['Exotic bird" or "grande dame" of psychoanalysis? The atypical professional career of Anna Kattrin Kemper].

A. K. Kemper's ascent from a life of poverty in Germany to a successful psychoanalytic practice in Brazil ran counter to all professional norms. With a minimum of formal training and a lot of willpower Kemper reached her professional goal, for which she felt she was destined because of her therapeutic talent. Her success was in no small measure due to the help of her husband, the psychoanalyst Werner Kemper, who had been invited to establish a psychoanalytic society in Rio de Janeiro. Some other German analysts also helped her to become an analyst and training analyst in a short period of time despite insufficient knowledge of psychoanalysis. However, her astonishing career caused considerable conflicts, which harmed her husband's reputation. While she remained controversial, she was respected by many and received numerous honours. The foundation of a social clinic for psychoanalysis counts among her most remarkable accomplishments.