power
and legitimacy in the eyes of his son. The thesis that I summarize here is a major contribution of Krüll.
The Alleged Affair of Amalia and PhilippEssentially, what Marianne Krüll argues is that there was a sexual affair going on in Freiberg between Amalia and her stepson Philipp, and that Sigmund was a witness to it. Krüll postulates that this affair was taking place during the year or so before the family left Freiberg.40 Now there is considerable evidence for the opportunity for such an involvement. We may recall that Philipp, who was the same age as Amalia (perhaps a few months older), was unmarried and living the house directly across the street. We should remember, too, that Jakob was frequently away on long trips of a week or more in connection with his business as a wool trader. There were very few other Jews in Freiberg, the total number being a little over 100. Thus, there easily could have been no other attractive young Jewish women to provide more suitable involvements for Philipp. Krüll has also suggested that the marriage of Amalia and Jakob was something of a mismatch: Jakob was both much older than Amalia (he was, as mentioned above, about to become a grandfather when they married) and not very wealthy. He seems to have been doing satisfactorily in Freiberg, but a one-room flat is no great luxury; in view of the later descriptions of Jakob, it is quite possible that Amalia realized shortly after the marriage that she had married what we might call today a “nice guy but a loser”—a man who would not be successful and able to support her at the level of her own family. Amalia herself is described as quite attractive and strong-willed.41 In any case, if the marriage was a mismatch—if there was in it some discrepancy in expectations—Amalia may well have been disappointed in her new husband, and would hence have been vulnerable to an affair. But opportunity and motivation aside, let us now turn to some of the evidence of this affair. As Krüll notes,42 there are dreams and memories from Freud’s childhood in Freiberg in which Amalia and Philipp appear together, and from which it is clear that the precocious little Sigmund felt that the two were not indifferent to each other. One such early memory I have already quoted in part: I was crying my heart out, because my mother was nowhere to be found. My brother Philipp … opened a cupboard for me, and when I found that my mother was not there either I cried still more, until she came through the door, looking slim and beautiful.43 Freud interpreted this scene as fear of the loss of the mother, whom he thought had been locked up or “shut up” as his nanny had recently been |