Who Was Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud was born on 6th May 1856 in Freiberg, Moravia, part of the Austro-Hungarian empire (now Pribor in the Czech Republic). His father, Jakob Freud (1815-1896), was a Jewish wool merchant, whose marriage to Freud’s mother, Amalia Nathansohn (1835-1930), was his second or third (according to different sources). Although some mystery also surrounds Amalia, it is known that she was twenty years younger than Jakob, while testimonies also concur on her beauty, strong personality and admiration for her firstborn Sigmund. More certain is the unusual constellation of the Freud family: in addition to having seven younger siblings (one of whom died soon after birth), Sigmund had two stepbrothers around the same age as his mother and a nephew and niece around the same age as himself.
In 1860, the family moved for financial reasons, via Leipzig, to Vienna (where Freud was to remain until 1938, eventually driven out by the Nazis and immigrating to London). Freud entered Gymnasium (grammar school) at the very early age of nine and rapidly became recognised for his intellectual precocity. He had begun reading Shakespeare at age eight, was regularly first in his class and acquired a detailed knowledge of several languages. Special privileges were granted and Freud was required to pass few examinations.
