ABSTRACT
Freud never wanted psychoanalysis to play any political role. However, politics has never been neutral to psychoanalysis. This becomes obvious if we look at the relationship of Hungarian newspapers to psychoanalysis from the latter’s beginnings to its full institutionalization between 1913 and 1939. Supposedly, any newspaper from Berlin, Vienna, or Prague would be suitable for this purpose, as continental European journalism was known for its subjective style. Facts and events, social and cultural phenomena were not simply reported. They were commented and reflected on. Judgments were often formed according to the political philosophy of the given newspaper, even if censors restricted possibilities for the open expression of any organs’ political aims. This suggests, furthermore, that the relation of newspapers to psychoanalysis can reveal how different segments of society related to psychoanalysis.
