Dr Hanna Segal née Poznański (Łódź 1918 – London 2011) was an outstanding psychoanalyst, teacher and writer who made important and lasting contributions to the theory and practice of psychoanalysis. Having begun her studies in Warsaw, she completed her medical studies in Edinburgh, where the University had created a faculty for Polish medical students. This Polish School of Medicine, which operated from 1941 to 1949 in response to Poland’s loss of its academic system under Nazi occupation, was a unique institution, providing training to young medical students exiled from their home country. Whilst studying at the School she was encouraged to train as a psychoanalyst, thus determining the course of her life.
Segal moved to London and worked at the Paddington Children’s Hospital, later also helping to rehabilitate Polish soldiers who suffered from mental illness. Qualifying at twenty-seven, she was the youngest member of the British Psychoanalytical Society, making major contributions to child analysis and the psychoanalytic understanding and treatment of psychotic patients.
credit: Reproduced by kind permission of the Melanie Klein Trust
Edinburgh Jewish Studies Network 