Marie Jahoda über ihre Trennung von Paul Lazarsfeld

Wien, 1932 bis 1934

Paul [Lazarsfeld] had in 1932 fallen in love, more seriously than was his want, with Herta [Herzog, married Lazarsfeld, married Massing] who became his second wife. In 1933, he went on a Rockefeller Fellowship to the States. In order for him to marry we had to get divorced. Austrian law required in cases of incompatibility that both partners appear three times in monthly intervals before a judge who would attempt a reconciliation. In Paul’s absence, his father could substitute for him. Robert Lazarsfeld1 was a lawyer, a gentle, rather withdrawn man, always over-shadowed by his wife [i.e. Sofie Lazarsfeld, née Munk …]; I was on good terms with him and we agreed that the reconciliation attempts were nothing but a necessary formality. Imagine my consternation when at the first occasion he started to plead in earnest: Mitzi, we love you so, we love Lotte [Lazarsfeld, married Bailyn], we don’t want to lose you, reconsider.

Marie Jahoda Albu: Reconstructions. [Keymer, Sussex: Published by the author] 1996, S. 45–46.

1 Robert Lazarsfeld (Wien 1871 – Paris 1940): Rechtsanwalt; heiratete 1900 Sofie Munk (1881–1976), mit der er zwei Kinder hatte: Paul Felix Lazarsfeld (1901–1976) und Elisabeth Henriette Lazarsfeld (Wien 1903 – Paris 1983), seit 1925 mit dem Physiker Fritz Zerner (1895–1951) verheiratet, Inhaberin eines Vervielfältigungsbüros, die später auch als Übersetzerin tätig war. Anmerkung Reinhard Müller.

© Reinhard Müller -- Graz, im Oktober 2006

EHE MIT P. F. LAZARSFELD
Carl Jahoda und P. F. Lazarsfeld
Ehekonflikte
Paris
Geburt der Tochter
Karl-Marx-Hof
Lazarsfeld als Vater
Schuld am Scheitern der Ehe
Psychoanalyse
Trennung
Unterstützung

Ella Lingens
Sofie Lazarsfeld