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The "[[Secret ]] Committee" was the [[name ]] given by [[Freud ]] to the intimate circle of his closest collaborators. Its members were Karl [[Abraham]], Sándor Ferenczi, Otto Rank, Ernest [[Jones]], Max Eitingon, and Hanns Sachs. Hanns Sachs revealed its [[existence ]] for the first [[time ]] in 1944 in Freud, [[Master ]] and Friend. Since Sachs was himself a member of this mysterious group, which had a profound effect on the [[construction ]] and extension of the "[[psychoanalytic ]] movement," his memoirs must be taken with a grain of salt, especially when it concerns the [[image ]] of his "hero Freud." Nonetheless, the information is invaluable for [[understanding ]] the [[significance ]] of this group for the psychoanalytic movement and the institutionalization of [[psychoanalysis]].

The "psychoanalytic movement" achieved its organizational goals through the drafting of its first bylaws in 1910 by Freud and Ferenczi. What appears to be an alternate [[process ]] of institutional [[development ]] was initiated in 1912 with the [[formation ]] of the secret committee. The creation of an informal organization within the organization was the result of tension between [[Sigmund Freud ]] and his Swiss "dauphin" Carl Gustav [[Jung]]. Between 1910 and 1912 Jung had begun to distance himself from Freud, not only in [[terms ]] of [[theory ]] and [[clinical ]] [[practice]], but also in terms of their personal [[relationship ]] (Schröter, Michael, 1995).

The [[history ]] of the secret committee took [[place ]] in [[three ]] phases: from 1912 to 1920, from 1920 to 1927, then from 1927 to 1936 (Wittenberger, Gerhard, 1995). Details [[about ]] the committee's first period—from its creation during the summer of 1912 until the [[Hague ]] congress in 1920—are provided in five Komiteebriefe (committee letters), which do not yet [[present ]] all the characteristics of the Rundbriefe (circular letters). These letters illustrate how, at this time, members of the committee discussed and jointly worked out the policies of the International Psychoanalytic [[Association ]] (Wittenberger, 1996). The second [[phase ]] covers the actual history of the institution. From this time, September 20, 1920, until March 14, 1926, there is an extensive correspondence of 361 circular letters.

The significance Freud gave to the creation of the secret committee and the importance of each of its members in the [[struggle ]] for "the [[thing]]" (die Sache) held in common, is reflected in the [[symbol ]] of the ring bearing a Greek inscription, which he offered to each of his colleagues as a [[sign ]] of [[recognition ]] and esteem. Those who were so honored wore the ring as a mark of their intimacy. The uncertainty about when the [[exchange ]] of circular letters ended is an indication that the secret committee had been disbanded. This was the result of the [[dynamic ]] of the group as well as the relational dynamic between Otto Rank and Sigmund Freud and between Rank and his rival colleagues.

There is a break in the circular letters (April 1924 to November 1926) corresponding to the period between the gradual cessation of [[letter ]] [[writing ]] among the members, following Rank's break with Freud and his colleagues and ultimately from psychoanalysis, and the [[official ]] renewal of correspondence. At the same time there was an increased exchange of private letters among the members of the secret committee and Freud, which had been noted by Ferenczi in a letter to Freud in March 1924. Because of the important [[role ]] played by Rank during the peak years of the "international psychoanalytic movement" (Lieberman, E. [[James]], 1985), his departure (end 1924-beginning 1925) and Abraham's [[death ]] (December 1925), together with Freud's cancer (1923) all contributed to the destabilization and final breakup of the committee. It was only after the [[appearance ]] of a circular letter, dated November 23, 1926, written by [[Anna Freud ]] under her [[father]]'s dictation, that a new agreement was reached to reintroduce the circular letters.

This initiated the [[third ]] period of the former secret committee, which now functioned as the "central governing [[body ]] of the [[International Psychoanalytic Association]]." Jones relates how "After the Innsbruck Congress (1927), we modified the [[structure ]] of the committee by establishing our private group at the head of the International Psychoanalytic Association. Eitingon was named president, Ferenczi and myself, vice presidents, Anna Freud secretary, and van Ophuijsen treasurer" (1957). Hanns Sachs [[left ]] the committee. The governing body resumed writing the circular letters. The eighty-three letters whose existence we are currently aware of provide a glimpse of the problems facing those who were [[forced ]] to emigrate during the rise to [[power ]] of National [[Socialism]].