author
J. Sadger
1867–1942
A pioneering early psychoanalyst in Freud’s Vienna, this physician wrote widely on sexuality, literature, and the emerging theories of the unconscious. His life also traces the darker history of Central Europe, ending with his death in Theresienstadt in 1942.
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About the author
Born in Galicia in 1867, Isidor Isaak Sadger trained in medicine at the University of Vienna and first built his career as a neurologist and forensic doctor. He became one of the early figures around Sigmund Freud and took part in the formative years of psychoanalysis in Vienna.
Sadger published on psychophysiology, sexuality, and literary subjects, and he was especially known for writing psychoanalytic studies of artists and writers. He also wrote personal recollections of Freud, which make him a useful witness to the movement’s early years.
His later life was marked by persecution under Nazism. Sadger died in Theresienstadt in December 1942, and his biography is often remembered both for its role in the history of psychoanalysis and for the tragic world in which that history unfolded.