Probably written by Hermine von Hug-Hellmuth, a non-medical psychoanalyst who
was considered a pioneer in the field of child psychoanalysis, A Young Girl's
Diary was, upon publication, considered to be a watershed event (Sándor Ferenczi,
December 26, 1919) and was highly successful. It was the first—and remained the
only—book in a series entitled "Fundamental Texts on Spiritual Development,"
which the new publishing company, created through the generosity of Anton von
Freund, intended to publish. Because of its success the book provided
considerable income.
Introduced by an anonymous "editor" who claimed to have retained the girl's
style unaltered and uncensored, it was accompanied by an enthusiastic letter
from Freud, dated April 27, 1915, which stated, "This diary is a little jewel. I
truly believe that we will never again penetrate with such clarity and sincerity
into the movements of the soul that characterize the development of a young girl
in our society in the years before puberty, in the present state of our
civilization."
The Diary contained the thoughts of the young "Rita," written between the ages
of eleven and fourteen and a half. Her lengthy commentary, which would be
considered innocuous by twenty-first century standards, described the awakening
of adolescent feelings in a girl living in Vienna at the turn of the twentieth
century. The book describes, in Freud's words, "how the secret of sexual life
emerges, first obscurely, then taking complete control of the childish soul." It
is more of an interesting commentary on middle-class Viennese life and family
relations during the birth of psychoanalysis.
Welcomed by Lou Andreas-Salomé ("this young girl has lifted her diary to the
rank of works esteemed for their literary value"), Stefan Zweig ("a quite
remarkable document"), and the majority of critics, its authenticity was soon
questioned by the psychoanalytic community. Siegfried Bernfeld began an
investigation. The arguments in favor of fraud, published in August 1921 by
Cyril Brut, an English critic, in the British Journal of Psychology, resulted in
the exposure of Hermine von Hug-Hellmuth in 1922. Although she provided
additional details on the presumed author, Hug-Hellmuth's claims were not felt
to be convincing, and a number of individuals—Karl and Charlotte Bühler, Josef
Krug, Hedwig Fuchs—attempted to prove it was a fraud. It has come to be felt
that a number of details in the diary are autobiographical.
The murder of Hermine von Heg-Hellmuth by her nephew, Rudolf Hug, on September
9, 1924, served only to intensify the swirl of rumors circulating around the
work, which in spite of its success was withdrawn from publication in 1927. It
was translated into English in 1927.
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