UNFREE ASSOCIATIONS

4. Institute for Retraining

25 4 Institute for Retraining I finally began to explore ways of emigrating, writing endless letters and exchanging information with friends and colleagues. After awhile I became restless, discouraged, and searched for other activity. My identity was being attacked by everything around me. Who can survive psychologically only on one’s own reflection? I looked for somewhere I might be acknowledged. I had heard about an expanding department at the Jewish Community Center that dealt with counseling of refugees and preparation for their emigration. The Jewish Community Center in Prague, which prior to these critical years had provided mainly cultural and religious services, now became the place for social and legal support for the refugees from Germany and Austria in assisting them for emigration to other countries. The founder and director of the Retraining Department was Willy Schönfeld, a young psychologist, an expert in vocational guidance and scientific graphology—the psychological analysis of handwriting as an expression of personality traits. His department was connected with the State Institute for Psychotechnic, center of all psychological testing for education and industry, under Dr. Dolezal, professor of psychology at the Czech University (Charles University). Willy Schönfeld welcomed me. He badly needed an assistant for the growing tasks of the department and wanted to prepare someone to take over when his emigration plans materialized. He was an unusual person, tall and slim, the typical leptosome-asthenic body type as described by Kretchmer in Physique and Character (1922). In his twenties he had suffered from tuberculosis and had spent time in one of the quiet, special sanitariums where optimal conditions and rest were the most conservative treatment, combined with compression of cavernous tissue through pneumothorax and surgery. Chemotherapy was not yet available. 26 Unfree Associations In his typically constructive way, he had turned his misfortune into advantage. After collecting material, he involved himself in a research project to see if there was a connection between physiological and behavioral changes and the expressive movements of handwriting. He made the important observation that certain deviations occurred in the handwriting of patients when their breathing capacities became impaired. He also related changes in handwriting to psychological reactions to illness and hospitalization and hoped that graphology would become a technique used by professionals for diagnosis and treatment. After his discharge from the hospital in 1934 he published his first book, Handschrift, Tuberkulose und Character, in collaboration with Dr. KarlMenzel,oneofthephysiciansatthesanitarium.Thebookestablished himas a leading graphologist and he became editor of the most prominent journal of graphology of the time, Die Schrift (The Script), and spoke at conferences on graphology, vocational guidance and related issues. The political changes during this period restricted his activities. His dream was to go to the United States, a land that he thought was open to new ideas in applied psychology. When we met in 1938 at the Jewish Community Center, he was intensely involved in organizing the re-education and training program for refugees in preparation for emigration. A staff of specialists was appointed to choose instructors and programs while he concentrated on consulting and selecting applicants. When I joined the department in November of 1938, I was first a volunteer and soon an employee. I participated in all courses on graphology, first as a student and later as Willy’s assistant. As vocational guidance became popular, we needed to hire more co-workers and counselors. By adding Dr. Erwin Hirsch, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, who had been a lecturer at the German university in Prague, we could include mental health consultation as well as vocational training for emotional and mentally disordered persons of all ages. Willy was an enormously creative person. Ideas would come to him in the midst of all the chaos around us. We soon became friends and learned how to inspire each other in those frequent moments of fear and discouragement. Our most productive moments took place while we, in our official capacity, inspected newly created training centers. Walking slowly through quiet old areas of Prague, discussing plans for future projects, we were soothed by a familiar environment that reflected 27 centuries of history, until we were jolted back to the oppressive present. Each of us hoped to find a sponsor for emigration to the United States. Willy had an idea. Petschek, a well-known Jewish banking house in Prague, had an international communication center with telephone directories of many important cities of the world. Willy went...