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The Forum of Psychoanalysis was founded in 1985 by the founding fathers Michael Ermann, Jürgen Körner, and Sven Olaf Hoffmann. This year, the two founders celebrate their 80th anniversary. The Forum of Psychoanalysis has been connecting clinical practice and research since its inception and is open to all psychoanalysts. It provides a space for exchange and encounter, where ideas are discussed and supported. The article celebrates the birthdays of Michael Ermann and Jürgen Körner, the founders and editors of the Forum of Psychoanalysis. The authors praise their ability to promote openness and creativity without allowing for arbitrariness. They have contributed to making the Forum a platform for interesting and substantial contributions. The authors thank the jubilarians for their long-standing work and wish them a happy birthday. [Extracted from the article]

Borders and rules define the psychoanalytical process and at the same time promote its 'magic' moments. Psychoanalysis contains thoroughly playful elements, even though it is concerned with severe crises and conflicts. These are very effective for example in working with transference. When a psychoanalyst assumes a transference role which has been unconsciously allocated to the psychoanalyst by the patient, the psychoanalyst becomes involved in the mental reality just as someone becomes involved in the reality of a game. In the game, which is played in earnest, something is portrayed in the psychoanalytical performance. In this context the asymmetrical rules for the linguistic game of psychoanalysis can be comprehended as 'disguise measures' which promote the magic of transference. This 'magic' is necessary in order to enter into a world detached from the everyday world and to set a process in motion. At the same time the psychoanalyst must be aware of the fact that the magic will be attributed to the psychoanalyst (and at the same time will be promoted by the borders and rules) who must never misuse this magic: it must always be used as a means of promoting the autonomy of the analysand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defence against shock, feelings of guilt, and shame about German atrocities during National Socialism (NS) have dominated the public discourse in Germany for decades. Mitscherlich and Mitscherlich have talked about the inability to mourn due to the involvement of most German families in Nazi terror. The research projects “Childhood in War” at the University of Munich and “War Children and their Flight” at the Hamburg DPG Institute are studying the long-term implications of a childhood during World War II and the Nazi period. In most cases, the personal development of the “war children” was affected - in the case of psychoanalysts, their psychoanalytic socialisation and current professional practice as well. The transgenerational transmission forms an NS introject in the personality. Due to their parents' lack of empathy, war children are unconsciously looking for a containment of their unbearable feelings in their childhood. Psychoanalysis (including training analysis) becomes a stage where the analysee's childhood loneliness, the taboo-forming, the inhibition to ask and the protection of the parents, as well as feelings of guilt and embarrassment in the family, not talking about matters, and silence, occur once more in transference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]