Margarete Mitscherlich
Margarete Mitscherlich-Nielsen , b. Nielsen (born July 17, 1917 in Gravenstein ; † June 12, 2012 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German psychoanalyst , doctor and author of numerous books.
Mitscherlich wrote together with her husband, the doctor and psychoanalyst Alexander Mitscherlich , the book The Inability to Mourn , which sparked discussions in 1967. Using the example of Germany's National Socialist past and the inadequate debate and coping in the Adenauer era , they examined the defensive attitude of individuals and the masses towards guilt and complicity in political crimes.
Life
Youth and Education, 1917–1951
Margarete Nielsen was born as the daughter of a Danish country doctor and a German school principal in Gravenstein, Schleswig-Holstein (since 1920 Gråsten, Denmark). After graduating from high school in Flensburg , she studied medicine and literature at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and the Ruprecht Karls University in Heidelberg . In 1947, the 30-year-old got to know the married psychoanalyst and social psychologist Alexander Mitscherlich , who was 11 years older than him, at the psychosomatic clinic in Heidelberg, which he directed, and gave birth to their son in 1949. She received her doctorate in 1950 from the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen .
In 1951 Nielsen began her psychoanalytic training at the psychosomatic clinic, which she continued in Stuttgart and London.
Marriage and research, 1955–1976
Nielsen and Mitscherlich married in 1955. At that time, both studied together the mass delusion of the Nazi era . In 1967 the couple moved to Frankfurt am Main , where Mitscherlich-Nielsen taught at the Sigmund Freud Institute , which was founded in 1960 . Like her husband, she was also active in training analysis . The researcher couple wrote the book The Inability to Mourn. Basics of Collective Behavior (1967). In this work they asked whether the human being did not represent “one of the most serious mistakes in evolution”, “through which the principle of the living strives towards its abolition”. The reactions ranged from indignation to thoughtfulness.
In 1972 Mitscherlich-Nielsen's publication Must we hate? , in which she dealt with her own research. A few years later she dealt with the problem of idealization in her anthology Das Ende der Vorbilder (1978) . She advocated the initial thesis: “We all need ideals, role models, goals that we orientate ourselves by and that we can strive to achieve. Without it we are exposed to a feeling of emptiness and the lively interest in the things of the world and in our fellow human beings is lost. "
Among Mitscherlich-Nielsen's numerous other publications, the book The Peaceful Woman (1985) stands out, in which she examined the role behavior of women in politics. As a sequel, the work On the Mühsal der Emanzipation (1990) appeared later .
Edition and Practice, 1982–2012
From 1982 Mitscherlich-Nielsen published the magazine Psyche founded by her husband . In her practice for psychoanalysis in Frankfurt's Westend , she treated both women and men who were interested in education about their emotional life, about the unconscious motives of their behavior, that is, interested in their individual emancipation . In 1977, in the first issue of the women's magazine Emma, she publicly stated: “I am a feminist .” This is how she defined herself well into old age. In 2004, the 87-year-old worked with patients twice a week at the Sigmund Freud Institute, and held "occasional sessions" until she died at the age of 94.
Memberships
Margarete Mitscherlich belonged to the German and the International Psychoanalytical Association and was a member of the PEN Center Germany and temporarily on the advisory board of the Hamburg Institute for Social Research . Margarete Mitscherlich had been a member of the board of trustees of the medico international foundation since 2004 .
Awards and honors
- 1982: Wilhelm Leuschner Medal
- 1984: Culture Prize of the City of Flensburg, which was presented to a woman for the first time. The then mayor Ingrid Gross characterized Mitscherlich in her laudation as a “child of the border region”.
- 1990: Plaque of honor from the city of Frankfurt am Main
- 2001: Great Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany - for her "services to the common good"
- November 2005: Renewed honor by the city of Frankfurt, when she received the Tony Sender Prize, endowed with 10,000 euros, for her many years of commitment to women's politics and her commitment to equality . The award was made by the women's department , the laudation was given by Alice Schwarzer .
- In 2013, a green space in Frankfurt's Westend was named after the Mitscherlichs in "Mitscherlichplatz".
criticism
Political scientist Ljiljana Radonić writes that Mitscherlich portrayed women in her book The Peaceful Woman one-sidedly as victims of National Socialism and applied precisely the defense against guilt that she had reflected in detail in the inability to mourn . In her work Die Friedensfertige Antisemitin “Radonic disproves Margarete Mitscherlich's theses on the victim myth and the peaceful nature of 'women', which can be regarded as exemplary for how the women's movement deals with the role of 'women' in NS and its anti-Semitism ...”. Radonic also believes in her study that the authoritarian personality basically has to be gender undefined, because both men and women with an authoritarian personality structure rebelled conformistically and projected repressed impulses onto outgroups . For example, the way in which anti-Semitism works is fundamentally the same for men and women.
The sociologist Gerhard Amendt criticized the lack of scientific evidence of Mitscherlich's theses and explained the success of the book by stating that it “corresponded to the inner wish of most women's movements that it should be so”.
Interviews
- Guido Mingels: Margarete Mitscherlich, part 1. ( Memento from October 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Das Magazin (Switzerland) , May 11, 2007, Zurich, in four parts.
- Christine Eichel: Role model at the cost of lies? - Interview about Günter Grass; Cicero (magazine) . September 2000.
- Lena Prieger and Oliver Das Gupta “Without fear we would be fat.” Süddeutsche Zeitung , June 13, 2012, accessed on August 14, 2020 . . - A look at 60 years of the Federal Republic.
- "The Radicality of Age." - A conversation about her book The Radicality of Age with Ingo Kahle, in: Inforadio , 23 September 2010.
- “Against fear” , last interview with Margarete Mitscherlich, in: agora42 , edition Alt & Jung , March / April 2012 (accessed on July 20, 2012).
- Alice Schwarzer: Margarete Mitscherlich, psychoanalyst . First published in Emma 7/1985 , In: Alice Schwarzer portrays role models and idols , Kiepenheuer and Witsch, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-462-03341-7 , pp. 201ff.
Fonts
- together with Alexander Mitscherlich, the inability to mourn. Basics of collective behavior ; 1967
- together with Alexander Mitscherlich, The Idea of Peace and Human Aggression ; 1969
- together with Alexander Mitscherlich, A German way of loving ; 1970
- Do we have to hate ; 1972
- The end of the role models ; 1978
- The peaceful woman ; 1985
- The future is female ; 1987
- Memory work ; 1987
- About the toil of emancipation ; 1990
- We have a contact tabu: MM and Brigitte Burmeister, 1991, Hamburg, KleinVerlag, ISBN 3-922930-03-4
- The end of the role models. The benefits and disadvantages of idealization. , Revised New edition (October 1990)
- Memory Work - On Psychoanalysis of Inability to Mourn . Frankfurt am Main 1993
- Autobiography and life's work of a psychoanalyst , Picus Verlag, ISBN 3-85452-518-4 , 2006
- An indomitable woman. In conversation with Kathrin Tsainis and Monika Held . Diana Verlag 2007
- The radicalism of old age. Insights from a Psychoanalyst . 5th edition, Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-10-049116-9
- A love for yourself that makes you happy . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2013. ISBN 3-596-19654-X
literature
- Christiane Schroer and Ingrid Moeslein-Teising (eds.): No peaceful woman - Margarete Mitscherlich-Nielsen, psychoanalysis and feminism. Psychosozial-Verlag, Giessen 2014 ISBN 978-3-837-92427-5
- Ilse Lenz : The New Women's Movement in Germany. Farewell to the small difference . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-531-14729-1 .
- Bettina Flitner : women with visions - 48 Europeans. With texts by Alice Schwarzer . Knesebeck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-89660-211-X , pp. 146-149.
- Alice Schwarzer : Margarete Mitscherlich, psychoanalyst in: Alice Schwarzer portrays role models and idols. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2003, ISBN 978-3-462-03341-0 , pp. 200-219. (First published in EMMA 7/1985)
- Karola Brede : Liberation for resistance. Essays on feminism, psychoanalysis and politics. Margarete Mitscherlich on her 70th birthday. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-596-26789-7 . ( Fischer. 6789). With texts by Ute and Jürgen Habermas , Maya Nadig , Paul Parin , Volkmar Sigusch , Thure von Uexküll and others
- Felizitas von Schönborn : Margarete Mitscherlich. Between psychoanalysis and the women's movement. A portrait. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-596-13618-0 . ( Fischer. 13618).
- Margarete Mitscherlich on her 80th birthday. Speeches at the ceremony. Sigmund Freud Institute, Frankfurt / M. 1997. (Also: Psyche special issue. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1997). With contributions by Jan Philipp Reemtsma , Volkmar Sigusch, Mario Erdheim and Reimut Reiche . Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta 1997
Movies
- With quarrel and soul. The psychoanalyst Margarete Mitscherlich. Documentary film, Germany, 1998, 43:30 min., Script and direction: Helga Dierichs, production: hr , summary by ARD .
- Presence of Mind - The Psychoanalyst Margarete Mitscherlich. Documentary, Germany, 2005, 45 min., Script and director: Birgit Schulz, production: Bildersturm, arte , WDR , summary .
Web links
- Literature by and about Margarete Mitscherlich in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about Margarete Mitscherlich in the German Digital Library
- Margarete Mitscherlich in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- "There is a lot of whining in Germany" , Interview with Margarete Mitscherlich, Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 7, 2004 (accessed on June 17, 2012)
- "Without fear we would be fat." , Interview with Margarete Mitscherlich, Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 26, 2009 (accessed June 17, 2012)
- "Those who are old can be more rigorous" , Interview with Margarete Mitscherlich, Berliner Zeitung, September 4, 2010 (accessed on March 31, 2015)
- Margarete Mitscherlich in conversation with Wilfried Hoffer, in the series Witnesses of the Century , created in the project Memory of the Nation ( Interview - November 8, 1995 - duration 1:02:59 h).
- Audio recordings with Margarete Mitscherlich in the online archive of the Austrian Mediathek (interviews, lectures, radio reports, ...)
Individual evidence
- ^ Franziska Augstein : On the death of Margarete Mitscherlich: The great woman of psychoanalysis. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of June 12, 2012.
- ↑ Margarete Mitscherlich died. Zeit Online from June 13, 2012 (accessed June 17, 2012)
- ↑ Jan Feddersen : On the death of Margarete Mitscherlich-Nielsen: The women movement. In: Taz of June 13, 2012.
- ↑ So the summary in: Margarete Mitscherlich , Internationales Biographisches Archiv, 28/2011 from July 12, 2011 (rw). Supplemented by news from the MA journal up to week 24/2012, in the Munzinger archive , accessed on June 15, 2012 ( beginning of the article freely available)
- ↑ Jürgen Kaube : The discrete charm of psychoanalysis. In: FAZ from June 12, 2012, obituary.
- ↑ Presence of Mind - The Psychoanalyst Margarete Mitscherlich. Documentary, 2005, production: arte, WDR.
- ↑ Felix Franklin: Margarete Mitscherlich is dead . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . June 12, 2012.
- ↑ Jörn-Peter Leppien: Margarethe Mitscherlich: The border region taught them tolerance. In: shz.de. Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag , June 26, 2012, accessed on July 16, 2016 .
- ↑ Politeia weekly calendar ( Memento from August 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Frauengeschichte.uni-bonn.de, archived by Internet Archive
- ^ Tony Sender Prize of the City of Frankfurt.
- ↑ Tony Sender Prize, Frankfurt honors Margarete Mitscherlich ( memento of October 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Hessischer Rundfunk , November 16, 2005, archived by Internet Archive
- ↑ Alice Schwarzer : Laudation for the Tony Sender Prize to Dr. Margarete Mitscherlich ( memento from September 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) , 2005.
- ↑ Ljiljana Radonic: The peaceful anti-Semite? Critical theory about gender relations and anti-Semitism. Peter Lang, Frankfurt / Main 2004, p. 162.
- ↑ Renate Göllner: The peaceful anti-Semite? A book by Ljiljana Radonic . Review, in: Theodor Kramer Gesellschaft (Hrsg.): Zwischenwelt . Magazine. H. 1/2, 2005 link, at Café Critique
- ^ Gerhard Amendt : Women's Movement and Anti-Semitism: The complicity of women in the Nazi era. In: The Jewish Echo . Vienna, Vol. 57, 2008, pp. 110–117.
- ↑ Ruth Klüger. Review in Die Welt (Literary World), April 20, 2013.
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Mitscherlich, Margarete |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Nielsen, Margarete |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German psychoanalyst and author |
DATE OF BIRTH | July 17, 1917 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Grasten |
DATE OF DEATH | June 12, 2012 |
Place of death | Frankfurt am Main |