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4 May 1931
173B
Dear Professor Freud,
I know you are no lover of birthday congratulations; all the same you will have to understand that I am unable to keep silent on your seventy-fifth, and wish to send you my warm greetings. I converse with no one in spirit more than I do with you, be it in everyday life or at my desk. So I feel compelled on an occasion such as this to emerge just once from my silence and to tell you how grateful I am to you for everything you have given me personally and scientifically. I only hope that you have no physical complaints, that you continue to work, and at the kind of work that interests you. A few years ago on the Semmering I found you so full of zest that I can only hope that your health has stayed at the same level since then.
I myself recently celebrated my fiftieth birthday,1 or rather I did not celebrate it since I went to Italy that day with my daughter.2 The children who have remained to us give us a great deal of pleasure. I hope that you, too, have had no further sorrow in your family.
My wife joins me in my congratulations and in sending you kind regards,
Ever yours, [L. Binswanger]
13 April [1931] My 50th birthday. My friends wish me a good second half century. I take this wish as read, I feel so young and full of plans, thus beginning a second life with Bobi in me. Pain is part of a full life!’ (Diary IV, p. 74).
Binswanger went with his daughter, Hilde, to Siena, Orvieto, Perugia, Assisi, Bologna and Milan from 13 to 24 April. See Diary IV, pp. 74-80.