ABSTRACT
Sigmund Freud was born in 1856, his birthplace being Freiberg, a small country town in the north of Moravia. 1 His mother was quite a young woman, and he was her first child. His father, who had been married before, was already a grandfather. Thus little Sigmund had a nephew, John, who was a year older than the uncle. Inasmuch as Freud's development was notably influenced by the conflicts between the two boys, this peculiar relationship is worth mentioning. German was the ordinary language of the domestic circle, but the child was also familiar with the sound of Slavic speech.
