Erik Erikson (1902–1994)

Abstract

Erik Salmonsen Hamburger Erikson was born on June 15, 1902 to Danish parents near Frankfurt. His biological mother, Karla Abrahamsen, came from a prominent cosmopolitan family of Jewish merchants in Copenhagen. The family’s multicultural and mixed religious heritage is reflected in the fact that the family spoke no Yiddish. In 1898, when Karla was 21, she married a 27-year-old Jewish stockbroker, Valdemar Isidor Salmonsen. Little is known about Karla’s husband except that his father was a lawyer on friendly terms with the Abrahamsen family and his mother was the daughter of the well-known portrait painter, David Monies. The marriage seems not to have lasted more than one night and in all probability was not consummated. Karla, in Rome for her honeymoon, wired her father to come escort her back home. According to family lore, by the time he arrived, Valdemar had fled to either Mexico or the United States, having told Karla that he had to leave precipitously because of his dealings in crime, fraud, and his involvement in financial irregularities. These circumstances gave rise to speculation as to the identity of Erikson’s biological father. Karla’s daughters, through a second marriage, indicated that their mother became pregnant under questionable circumstances. They suggested that either she was taken advantage of when in a drunken state at a party hosted by her brothers or she was not that sexually innocent and became pregnant while on a vacation on the Isle of Capri by a photographer whose identity she kept secret. Karla discovered she was pregnant two months before she was to deliver when on a vacation in Northern Germany. To avoid disgrace and scandal, the Abrahamsen family sent her to live with her aging aunts in Buehl, outside of Frankfurt. She gave birth in Frankfurt and named the baby Erik Salmonsen. The name Erik is believed to be that of the biological father. Erikson recalls his mother telling him how awkward she felt as a tall, swarthy, dark-haired mother walking a light skinned, blond haired, blue-eyed baby in a stroller in Buehl. He felt that she always spoke with sadness about those days, a sadness that contributed to his lifelong identity struggle.