Dr. Lena Magnone, a specialist in the history of psychoanalysis and its influence on Polish culture, completed her habilitation five years ago. We will glimpse some aspects of this 1100 page magnum opus, which is currently being translated into English by Dr. Tul’si Bhambry. Freud’s Emissaries discuss the life trajectories of Polish Jews, rebellious men and women who joined Sigmund Freud at the earliest stage of the psychoanalytical movement formation and their efforts to implant psychoanalysis in educated Polish circles before World War II.

They translated Freud to Polish and brought neurologists and other medically trained people to acquaintance with Freudian ideas and introduced Polish writers, anthropologists, philosophers, and Zionist groups such HaShomer HaTzair. In her webinar presentation, Lena Magnone will present the biographies of the first few psychoanalysts of Polish Jewish origin (Ludwig Jekels, Helena Deutsch, Beata Rank, Eugenia Sokolnicka, and Gustaw Bychowski) to reflect upon the challenges of Jewish and Polish identities at the pivotal moment of the fall of the empires, the restoration of Polish independence, and the rise of Nazism. Noted translator Dr. Tul’si Bhambry and Dr. Lewis Barth, psychoanalyst and Midrash scholar, will offer responses.