Contributions to Psychohistory: VI. Anna Freud, 20 Marefield Gardens

Much interest abounds in Anna Freud since her recent death in October, 1982. For example, to date I have received requests for reprints of my article appearing in the June 1982, Psychoiogicd Reports, "Psychology of the Scientist: XLVI. Anna Freud" from universities in Washington State, Illinois, Florida, Indiana, Canada, England, West Germany, France, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. Obviously, scholars are busily piecing together information for a much overdue biography. No doubt, much interest will center on why she tenaciously sought privacy while resisting publicity. In the June article. I suggested a major reason for her demand for privacy began when her father, Sigmund Freud, decided as early as her birth on December 3, 1895, that she would be his "alter ego." In August before her death, I had the opportunity to visit her home in Hampstead, England, a suburb of London. The house offered substantial evidence to corroborate my suggestion. Psychologists know that much of one's personality is revealed by what one wears, the kind and condition of one's automobile, the furnirure one buys, the food one eats, and one's home, i.e., the maintenance of the exterior as well as the interior. With such knowledge, I feel those who are interested in understanding Anna Freud might benefit from what I observed at her home this past summer. Upon arriving in Hampstead, I had no idea how to find her home, but knowing the English bobbies to be marveIously helpful and friendly, I stopped at the police station. There was absolutely no hesitancy on the part of the officer who immediately told me that Anna Freud lived at Number 20 Marefield Gardens. Another bobby offered directions as to the best route there. They both said they knew of Dr. Freud for she worked with psychotic and mentally-ill children. Her house was a three-storied brick structure on a lovely quier lane, lined with trees and other beautiful dwellings. The hedge across the front was neatly trimmed, and both back and front lawns were finely manicured. It was a very still Sunday morning circa 9:30 with no movement in the neighborhood except for a man a few houses down who was washing his automobile. Knowing of and respecting her insistence on privacy. I did not remain staring too long. I use the word "staring" for I was awestruck by what I saw. Anna's house was almost totally engulfed by ivy. It covered not just one, but all three chimneys, all the walls, and all the windows except the gabled ones, though already the tendrils were stretching to overtake them. Ivy on English homes is not unusual, but Anna's house was the only one in the neighborhood with any. Still, a little ivy would not signify anything out of the ordinary, but purposefully allowing the vine to encase the entire house suggests something about the inhabitant. It appears as though someone had consciously espaliated the ivy to hide the house and shield the occupant from the outside world. I say "consciously" for the most intriguing and fascinating feature about the house was the small area where the ivy was missing. To the right of the main front enuance was a small blue plate or plaque around which ivy had been carefully and neatly trimmed to reveal the following words: "Sigmund Freud the father of psychoanalysis lived here from 1938 to 1939." As I drove away from 20 Marefield Gardens, I stopped to ask the neighbor who was washing his car whether he knew if Anna Freud were at home. What he said made more salient my alter ego conclusion. He said he knew nothing of an Anna Freud. He thought I was mistaken and proceeded telling me all about Sigmund Freud who used to live in the house. He gave details including what Sigmund's son and grandson were presently doing in London. H e proudly added that the grandson served in the House of Parliament ( I checked and found such was true). I thanked him and drove silently away, with his last sentence ringing in my ears. "I think the present occupant in the house is an old housemaid who came from Austria with the Freuds."