Timeline of Frankl's life
Chronological overview of Viktor Frankl's life and work.
Born in Vienna
Viktor Emil Frankl is born into the Jewish family of Gabriel and Elsa Frankl, the second of three children.
Wartime poverty
During the First World War the family suffers hardship; the children go to farmers to beg for food.
Correspondence with Freud
As a secondary-school student he attends lectures on psychology and writes to Sigmund Freud, who passes one of his texts on for publication in a psychoanalytic journal.
First lecture “On the Meaning of Life”
Aged 16, Frankl gives his first public lecture - already on the meaning of life.
Medical studies and Adler's circle
He begins studying medicine at the University of Vienna and joins Alfred Adler's circle.
The word “logotherapy” is born
At congresses in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Berlin he uses the term “logotherapy” for the first time.
Break with Adler
He is expelled from the individual psychology circle because his ideas of meaning and freedom do not fit Adler's theory.
Youth counselling centres
He organises free counselling centres for young people in Vienna, working with Charlotte Bühler among others.
School-report campaign
He organises support for students at the time school reports are issued; the fall in student suicides brings him international attention. He qualifies as a physician.
Suicide ward at Steinhof
He heads the ward for women after suicide attempts at the Am Steinhof hospital - about 3,000 patients a year.
Private practice
He opens a neurological and psychiatric practice, which Nazi regulations bring to an end after a few months.
Anschluss
After Austria is annexed by the Third Reich, as a Jew he loses the right to practise medicine normally.
“Existential analysis”
In the article “Philosophie und Psychotherapie” he introduces the term existential analysis; he also describes the technique of paradoxical intention.
Rothschild Hospital
He heads the neurology department of the Jewish hospital. He falsifies diagnoses to protect patients from Nazi “euthanasia”. He gives up a US visa so as not to leave his parents.
Marriage to Tilly Grosser
He marries the nurse Tilly Grosser. He writes the manuscript of “Ärztliche Seelsorge” - the foundations of logotherapy.
Deportation to Theresienstadt
He is deported with his wife and parents to the Theresienstadt (Terezín) ghetto. His father dies there of exhaustion in 1943. Frankl organises psychological help for new arrivals.
Auschwitz
Transport to Auschwitz-Birkenau. He loses his manuscript. His mother is murdered in the gas chamber and his wife is taken to Bergen-Belsen. Frankl is sent to the Dachau subcamps - Kaufering, and from March 1945 Türkheim.
Liberation
Ill with typhus, he reconstructs his manuscript on scraps of paper in the camp. The American army liberates Türkheim. Soon he learns of the deaths of his wife, mother and brother.
The Polyclinic and two books
He becomes head of the Vienna Neurological Polyclinic (for 25 years). He publishes “Ärztliche Seelsorge” and dictates in nine days the book about the camp - “Man's Search for Meaning”.
Elly and Gabriele
He marries Eleonore (Elly) Schwindt; in December their daughter Gabriele is born.
Doctorate in philosophy
He earns a doctorate with the dissertation “Der unbewusste Gott” (“The Unconscious God”). Logotherapy is named the Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy.
Homo patiens
He publishes “Homo patiens” and presents his “Ten Theses on the Person”.
Professor at the University of Vienna
He becomes professor of neurology and psychiatry and begins lecturing overseas. Gordon Allport promotes his ideas in the USA.
The book in the USA
The American edition of the camp book is published (“From Death-Camp to Existentialism”, later “Man's Search for Meaning”).
Harvard and the Statue of Responsibility
As a visiting professor at Harvard he proposes that the Statue of Liberty be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.
“The Will to Meaning”
His most systematic exposition of logotherapy in English is published.
Chair of logotherapy
United States International University in San Diego establishes a chair of logotherapy.
Pilot's licence
At the age of 67 he earns a pilot's licence. Throughout his life he is also a passionate climber.
First World Congress of Logotherapy
The first world congress of logotherapy is held in San Diego.
One of the most influential books
The US Library of Congress lists “Man's Search for Meaning” among the ten most influential books in America.
Honorary doctorate from KUL
The Catholic University of Lublin awards Frankl an honorary doctorate; the laudation is given by Fr. Prof. Kazimierz Popielski. In total Frankl received 29 honorary doctorates.
Autobiography
He publishes his memoirs “Was nicht in meinen Büchern steht” (“Recollections”).
Death in Vienna
He dies in Vienna of heart failure. In the same year his last book, “Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning”, is published.