EARLY WOMEN PSYCHOANALYSTS
Welcome to a site dedicated to the remarkable women pioneers of psychoanalysis — born before World War I, most of them Jewish — whose contributions have been inadequately remembered, overlooked, or erased.
Despite their substantial impact on psychoanalytic thought, theory, and clinical practice, their work has too often been devalued, marginalized, or written out of the canon. Intersecting forms of gendered and racial power, institutional practice, and historical narrative determined whose stories counted — and whose did not.
This site brings together courses, publications, and events that honor and critically engage with their legacy. Join us in uncovering the stories of these women who shaped psychoanalysis and continue to inspire new generations. Together, let's restore their voices and contributions to the historical record — and carry them forward.
The Early Women Psychoanalysts project is created and maintained independently by Klara Naszkowska, with no outside funding. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Early Women Psychoanalysts
14-session Saturday Course
with Dr. Klara Naszkowska & Dr. Ana Tomčić
Step into the largely untold history of extraordinary women who helped shape the foundations of psychoanalysis.
Drawing on her anthology Early Women Psychoanalysts: History, Biography, and Contemporary Relevance (Routledge, 2024) – included free for participants – and her original research, Dr. Klara Naszkowska brings to life the biographies of pioneering women who worked across Europe before World War II. These figures' groundbreaking contributions were later marginalized or systematically erased from the historical record. Through richly textured biographical narratives, the course situates these women’s lives and work within the turbulent sociopolitical landscape of early 20th-century Europe. Themes include women’s expanding access to education, the rise of authoritarian regimes, forced migration, and the complex dynamics of Jewish identity in a rapidly changing world. Participants will explore how these trailblazers navigated the intersections of gender, religion, politics, and professional ambition during one of history's most transformative periods.
In the second half of each session, Dr. Ana Tomčić will facilitate an in-depth reading group dedicated to these women’s theoretical and clinical writings. Together, participants will engage directly with their published work in order to better understand what preoccupied these thinkers, what they valued, and how their ideas shaped – and continue to shape – the field of psychoanalysis.
Particular attention will be given to child analysis, play therapy, linguistics, theories of femininity and female sexuality, motherhood and mother-infant relationships, Holocaust studies, psychoanalytic technique, and training.
The course will cover at least 17 women pioneers of psychoanalysis, including Sabina Spielrein, Margarethe Hilferding, Hermine Hug-Hellmuth, Lou Andreas Salomé, Virgínia Bicudo, Judith Kestenberg, Vilma Kovács, Edith Gyömrői, Clara Happel, Barbara Low, Eugenia Sokolnicka, and Alberta Szalita.
Schedule at a Glance
Just one Saturday every few weeks — fourteen sessions spread across the academic year, so the course fits around your existing schedule rather than competing with it.
September 26, 2026 – June 26, 2027
September 26 · October 24 · November 7 & 21 · December 12 · January 9 & 30 · February 13 · March 13 · April 3 & 24 · May 15 · June 5 & 26
12:00–2:00 PM New York (9:00 AM San Francisco · 5:00 PM London · 6:00 PM Warsaw · 7:00 PM Beirut). Each session includes a 10-minute break.
Online via Zoom. All sessions are recorded and made available to participants — so if a Saturday doesn't work, you won't miss anything.
Can't commit to all fourteen? You're welcome to attend a selected number of sessions — email klara.nasz@gmail.com to arrange this.
Student testimonials:
This course was immensely rich in content, in perspective, and in the care put in. The research Klara and Ana have done is genuinely inspiring, and their presence as lecturers, intellectuals, and listeners made the material and course so curious and alive. The course offered both substantial reading materials, thoughtful directions, and analytical skills. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in psychoanalysis and especially to those who want to understand the women who quietly shaped the field and have been far too long overlooked and unacknowledged.
–––Artana
What stayed with me most, beyond the content, was the journey we experienced. Learning about silenced, almost forgotten women encouraged me to find my own voice and to feel connected to both the past and the future. It often felt as if Klara created the scene, and Anna helped us see what was unfolding within it. Some teachers just teach knowledge, but thank you both for creating such an inspiring learning experience where these women could be heard and seen again.
–––Rahimeh
Course fee
Licensed therapists: $1,000 · €850 · £735
Early-bird fee (available until August 1): $900 · €775 · £660
Students: $500 · €425 · £370
Early-bird fee (available until August 1): $450 · €385 · £335
This course does not currently offer CE credits. It's designed for those seeking in-depth scholarly and clinical engagement with primary texts, working directly with two specialists in the field — rather than a standard credit-hour requirement.
We believe financial need should not be a barrier to learning. Please email klara.nasz@gmail.com to discuss reduced fees and scholarships.
Refund policy: Tickets are fully refundable until 15 days before the first class, after which time no refunds will be issued.
Payment options: PayPal, Zelle, and Venmo. Please reach out if you'd like to make a bank transfer instead
Early-bird pricing ends August 1. Register now!
Course materials
Primary text:
Naszkowska, K. (Ed.) (2024). Early Women Psychoanalysts. History, Biography, and Contemporary Relevance, Routledge.
Participants receive a complimentary PDF of the book and 20% discount on the printed edition. All additional materials are provided.
Instructors
Klara Naszkowska, PhD (she/her) is an educator, research scholar, and writer whose work focuses on the intersections of Jewish women’s history, psychoanalysis, Nazi persecution, migration, and memory. She is Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at Montclair State University (NJ). Her work resurrects the biographies of women who had made major contributions to the field of psychoanalysis in Europe and the U.S. and yet had been erased from historical narrative. Her research has been recognized with the Fulbright Fellowship, the Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s Schlesinger Library Grant, and the Leo Baeck Institute’s Gerald Westheimer Career Development Fellowship. She is the Founding Director of the International Association for Spielrein Studies and the Civic Engagement and Voting Rights Teacher Scholar sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She is currently writing the biography of Clara Happel (forthcoming in Routledge, 2027).
Ana Tomčić, PhD (she/her) is a cultural historian and psychoanalytic trainee at the Society for Social and Critical Psychoanalysis in Cornwall, UK. She is a postdoctoral researcher with the project Psychoanalysis for the People: Progressive Histories, Collective Practices and Implications for our Times that investigates the history and contemporary practice of free and low-cost psychoanalytic clinics in the UK, South America and Central Europe. In her work and research, Ana is especially interested in the roles of gender and class in psychoanalysis. She aims to offer low-cost analysis herself, while also looking at the ways in which psychoanalysis' gendered and classed perspectives have informed and misinformed psychoanalytic theories. She is currently finishing a book Rethinking Progress: Psychoanalysis, Modernism and Queer Development that looks at theories of individual and social development in the work of 20th-psychoanalysts, modernist queer writers and filmmakers.
Questions, suggestions, or concerns?
Please contact Klara at klara.nasz@gmail.com