London, December 27 (ANI): Sigmund Freud escaped Adolf Hitler’s persecution of the Jews, thanks to long-standing Nazi who admired his work, a new book has claimed.

According to David Cohen’s The Escape of Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, known for his pioneering work on the unconscious, was first protected, then helped to escape to Britain, by Anton Sauerwald, who had been put in charge of his assets.

“Sauerwald did not disclose to his superiors that Freud had many secret bank accounts abroad. Instead, he took the evidence back to his own apartment, where he had a panzerkassette, a locked box for documents,” Times Online quoted Cohen as saying.

Cohen continued: “Sauerwald did not want to see the books destroyed. They were the root documents of psychoanalysis.”

The author added: “There are three main reasons why Sauerwald was so keen to help Freud. He had been the devoted student of a man who had been very close friends with Freud. He understood just how important a man Freud was academically and, finally, I think a little bit of money may have changed hands down the line.” (ANI)