Karl Weissmann and psychoanalysis during the Vargas Era

a psychoanalyst among politics, education and criminology

Abstract

In this paper we aim to investigate some elements of the life and thoughts of Karl Weissmann, an Austrian psychoanalyst who lived in Brazil from 1921 to 1989. Therefore, we analyze a diversity of files, specially the books and papers written by Weissmann himself, aiming to discuss elements of his work on psychoanalysis. We intend to highlight his first book, published in 1937, a time in which he begins to be known as an important psychoanalyst and intellectual. The analysis of his texts shows a psychoanalytical perspective focused in the development of the libido through the phases proposed by Freud, with a defined maturity profile. This perspective allowed Weissmann to make contributions to the field of Criminology, relating types of crimes to some developmental disorders. Finally, we stress the compatibility between his thoughts and the political ideas of the period, mainly concerning the notions of family and childhood, in  relation to the perspective of national development.