22. The rise of the Nazis was a threat to the aging Freud
As the Nazi party gained support in Germany, Freud remained in Austria, which had not yet come under the spell or control of Hitler and his minions. Freud had several reasons to fear the Nazis. He was an atheist in practice, but a Jew by birth, which was enough of itself. He was also an intellectual, and a psychoanalyst, both of which had been targeted by Nazis. Still, he remained in largely Catholic Austria, secure in the knowledge that the Austrian-Vatican-Fascist relationship would protect Austria from the claws of Hitler’s Reich. Hitler had other ideas.
Though Freud relied to some extent on the protection of the Catholic Church and its influence on the government of Austria, he continued to condemn Catholicism above all other religions. As the Nazis consolidated power in Germany, more and more of Freud’s friends urged him to leave Austria for England or the United States. He rejected the United States out of hand, though he expressed his willingness to relocate to Great Britain. He waited too long. The Anschluss brought the Germans – and the Gestapo -swirling into Austria. Freud’s ability to leave Austria legally was then in the hands of the Nazis, who loathed him.