Scope and Content Note
The papers of James Kirsch, Jungian analyst, span the years 1928-1975 and include correspondence with Carl Jung, Toni Wolff, other Jungian analysts, and miscellaneous papers relating to Kirsch's career. The papers are in English and German. Kirsch was one of Jung's earliest pupils and established a practice in Berlin in the 1920s. After witnessing Hitler's rise to power in the early 1930s, Kirsch, a Jew, moved to Palestine in 1933. Having heard rumors of Jung's alleged antisemitism and pro-Nazi sympathies, Kirsch initiated what became a series of letters with his mentor questioning statements that had been attributed to Jung that appeared anti-Semitic and Jung's involvement with various organizations. Their correspondence, which ceased during the war, renewed after the war when Kirsch had moved to Los Angeles, and continued for the remainder of Jung's life. The papers also contain correspondence with Toni Wolff and other members of Jung's inner circle, as well as family members. The miscellany includes news clippings and printed matter. The letters between Kirsch and Jung were included, with English translations, in The Jung-Kirsch Letters, 2011, edited by Ann Conrad Lammers (London: Routledge).