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Frankl, Viktor Emil (1905-1997)
Copyright: IMAGNO/Viktor Frankl Institut
Viktor E. Frankl is born on 26 March 1905 in Vienna as son of a Jewish civil servant. After graduating from high school in 1923, Frankl studied medicine at the University of Vienna and later specialized in neurology and psychiatry. He made the acquaintance of Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler. In his suicide prevention program he focuses on challenging clients to search for meaning in life. Frankl starts drawing attention to his teachings with public lectures in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Berlin.
From 1933 to 1937 he headed the so-called "Selbstmörderpavillon" (suicide pavilion) of the General Hospital in Vienna. In 1938 Nazis ban Frankl from treating Arian patients. From 1940 to 1942 he headed the neurological department of the Rothschild hospital, the only hospital for Jews in Vienna during the Nazi regime. By writing false diagnoses he saved many of his patients from euthanasia. In 1941 Frankl marries Tilly Grosser; in autumn 1942 he, his wife and his parents were deported first to Theresienstadt and then to the concentration camp. Frankl survived the Holocaust, but his wife, father and mother were murdered.
Frankl returned to Vienna in 1946, where he became head physician of the neurological department of the Vienna Polyclinic Hospital, a position he held for 25 years. In 1947 he marries for a second time. In 1955 Frankl is promoted Professor at the University of Vienna. Viktor Frankl’s “Logotherapy", a type of Existential Analysis that focuses on a "will to meaning", is the "third Viennese school of psychoanalysis" after Freud's psychoanalysis and Adler's individual psychology.
Frankl's 32 books on existential analysis and logotherapy have been translated into 26 languages. He held 29 honorary doctorates from universities around the globe. His book “Man's Search for Meaning” (1972), a deeply moving personal essay about Frankl's imprisonment in concentration camps, is considered to be one of the most influential works of psychiatric literature since Freud.
In Vienna Viktor Frankl is also known as an excellent mountaineer. Three difficult climbing trails around Vienna were named after him. The "Honorary Citizen of Vienna" dies on 2 September 1997 from heart failure.
Viktor Frankl Institute
Viktor Frankl Center Vienna
From 1933 to 1937 he headed the so-called "Selbstmörderpavillon" (suicide pavilion) of the General Hospital in Vienna. In 1938 Nazis ban Frankl from treating Arian patients. From 1940 to 1942 he headed the neurological department of the Rothschild hospital, the only hospital for Jews in Vienna during the Nazi regime. By writing false diagnoses he saved many of his patients from euthanasia. In 1941 Frankl marries Tilly Grosser; in autumn 1942 he, his wife and his parents were deported first to Theresienstadt and then to the concentration camp. Frankl survived the Holocaust, but his wife, father and mother were murdered.
Frankl returned to Vienna in 1946, where he became head physician of the neurological department of the Vienna Polyclinic Hospital, a position he held for 25 years. In 1947 he marries for a second time. In 1955 Frankl is promoted Professor at the University of Vienna. Viktor Frankl’s “Logotherapy", a type of Existential Analysis that focuses on a "will to meaning", is the "third Viennese school of psychoanalysis" after Freud's psychoanalysis and Adler's individual psychology.
Frankl's 32 books on existential analysis and logotherapy have been translated into 26 languages. He held 29 honorary doctorates from universities around the globe. His book “Man's Search for Meaning” (1972), a deeply moving personal essay about Frankl's imprisonment in concentration camps, is considered to be one of the most influential works of psychiatric literature since Freud.
In Vienna Viktor Frankl is also known as an excellent mountaineer. Three difficult climbing trails around Vienna were named after him. The "Honorary Citizen of Vienna" dies on 2 September 1997 from heart failure.
Viktor Frankl Institute
Viktor Frankl Center Vienna
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