Amalia Freud | |
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 Amalia Freud in 1903 | |
| Born | Amalia Malka Nathansohn (1835-08-18)18 August 1835 Brody,Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (present-day Ukraine) |
| Died | 12 September 1930(1930-09-12) (aged 95) |
| Known for | Being the mother ofSigmund Freud |
| Spouse | Jacob Freud |
| Children | 8, including Sigmund Freud |
| Relatives | Ernst L. Freud (grandson) Anna Freud (granddaughter) |
Amalia Malka Nathansohn Freud (néeNathansohn; 18 August 1835 – 12 September 1930) was the mother ofSigmund Freud. She was born inBrody in theKingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria[1] to Jakob Nathanson and Sara Wilenz and later grew up inOdesa, where her mother came from (both cities are located in modern-day Ukraine). She was married toJacob Freud in 1855.
Amalia Freud died oftuberculosis inVienna at the age of 95.
On 6 May 1856, when Amalia Freud was still 20 years old, she gave birth to her first child by her husbandJacob Freud,Sigmund Schlomo,[2] who became a famousneurologist and the founder ofpsychoanalysis.
Amalia was almost always pregnant in the decade following Sigmund's birth, giving birth to seven more children in just nine years, of which six lived to adulthood. However, none of her other children became as renowned as their eldest brother. They are enumerated below in the consecutive order of their births:
Amalia was considered by her grandchildren to be an intelligent, strong-willed, quick-tempered butegotistical personality.[5]Ernest Jones saw her as lively and humorous, with a strong attachment to her eldest son whom she called "mein goldener Sigi".[6]
Just as Amalia idolised her eldest son, so there is evidence that the latter in turnidealised his mother, whose domineering hold over his life he never fully analysed.[7] He did however recount a railway journey with her at the age of 4 amongst his earliest memories and also recalled her instruction in German reading and writing.[8] Late in life he would term the mother-son relationship "the most perfect, the most free fromambivalence of all human relationships. A mother can transfer to her son the ambition she has been obliged to suppress in herself".[9] His tendency tosplit off and repudiate hostile elements in the relationship would be repeated with significant figures in his life such as his fiancée andWilhelm Fliess.[10]
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