ABSTRACT
This chapter considers Franz Alexander’s personal and professional life, the role of family in his decisions, and how those decisions affected other family members. During the 1930s, because of the rise of the power of the anti-Semitic Nazi regime in Germany, a significant number of analysts fled central Europe and many came to America. Though Alexander never intended to return to live in the United States after his first year in Chicago, he embraced his role as an immigrant with his characteristic enthusiasm and vigor. Leadership came easily to Alexander and he gloried in the independence of the institute. Alexander so loved teaching and research and it is in these areas that his youthful enthusiasm and productivity came together in perfect harmony. As Alexander continued to discuss and advocate his ideas to initiate a short analysis, and continued his psychosomatic research Blitzsten and others began to question his actions.
