Sabina Spielrein as child (left), with her mother and sister.
Jung and his medical student
Jung never mentioned to Freud that he had been Spielrein teacher for six years and thus an object of admiration and affection, as detailed in her Russian diaries and letters.
In 1905 Sabina writes to mother:
“To-morrow I am going to the medical library and will borrow [Eduard von] Hartmann’s “[Philosophy of] The Unconscious”, which I accidentally saw in the catalog. Since I saw this book at Junga’s [pet name], I believe it is worth reading. I visited him today. He comforted me about Remi; in his opinion her condition has improved markedly. Junga told me that I should not be wearing a hat with holes in it and that I should also have my shoes mended. I replied that I had run out of money, but that I had already received so much that I could not ask my parents for more. Then he made a proposal to make me a loan of 100 francs and write you about it. But as I objected vigorously, he forced me to accept 10 francs from him for the hat and the repair of the shoes. Naturally, I shall soon pay him this money back. He is coming to visit me on Friday (1st of September) at 3 o’clock. If only I could only learn to cook borscht before then! Today Jung and I went on rounds at our Hospital. There is number of women for whom I am an object of admiration! So there, you can see what kind of a person he is, my Junga.”
In 1906 she expresses her admiration for his “colossal intelligence and character and lecture, which was wonderfully beautiful (not only in the scientific but also in the ethical sense). There you were, able to create so much enthusiasm and feeling — how is it possible? You are endowed with a wonderful potential energy and you could achieve much more than you actually do. — If you could only know how ethically beautiful you were then (when you treated the patients with so much care and love)! … I was completely transformed, soft and warm towards people. Even though I went home in a flood of tears, I was calm and strong in my decision – one doesn’t need anything else, it all comes from poetry. I love you too much, and therefore perhaps I imagine something that is not there (or perhaps it is there?) (for example, that you despise me, that you do not want that I should stalk you, etc.). Each time that causes me emotional storms and self-torture. For this reason I wanted to leave Zurich for at least three years, but I have found no better university.” ~Henry Zvi Lothane, MD, The real story of Sabina Spielrein: or fantasies vs. facts of a life, Pages 5-6