Melanie Klein

Abstract

Melanie Klein was born Melanie Reize in Vienna in 1882, the youngest of four children in an Orthodox Jewish family. Her father was a Talmud student and her mother was the daughter of a rabbi. This was an important time for European Jews as old prejudices were in decline and professional doors were beginning to open to them. For example, Melanie’s father gave up his religious studies and took up medicine, and subsequently practised as a dentist. Melanie later wrote that her family was warm, loving and united. Both parents were intellectuals and she greatly admired Emmanuel, her only brother, who was five years older than her and a medical student. At the age of 14 she decided to study medicine but when she was 17 she became engaged to Arthur Klein, who was an industrial chemist and a friend of her brother. She always regretted not having qualified as a doctor, and this was one of the reasons why the marriage was not wholly successful. She bore three children and before the First World War they all moved to Budapest, where in connection with her interest in medical matters she became acquainted with the works of Freud. She met Sandor Ferenczi, who helped her to develop her ideas and techniques. Dr Karl Abraham, president of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Society, showed considerable interest in her work and invited her to move to Berlin to work. She accepted the offer and took her children, a move that ended her marriage as her husband preferred to live in Sweden because of his business interests.