Sigmund Freud-Museum | Newsletter - Sigmund Freud Museum Wien

There are numerous points of contact between Wiener Städtische and Sigmund Freud. Both of them
are deeply rooted in Vienna. Freud studied medicine in the capital and also established his practice
here. The 175-year history of Wiener Städtische also began in Vienna. Since 1955, Wiener Städtische
has maintained its headquarters in the first district’s Ringturm, which is only a couple of streets away
from the Freud Museum in Berggasse.
It was to Freud’s former office here that the so-called “Wolf Man” also came for his analysis. This
famous patient forms a direct historical link to the Wiener Städtische. In his case study of the “Wolf
Man,” Dr. Freud analyzed the childhood of the Russian immigrant Dr. Sergei Pankeieff, who worked
in the insurance company’s claims department from 1945 to 1950. The wolves that Dr. Pankeieff saw
staring at him from a tree in his childhood dream have given him a place in the history of psychology
as the “Wolf Man” that has endured beyond his death in 1979.
Sigmund Freud also devoted his attention to medical insurance diagnosis, which today is known more
as medical, or occupational, risk analysis and is primarily of significance for life insurance. In Medical
Insurance Diagnostic, published in 1887 by Dr. Eduard Buchheim, chief physician of the First United
Civil Servants’ Association of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Freud wrote the chapter on the
nervous system.
As one of the leading Austrian insurance enterprises, it is especially important to Wiener Städtische
that the company makes a contribution to the maintenance of Austrian cultural heritage and also to the
realization of new projects.
Wiener Städtische has a share in the responsibility for shaping the environment and future, and thus
sees it as its duty to get involved in promoting cultural and social efforts. As a major enterprise whose
economic success as a service provider is primarily dependent on the satisfaction of its customers,
Wiener Städtische also has an interest in reaching as many customers as possible with the activities it
sponsors.
Thus it sponsors a large number of projects in the fields of architecture, film, and (musical) theater.
One can no longer imagine Austrian cultural life without Wiener Städtische, which is a supporter of
the Theater in der Josefstadt, Volkstheater, Vereinigte Bühnen Wien, Bregenzer Festspiele,
Carinthischer Sommer, Opernfestspiele St. Margarethen, Diagonale, Filmarchiv Wien, Kino unter
Sternen and much more.
Additionally, Wiener Städtische opened an exhibition center for architecture exhibitions in the
Ringturm in 1998. The exhibition “New Building in the Alps – Major Prize for Alpine Architecture”
can be seen there through 27 September 2002.
ISSN 1684-1344