THE IMPACT OF LEWIN,KURT LIFE ON THE PLACE OF SOCIAL-ISSUES IN HIS WORK

This article, based on personal memories of his daughter, explores aspects of Lewin's own life experiences that had the greatest impact upon his professional focus on social issues, such as intergroup relations and prejudice, and that influenced his general field theoretical approach to psychology. Selected aspects of his childhood, his education, his experiences as a combat soldier in World War I, and his experiences with anti-Jewish prejudice earlier in his life resulted in the unusual equalitarianism that so many people who knew him observed, as well as a distinctive approach to psychology. The massive impact of fascism-the effect of his flight from Germany, his efforts to rescue his extended family, and the death of his mother in the Holocaust-greatly influenced his choice of and his approach to research problems.