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| Figure 1-2. The House is Freiberg where the Sigmund Freud was born and where he lived until the age of three. The Freud family lived in the upstairs room on the right. (Mary Evans/Sigmund Freud Copyrights) |
Jakob, Sigmund’s father, Amalia, his mother, and the children lived in one of the rooms, and the Zajics lived on the other side.17
The fact that the Freuds lived in one room obviously means that they were far from well-to-do. It does not, however, imply real poverty either; after all, they had a nanny, and (as we will see) Amalia was able to travel with the nanny to a spa. The most accurate words to characterize the family’s financial situation are “lower-middle-class” and “struggling.” As we will see, there is no doubt that for many years Sigmund was acutely aware of his relative poverty. His friends, colleagues, fellow students, and mentors were almost always much better off than he. The absence of money would be a constant frustration to his aspirations as a young man.18
The name of the nanny is of interest. There is documentary evidence that her name was Resi Wittek — namely, an old record of a registration at the spa town of Roznau.19 The registration, in German, is dated June 5, 1857, and it reads in translation: “Amalia Freud, wool trader’s wife (spouse) with the child Sigmund and female servant Resi Wittek from Freiberg.”20 “Resi” is a common Czech short form of “Theresa,” which was a reliably Catholic first name of the time and place.21 Roznau, about