Yearning to Submit

Abstract

Abstract This chapter traces the source of Fromm’s impassioned arguments against fascism in Escape From Freedom. With his arrival in New York in 1934, Fromm began a new chapter of his life as a German Jewish refugee. He watched from afar as the political situation in Europe deteriorated, ever conscious of the growing threat of Nazism for his family members, friends, and colleagues who remained in Germany. In 1938, Fromm traveled back to Europe for the first time. When the November Pogrom broke out, Fromm was convalescing in Switzerland from an attack of tuberculosis. In his weakened state, Fromm’s corresponded regularly with Horkheimer, and their letters reveal the depth of worry and doubt that Fromm felt as he sought to help his family members from the isolation of his hospital bed. When Fromm was finally well enough to return to the United States, he simultaneously engaged in a campaign to save his relatives and elaborated his arguments on the dangers of fascism, which would form the basis for Escape From Freedom. Fromm’s psychology of Nazism is examined and explained.