THE DATE AND BIRTHPLACE OF J. L. MORENO

Abstract

The date and even the place of birth of Jacob L. Moreno has been a subject of controversy. In an article published in the Ciba Symposium in 1963, Moreno referred to his origins, stating that he was born in Bucharest on May 19, 1892. The latest editions of Who's Who in the World, however, cite May 20, 1890, as a birthdate. And Ann Ancelin Schutzenberger, who has translated into French many of the works of the father of psychodrama and sociometry, wrote the following in her obituary, which was published in the French Newspaper, Le Monde (May 22, 1974): "Ne sur un bateau voyageant sur la Mer Noire et ne battant pas de pavillon, non declaree a leur arrivee a Bucarest par ses tres jeunes parents, eleve a Vienne, dans L'Autriche du bouillonnement de la psychiatrie, Moreno attendit son arrivee en 1925, aux Etats-Unis, pour acquerir une nationalite et une date de naissance, reconstitutee au 21 Mai 1892.27'