CRITICA

This is the story of a 33-year-old Jewish psychoanalyst who had to flee his homeland, leaving behind his family, friends, and patients. This young man was my father, Dr. Emanuel Windholz. He was born in 1903 in Hrone, Czechoslovakia, a small village in the Carpathian Mountains of Slovakia. He was the youngest of five children.  His father, Pinkus, and mother, Jeannette, owned a grocery store, which included a bakery, a bar, and a pharmacy. He had one brother and three sisters. His oldest sister, Berta, was like a second mother to him. 

My father, affectionately known as “Mano,” was a bright and mischievous child. He went to a Catholic school when he was 7 years old, to get a better education, but also encountered overt anti-Semitism. At the Gymnasium (high school) he began to read Freud. He completed his Gymnasium studies in Kreminica on July 10,1920.  

My father’s adolescence and young adulthood coincided with the end of the first world war, an exciting time in Czechoslovakian history. Thomas Masaryk established the Czechoslovak Republic and was elected three times as president serving in office from 1918-1935. It was a politically progressive time for the Czechoslovaks, who were finally out from under the reign of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

After graduation from the Gymnasium, Mano took one course in Medical School in Brno, at Masaryk University, before going to Prague to study medicine at Charles University from 1921-1926. As part of his medical training, he spent a year studying in Paris (1923-24). Following graduation, he became a resident at a sanitarium outside of Prague, The Internal Clinic of Charles University under the leadership of a Dr. Pelnar. 

From 1927 to 1929 Windholz was the Chief Assistant under Dr. Jaroslav Stuhlik at the State Hospital for Nervous and Mental Disorders in Kosice. He was chief resident at the Kramer Sanitarium for Nervous and Mental Disorders from 1929-1931. While a resident at the hospital he met Jan Frank, a fellow resident who became a psychoanalyst and a lifelong friend.  Upon completing his residency, Windholz became a member of the Czechoslovak Medical Association and opened his private practice in Prague.  

In the summer of 1930, he went to Berlin to study psychoanalysis and began his personal analysis with Dr. Moshe Wulff. That summer Windholz worked at the Berlin Polyclinic and was accepted for training at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute. At the end of the summer, Moshe Wulff and Ernst Simmel told him he should return to Prague and begin practicing psychoanalysis. He was astounded to think he should begin practicing on his own after an “internship” of only a few months. 

On October 25, 1931, Windholz led an effort to install a commemorative plaque on Freud’s birth house in Pribor (Freiberg) Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic. Freud could not attend, but sent his daughter, Anna, his son, Martin, and his brother, Alexander. Anna delivered Freud’s thank you speech. Other speeches were given by Drs. Salbihoudek, Juranem, Benes, Paul Federn, Max Eitingon and Emanuel Windholz.  

After the ceremony, Windholz published a small book commemorating the event. Sbornik Psychoanaltickych Prací (1932) (A Collection of Psychoanalytical Works), includes photos and a description of the event and psychoanalytic articles by Windholz and the other presenters. 

In 1933 Frances Deri, a Berlin analyst, emigrated to Prague. She became Windholz’s analyst and supervisor. Soon the two were giving popular lectures on psychoanalysis. They gathered a group of students and began to translate some of Freud’s writings into Czech. Windholz traveled to Vienna to get Freud’s permission for the translations.  As he was leaving Freud’s office, Windholz opened the wrong door and Freud remarked, “Windholz, you are not ready to leave!” 

Windholz and Deri established the first Czechoslovak Psychoanalytic Study Group in Prague. It became an official study group of the IPA at the 13th International Psychoanalytical Association Congress in Lucerne, Switzerland. Anna Maenchen, also an emigree analyst, told this story about the Lucerne congress: “I was there on a boat. We were all on the boat for a party. I thought, “Oh my god, if this boat sinks that will be the end of psychoanalysis.” Then she said there was lots of dancing. “I didn’t dance. I was such a serious person, but then Windholz invited me and taught me to fox trot.” 

In 1935 Otto Fenichel arrived in Prague. He soon became head of the study group and Mano’s next analyst. In 1936, at the IPA congress in Marienbad, the Prague Study group was accepted as a Society and Institute of the IPA.

Europe was in turmoil. Hitler was on the march. Analysts were emigrating, trying to escape the danger. Under these circumstances Windhoz’s married a German analyst, Steff Bornstein, but only to facilitate her immigration to Czechoslovakia. In 1936 the Nazi threat intensified, Fenichel made plans to go to Los Angeles, and he handed over leadership of the Prague Institute to Windholz. Hitler took over the German speaking portion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, and in March of 1939 he took the entire country. Windholz found a sponsor through a Jewish refugee agency, packed up some books from the Czech institute, and with his new wife, Lily, they went to San Francisco, in April of 1939.

Lily and Mano took a boat across the Atlantic and a train across the States arriving at the home of Mano’s old foxtrot student, Anna Maenchen, who had recently established herself in Berkeley. Soon Mano and Lily found a lovely home in San Francisco.

When I asked my father why he came to San Francisco. He said he would “Rather be a big fish in a small pond.”  There was a group of American and emigree analysts already gathering and Windholz joined them. The west coast medical psychoanalysts included William G. Barrett, Bernhard Berliner, Otto Fenichel, George Gero, Bernard A. Kamm, Jascha Kasanin, Donald McFarlane, Douglass W. Orr, Ernst Simmel, and Emanuel Windholz. In addition to the MDs were the lay analysts: Siegfried and Suzanne Bernfeld, Erik Erikson, and Anna Maenchen. Analysts from San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, Tucson, Arizona, and Seattle, Washington, formed a study group sponsored by the Chicago Institute and later by the Menninger Institute. 

In 1938 the American Psychoanalytic Association restricted membership and training to physician analysts. There are conflicting stories about where Windholz stood on this issue. According to Benveniste’s research (unpublished 1994) it appears that Windholz, although sympathetic to lay analysis, was under pressure to legitimize psychoanalysis in San Francisco and along with Berliner pushed for the San Francisco Group to affiliate with the American Psychoanalytic Association. 

In 1942 The San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute was established with members in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tucson, and Seattle. In 1946 the Los Angeles analysts established their own Society. During the War, Windholz became the Chief Psychiatrist at the Veterans Rehabilitation Clinic at Mount Zion Hospital under the Directorship of Jasha Kasanin.

In 1953, in the middle of the McCarthy Era, Windholz was investigated by the Loyalty Screening Board, of the Office of the Secretary of the Army. It seems Windholz had previously contributed to a musical event to aid The Spanish Nationalist Republicans.  He received a letter saying, “The Department has received information indicating that you have been a contributor to and supporter of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, an organization cited by the Attorney General as Communist.” Windholz was questioned and cleared of any wrongdoing. 

The Windholz’s, had two children. Suzanne, born in 1941, became a professor of sociology and Michael, born in 1947, became a lay psychoanalyst. The Windholz’s loved to entertain in their beautiful home and would often have parties with many analysts in attendance including visiting analysts from out of town.

Both at his 80th birthday celebration and at his memorial service, people remembered my father and mother hosting them when they came to San Francisco and what a marvelous dancer my father was.  In 1957 we moved to New York for the summer where my father had a brief “booster analysis” with Rudolf Lowenstein. When we moved into our apartment, the elevator operator asked my father what he did. My father said he was a psychoanalyst. The elevator operator asked if he was, “an Adlerian, a Jungian, or a Freudian.” 

My father was a good athlete and liked to play tennis and perform on the rings and crossbar. When younger analysts came to the summer home, he would show off his gymnastic abilities. He didn’t have many hobbies and would spend many hours reading psychoanalytic journals, but he loved the outdoors, liked gardening, and being with friends. His closest friends included Norman Reider, an analyst trained by Fenichel in Los Angeles, his physician, Kalman Klinghoffer, and his former analysand, Haskell Norman.  

Windholz was enigmatic, always keeping a little distance, never getting that close to others. Many commented on his being a private man. He didn’t talk much about himself. He would often turn a conversation away from himself by asking you about yourself. His friends also described him as a generous man, who was always interested in them and curious about their lives. 

Emanuel Windholz worked tirelessly for the development of the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute, now known as the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. He was the President from 1944-1946. In 1946 he became a Training Analyst, and was head of the Education Committee from 1947-1956. He analyzed and trained numerous candidates over the years. At times he was affectionately referred to as the “Father of the Institute.” He engaged in research, and raised money for the low fee clinic and the then new building (at Sutter at Divisadero) to house the Institute. He wrote and rewrote many papers, only publishing a few. He could be anxious about his work, despite his success. In Czechoslovakia he was known as “Mano,’ but in the States he asked people to call him “Windy.” He was always eager to assimilate and “Windy” sounded more American. I don’t know that he ever felt completely accepted. But as with many European analysts who brought Freud to America, he helped usher in the heyday of psychoanalysis.

There were many controversies at the Institute, and Windholz was often seen as a consensus builder, one who always sided for inclusion not exclusion.  He supported people with alternative viewpoints, always trying to ward off threats of splits from within the Institute. 

He was active in the American Psychoanalytic Association, Chair of Membership from 1948-51, member of the Executive Council from 1951-57 and again from 1960-64. He was on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association from 1955-63. He formed the first Committee on Psychoanalytic Education (COPE). He ran for president of the Association in the 1960’s but lost. 

Windholz trained residents at the University of California in San Francisco (1945-1971), at Mount Zion Hospital (1945-1975), at Letterman Army Hospital (1948-71), and at the Naval Hospital in Oakland (1951-53). Students loved his clinical conferences and were inspired by his discussion of cases. They were charmed and thrilled by his manner and many felt he left a lasting impression on their training. They packed conference rooms when he spoke, and many, inspired by his teaching, applied for psychoanalytic training. For many years I heard older psychiatrists, social workers, and analysts tell me about how much they enjoyed attending my father’s seminars. 

Many of his publications and presentations had to do with issues related to psychoanalytic training and technique. He also had an interest in character pathology, specifically narcissistic character disorders and he wrote two papers on the subject. Late in his life he developed a research methodology called Consensual Analysis. A treating analyst gave his process notes to Windholz at the end of the week. Then early the following week he would meet with Windholz and discuss what he (the analyst) felt were important occurrences from the prior week of treatment. Windholz recorded these meetings, in which he simply listened to the treating analyst’s report. Later he and a group of graduate analysts compared the written process notes to a transcript of the meetings with Windholz. They noted discrepancies in the material which they felt pointed to the unconscious processes occurring in the analysis. 

In 1961 Windholz took his first trip back to Europe since his emigration. He brought his family with him.  He had been anxious about returning to Czechoslovakia, fearing that the Communists would not let him leave the country.  His father died just after the war and his mother survived into her nineties, dying in 1954. After his emigration, he never saw them again. Many years later when I attended the IPA Congress in Prague, my eldest daughter ran over to me while we were at the Pikus Synagogue. She had found my Aunt Berta’s name on the wall. My father knew that his sister had not survived.

My father’s 1961 trip to Czechoslovakia was troubling in many ways. The Nazi persecutors were gone but the Communist occupiers were still in charge. We visited the Jewish cemetery in Prague and my father pointed at the gravestones and the names of the dead. He told me, his 14-year-old son, “That was my patient. That was my patient.” So many terrible losses.. His relatives were also very unhappy under Communist rule, and although Windholz could send them money and gifts, life was clearly very difficult.  Windholz helped friends and relatives who had escaped from Czechoslovakia during the Communist era, including his nephew Ivan Zitkovsky and his wife Dana.  He helped Dana get an internship so she could get her medical license. Two Hungarian relatives lived with us for several years. George Gero, a German analyst, went to Copenhagen, traveled across Siberia, to Japan, and arrived in San Francisco in 1941. He said Windholz welcomed him when he got off the boat, lent him money, and assured him he would be successful in the U.S. 

Windholz’s success in San Francisco did not come without pain. There was the pain of immigration, of never seeing his parents again. The pain of anti-Semitism and forced relocation. The pain of assimilation, speaking with an accent was not always received well in the U.S..  

Late in his life, after his wife of more than forty years died, he had a new love in Hildegard Berliner. She was Bernhard Berliner’s widow of many years. They lived together till his death at age 83 from lymphoma. Emanuel Windholz practiced psychoanalysis almost to his dying day. Up until his death, he still believed that he would be able to return to his place behind the couch.