Aniela Jaffé


Aniela Jaffé was a Swiss analyst who for many years was a co-worker of Carl Gustav Jung. She was the recorder and editor of Jung's semi-autobiographical book Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

Life

Jaffé was born on 20 February 1903 to Jewish parents in Berlin, Germany, where she studied psychology at Hamburg, before fleeing the Nazis in the thirties to Switzerland. There she was analysed first by Liliane Frey and then by Jung, eventually becoming a Jungian analyst herself.
From 1947 to 1955 she served as secretary to the C. G. [Jung Institute in Zurich], before working as Jung's personal secretary from 1955 to 1961. She continued to provide analyses and dream interpretations into her eighties.

Controversy: Jung's autobiography

Controversy has developed over how responsible Jaffé actually was for Jung's late publication Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Current thinking would suggest that only the first three chapters of the published work were in fact written by Jung, the remainder being the work of Jaffé herself, if based on her notes of conversations with Jung.
On November 27, 2024, the Philemon Foundation announced via social media Bluesky and X that Jung's Life and Work: Interviews for Memories, Dreams, Reflections with Aniela Jaffé would be published by Princeton University Press in 2025 with no confirmed date. It would be edited by Sonu Shamdasani, with Thomas Fischer as consulting editor, and translated by Heather McCartney and John Peck. Finally, on March 18, 2025, Princeton announced its publication for December 2 of the same year.

Symbolism and parapsychology

Jaffé wrote on symbolism in modern art, and explored parapsychological phenomena using Jung's concept of synchronicity as an interpretative tool.

Works

English translation

German

  • Aus C.G. Jungs letzten Jahren und andere Aufsätze, 2. Auflage 1987 Daimon Verlag,
  • Bilder und Symbole aus E.T.A. Hoffmanns Märchen "Der goldne Topf", 1. Auflage 1978 Gerstenberg Verlag, 5. Auflage 2010, Daimon Verlag,
  • C.G. Jung, Bild und Wort,1. Auflage 1977 Walter Verlag
  • C.G. Jung, Briefe, 1. Auflage 1993 Patmos Verlag
  • Der Mythus vom Sinn im Werk von C.G. Jung, 1. Auflage 1983, 4. Auflage 2010, Daimon Verlag,
  • Erinnerungen Träume und Gedanken von C.G. Jung, 1. Auflage Rascher Verlag 1969, 18. Auflage 2013 Patmos Verlag,
  • Geistererscheinungen und Vorzeichen, 1. Auflage 1995, 4. Auflage 2008, Daimon Verlag,
  • Mystik und Grenzen der Erkenntnis, 1. Auflage 1988 Daimon Verlag,
  • Parapsychologie Individuation Nationalsozialismus Themen bei C.G. Jung, 1. Auflage 1985, Daimon Verlag,
  • Religiöser Wahn und schwarze Magie, d. trag. Leben d. Anna Kingsford . Neugestaltung d. 1980 im Bonz-Verl. erschienenen Bd. "Anna Kingsford, religiöser Wahn und Magie". Zürich: Daimon-Verl., 1986..