The letter, written in German and dated June 21, 1938, was sent several weeks after Freud fled the Nazis in his native Austria and moved to London. In it, he writes to philanthropist Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein, a friend and patient from back home, sympathizing with her over a personal tragedy and appearing to seek from her glimpses of life back in Vienna under Nazi rule.

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The letter, seen this week by The Associated Press, shows a softer side of Freud, a trait that is not commonly attributed to the father of psychoanalysis, according to Joel Whitebook, author of the book "Freud: An Intellectual Biography," and director of the Psychoanalytic Studies Program at New York's Columbia University.

"People often portray Freud as this cerebral, intellectual guy. But he was very, very sensitive to his environment and aesthetics," Whitebook said.

In the letter, Freud comforts Stonborough-Wittgenstein after her ex-husband had committed suicide and inquires about her state of mind.

"I can well imagine in what painful and conflicted mental state the event placed you. Are your circumstances now going to change? Will you remain in Vienna? I would like to ask you much more," he wrote.

With this emotional subject, he signs off warmly: "I hope to hear from you soon, with my deepest sympathy, Freud."

The unusual and informal dynamic between the two as friends and doctor-patient was common and "part of the Viennese scene," according to Whitebook. The letter is "evidence of how closely knit" the Jewish community, the cultural world and the scientific world were at the time, he added.

Stonborough-Wittgenstein was the daughter of Karl Wittgenstein, an iron and mining magnate, and one of the wealthiest men in Austria. She also was the sister of Ludwig Wittgenstein, a renowned 20th-century philosopher.

Although members of the Wittgenstein family converted to Christianity, they had Jewish ancestry, subjecting them to Nazi Germany's racial laws. They were still part of the "prominent Jews in the German speaking world," Whitebook said.

However, their financial resources, elite status in society and conversion to Christianity were able to give them some protection from Nazi persecution.

Freud, who was Jewish, was renowned at the time but did not have the status to placate the Nazis and ensure his safety. By 1933, his books had started to be publicly burned and his daughter Anna was arrested by the Gestapo.

The family managed to flee with the help of Anton Severwald, a high-ranking Nazi officer who was a fan of Freud's work. The Freud family left Austria on June 4, 1938, crossing into France and settling in England, where Freud wrote his letter.

"The letter was already censored so he cannot really write what he thinks about the Nazis," said Meron Eren, co-owner of Kedem Auction House, which is conducting the sale.

Instead, Freud used a sense of humor to compare London's Primrose Hill Park to his summer vacation spot in Grinzing, dryly joking that Nazi official Josef Buerkel "would have now become the next-door neighbor."

Buerkel was the new governor after helping to carry out the annexation of Austria for Nazi Germany in March 1938 and became a resident of the Vienna suburb. "That is kind of his way to say that things look different in Vienna now," Eren said.

Although Freud reluctantly left Vienna, Whitebook said he was "treated like a rock star" in his new life in London. His work was widely popular and well known, which was not the case in his conservative life in Vienna.

Freud had an antiquities collection from the Ancient East and Asia, including amulets, one of which Stonborough-Wittgenstein presumably gave him before he left.

"The amulet has so far proven its worth. The journey was easy, the reception in England was flatteringly pleasant, the weather is surprisingly nice and the house my architect son has chosen for us as a temporary home is comfortable," Freud wrote.

The letter came toward the end of Freud's life. When he was finally established in London, Freud was 83 years old and sick with cancer. He lived about one more year until his death on Sept. 23, 1939.

The letter was bought by an Israeli collector at auction in Europe and is now being re-sold in Jerusalem. It will be up for auction on Dec. 3, with bidding to start at $6,000.

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In the letter, one of the few the native Russian speaker Trumpeldor is believed to have written in Hebrew, he describes the death of a young solider in the British Army's Zion Mule Corps, telling the young man's father: "I understand that your heart is full of pain, but know that your son fell as a hero for the sake of the people of Israel and for the Land of Israel."

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The letter was slated to be sold through King David Auctions, with a starting price of $100,000, but the sale is now in question.

After Israel Hayom reported that the letter was being auctioned, Gideon Mitchnik, director general of the institute, filed a police complaint and reached out to the auction house, claiming that the letter was the property of the institute and must be returned.

"The letter looked familiar, and after looking at your site, we saw clearly that it bears a stamp of the Betar Museum, the former name of the Jabotinsky Institute," Mitchnik wrote to King David Auctions.

"We looked into the matter, and the letter was owned by and in the possession of the institute's archives, and has not been sold or transferred to any other party. We now realize that it somehow found its way to you. This is stolen property that belongs to the Jabotinsky Institute," Mitchnik wrote.

The auction house said in response that "We have no side in the dispute about whether something was sold or not 60 years ago. Both sides claiming [the letter] weren't alive then. It is very difficult to know without doubt the adventures the item has been on since then. It might have been sold legally at some point, or might have merely been on loan to the archives.

"We express our faith in both sides, both the direct seller who submitted the item to be sold through us and the Jabotinsky Institute," the auction house said.

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In a letter to the father of one of the soldiers who was killed in the battle, Trumpeldor writes, "I understand that your heart is full of pain, but know that your son fell as a hero for the sake of the people of Israel and for the Land of Israel."

The story began in April 1915, when the British Army established its Zion Mule Corps and Trumpeldor was appointed deputy commander of the regiment. That is where he first met Binyamin Wertheimer, the son of an ultra-Orthodox family from Jerusalem, who volunteered to serve with the battalion.

"Every day, new comrades joined our ranks," wrote Trumpeldor. "When young Wertheimer came, accompanied by his father, a skinny, uncared-for youth, his comrades immediately surrounded him and laughed at his long peyote [sidelocks], his dress, and his weak back."

Wertheimer was shy, but despite his physical weakness he proved himself to be a good soldier. Before the battalion departed for the front at Gallipoli, Wertheimer told Trumpeldor that he was afraid he would suffer a mental breakdown during the battle, "and bring shame upon the legion, upon the Jews."

But in the moment of truth – which occurred that July – Wertheimer turned into a hero.

"When Wertheimer appeared with his mules, the enemy kept up its fire. Wertheimer continued calmly. Another few steps and Wertheimer found cover and would reach his goal. But then, suddenly, he lost balance, made a great effort, took another few steps, and collapsed."

A week later, Wertheimer succumbed to his wounds and was buried in Alexandria.

Some six months after his death, Trumpeldor received a letter from the dead soldier's father, Yehoshua, in which he asked Trumpeldor to send him his son's tefillin [prayer phylacteries].

"The letter did not contain a shred of self-flagellation or an outcry of grief. The man from Jerusalem bravely showed his love for the land of Israel," Trumpeldor would write.

Trumpeldor responded to Yehoshua in Hebrew, because Yehoshua did not speak or read Russian. The letter is believed to have been one of only a few that Trumpeldor wrote in Hebrew.

Bidding on the letter starts at $100,000.

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Christie's auctioneers said on Thursday that the so-called God Letter, written by Einstein in 1954, would be placed on public exhibit in San Francisco and New York ahead of the Dec. 4 auction.

The letter, a page and a half long and written in German to philosopher Eric Gutkind, is regarded as a key manuscript in the debate over science and religion and is Einstein's clearest statement of his views on the universal search for the meaning life.

The scientist and philosopher wrote the missive a year before his death in 1955. It is now being sold by a private collector.

"The word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weaknesses," Einstein wrote. "The Bible is a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can [for me] change anything about this."

Einstein also touched on his Judaism, saying he admired and loved his people, but that he did not believe they were chosen above others.

"For me, the Jewish religion, like all other religions, is an incarnation of the most childish superstition," he wrote, adding "I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

Peter Klarnet, a books and manuscripts specialist at Christie's, said the letter "concerns themes that have been central to human inquiry since the dawn of human consciousness, and it is one of the definitive statements in the Religion vs. Science debate."

Christie's placed a $1 million to $1.5 million estimate on the letter. In 2002, the auction house sold a typed letter addressed to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt from Einstein for $2 million.

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