you will find it easy to understand why I could not write to you in particular. He underwent the same operation as you,3 but did not escape a relapse. We buried him on 22 January. That same evening we received an alarming telegram from our son-in-law Halberstadt in Hamburg. My daughter Sophie, aged 26, mother of two boys, had come down with influenza; she died in the morning of 25 January after a four-day illness. At that time, no trains were running so that we could not even go there. My wife, deeply distressed, is preparing for the journey now, but the recent disturbances in Germany make it doubtful if she will actually be able to go.
We have all been under a great strain ever since, something that has also affected my ability to work. Neither of us has been able to come to terms with the monstrous fact that children may die before their parents. In the summer - and this is my answer to your kind invitation - we want to be somewhere with the two orphans and the inconsolable husband, whom we have loved as a son for 7 years. If it is possible!
You will know about the gravity of all the other circumstances here. I have a great deal to do, but poverty is not held at bay. Because there is no sense in waiting for the exchange rate of the crown to improve, I have instructed a firm in Amsterdam to settle my debt to you. All the post is so slow now. It should have happened long ago.
With kind regards and best wishes for you and your thriving family
Yours