Literatureאריך נוימן

Erich Neumann

Erich Neumann was a German-born Jewish analytical psychologist and student of Carl Jung who practiced in Tel Aviv and is known for the ego-self axis theory.

1905 to 1960The ego-self axis theoryThe Great Mother archetypeThe concept of centroversionDepth Psychology and a New Ethic

Born: 23 January 1905, Berlin
Died: 5 November 1960, Tel Aviv
Occupation: poet, psychologist, philosopher, mythographer
Education: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, University of Erlangen–Nuremberg

Erich Neumann was born in 1905 in Berlin

Neumann was born in Berlin in 1905 to a Jewish family. He grew up secular but was influenced by Hasidism, and he was drawn to Zionism at a young age.

He earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Erlangen in 1927. He then studied medicine in Berlin and passed his medical exams in 1933, but Nazi race laws kept him from receiving a license. In 1958 the University of Hamburg granted him a medical doctorate for his book on the origins of consciousness.

Neumann met Jung at a seminar in Berlin in 1933 and studied with him in Switzerland in 1934. That year he and his wife Julie, both Zionists, moved to Tel Aviv, where he opened a private practice. He lectured at the Eranos conference for many years and was president of the Israel Association of Analytical Psychologists.

His books include The Origins and History of Consciousness and Depth Psychology and a New Ethic, both from 1949, and The Great Mother from 1955. He died of kidney cancer in 1960 and was buried in Kiryat Shaul cemetery. In 2020 the Israel Institute of Jungian Psychology was named after him.