Quick Links

About the WR Infant Trust
Support the WR Trust
History of the WR Trust
Media Policy
Museum Bookstore
Monthly Updates

Recommendations are grouped by subject area.

Take a look!

Last Will & Testament
of Wilhelm Reich

I, WILHELM REICH, residing at Orgonon, Rangeley, Maine hereby make, publish and declare this as My Last Will and Testament:

1. No personal revenge nor disregard for the many kindnesses I enjoyed during my lifetime determine my decisions in this Will. Being in full possession of my judgment of people and social matters and being clear of mind, I made the consideration of secure transmission to future generations of a vast empire of scientific accomplishment the guide in my last dispositions. To my mind the foremost task to be fulfilled was to safeguard the truth about my life and work against distortion and slander after my death.
   
   
2. I hereby revoke all prior Wills by me at any time made.
   
   
3. I direct that all my just debts and funeral expenses be paid with the exception of the specific requests hereinafter made; I hereby give, devise and bequeath all the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, both real and personal, of every nature and kind whatsoever and wheresoever situated, of which I may die seized and possessed or to which I shall then be entitled, to my Trustee hereinafter named, and to such successor trustees as may be appointed to administer the same, to have and to hold the said property and to manage, sell, invest the same and to collect the interest, income, dividends and proceeds arising from the said property for the uses and purposes herein set forth:
   
   

   a. The Trust shall be held and administered hereunder under the name of the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust Fund.
   
   b. The administrative expenses of the said Trust shall never exceed 20% of the total income.
   
   c. To operate and maintain the property at Orgonon under the name and style of the Wilhelm Reich Museum.
   
   During the years following 1949 my life was running its course within and around the walls of the Orgone Energy Observatory. I supervised the building myself for two summers; I paid out upwards of $35,000 from my privately earned possessions for the construction. I have collected all of the pertinent materials such as instruments which served the Discovery of the Life Energy, the documents which were witnesses to labors of some 30 years and the library of a few thousand volumes, collected painstakingly over the same stretch of time and amply used in my researches and writings, the paintings, some 25 of them, small items which I loved and cherished during my lifetime such as the carved African stick given me by Malinowski, the Sigmund Freud picture, a few inexpensive but meaningful vases, the "Rock Woman" by Jo Jenks, the "Zaenn't Weh' Bauer" carved 12,000 feet above sea level on some mountain refuge in Austria -- all of these things and similar things should remain where they are now in order to preserve some of the atmosphere in which the Discovery of the Life Energy has taken place over the decades.
   
   The grounds should be kept neat and clean and repairs should not be neglected. The costs of maintenance, repairs, services and salaries should be paid from this trust.
   
   d. In order to enable the future student of the PRIMORDIAL COSMIC ENERGY OCEAN, THE LIFE ENERGY discovered and developed by me, to obtain a true picture of my accomplishments, mistakes, wrong assumptions, pioneering basic trends, my private life, my childhood, etc., I hereby direct that under no circumstances and under no pretext whatsoever shall any of the documents, manuscripts or diaries, found in my library among the archives or anywhere else be altered, omitted, destroyed, added to or falsified in any other imaginable way. The tendency of man, born from fear, to "get along with his fellow man" at any price, and to hide unpleasant matters is overpoweringly strong. To guard against this trend, disastrous to historical truth, my study including the library and archives, shall be sealed right after my death by the proper legal authorities and no one shall be permitted to look into my papers until my Trustee, hereinafter named, is duly appointed and qualified and takes control and custody thereof.
   
   These documents are of crucial importance to the future of newborn generations. There are many emotionally sick people who will try to damage my reputation regardless of what happens to infants, if only their personal lives would remain hidden in the darkness of a forsaken age of the Stalins and Hitlers.
   
   e. I therefore direct my Trustee and his successors that nothing whatsoever must be changed in any of the documents and that they should be put away and stored for 50 years to secure their safety from destruction and falsification by anyone interested in the falsification and destruction of historical truth.
   
   f. These directives are established by me solely for the preservation of documented truth as I lived it during my lifetime.
   
   g. I have throughout all of my lifetime loved infants and children and adolescents, and I also was always loved and understood by them. Infants used to smile at me because I had deep contact with them and children of two or three very often used to become thoughtful and serious when they looked at me. This was one of the great happy privileges of my life, and I want to express in some manner my thanks for that love bestowed upon me by my little friends. May Fate and the great Ocean of Living Energy, from whence they came and into which they must return sooner or later, bless them with happiness and contentment and freedom during their life times. I hope to have contributed my good share to their future happiness.
   
   To this end the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust Fund should be mainly devoted and safely directed.
   
   h. I bequeath the cabin below the road opposite the Student's Laboratory at Orgonon to my daughter Dr. Eva Reich.
   
   i. The 80% of all income, profits or proceeds due me and the Trust from royalties and tools originating in my discoveries shall be devoted to the care of infants everywhere, towards legal security of infants, children and adolescents in emotional, social, parental, medical, legal, educational, professional or other distress. Part of the proceeds may be used for basic orgonomic research.
   
   j. Should the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust Fund fail of purpose, then my Trustee after careful deliberation of the matter shall transfer all of the assets of the said Trust Fund to an appropriate agency designed and capable to handle such affairs.

   
   
4. My son Peter will need financial support for many years in his education to adult social activity. I therefore direct that:
   
   

   a. All Treasury Bonds of the United States of America, bought and made out in Peter's name, should not be used before the bonds fully mature.
   
   b. I hereby specifically give, devise and bequeath certain bonds made out in my name, my son Peter Reich as receiver after my death, to Ilse Ollendorff in trust nevertheless, or in the event of her death to Eva Reich in trust nevertheless, to have and to hold the same and receive the income and profits thereof and pay out to Peter the income, proceeds and principal thereof at the rate of $150. per month.
   
   c. I hereby give, devise and bequeath to Peter any two of my rifles which he may choose, and together with those rifles such accessories as cartridge belt and cleaning material as he desires; my photographic equipment; such of my clothes as he may choose. For his life and until he decides not to use it personally, prior to his death, possession of the so-called "lower-cabin" at Orgonon with its furniture, together with surrounding acreage of about 10 acres, more or less, subject to a license in Eva Reich to use the cabin if she wishes; upon the death of Peter or upon his deciding not to use it personally, or upon his having not used it personally for a period of three years, the lower cabin shall revert to the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust Fund for use by the Fund as a summer home for children; under no circumstances shall such summer home be in the possession, custody or control of any person other than Peter, or Eva Reich, if she likes, as hereinbefore set forth.

   
   
5. I hereby give, devise and bequeath to my daughter Eva $10,000, any of my personal furniture she may desire to possess.
   
   
6. I hereby give, devise and bequeath to Aurora Karrer $4,000 and my Chrysler 300, 1955 automobile.
   
   
7. I hereby give, devise and bequeath to my daughter Eva and my son Peter, share and share alike each 10% of all royalties which may be due at the time of my death or thereafter, which such royalties mean income from my discoveries, books or translations of books.
   
   
8. I hereby nominate, constitute and appoint Eva Reich M. D. as the Trustee of this My Last Will and Testament and as my Trustee direct that he or she shall be required to file no bond as such Executor or Trustee, any law to the contrary notwithstanding;' and I further direct that in the execution of the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust Fund, my said Trustee by an instrument in writing may appoint a successor, in the event my Trustee resigns or becomes incapacitated, or by a testamentary instrument may appoint a successor upon his death, which said successor and all of my trustees shall thereafter successively have the same power; it being my sole direction in this regard that such successor trustees shall make appointments consistent with my expressed purposes.
   
   
9. I harbor no ill will against my relatives. Most of them I have not met for many decades. Since I know of no relative of mine who would be able to serve the main purposes of this will, namely the Safeguarding of the Full Truth about my Life and Work, I disinherit for all future and in every respect ALL my relatives by blood and by marriage (both legal and common) on both my father's and my mother's line. They should have no claim whatsoever, no matter who, in what form or under whatever pretext to any of my present or future possessions, or to the possessions of the Wilhelm Reich Foundation which carries my name and was founded to preserve my discoveries; no claim on any ground and at no time whatever. This includes my own children with the exceptions mentioned above.
   
   
10. This Will and all of the provisions herein shall not be wholly or partially revoked or rendered or rendered wholly or partially ineffective or otherwise affected by the subsequent birth of a child or children to me.
    
    
11. I do not wish to be buried in any cemetery, but on Orgonon under the open porch, facing East, or at Rock Cove in the South. My Jo Jenks bust should be put on top of my grave. The inscription should be on granite and should contain the following words: Wilhelm Reich, born March 24, 1897, died___________, ________, No religious ceremonies should be performed. The "Ave Maria" of Schubert, sung by Marian Anderson, should be played.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set hand and seal this 8th day of March, 1957.

Wilhelm Reich (L.S.)

Witnesses:
William Moise
Michael Silvert
William Steig

Signed, Sealed, PUBLISHED AND DECLARED by the above named Testator as his Last Will and Testament, and we, at his request and in his presence and in the presence of each other, have hereunto signed our names as subscribing witnesses this ____ day of March, 1957.

William Moise, residing at, R. F. D. 1 Box 721 Alexandria, Va.
Michael Silvert, residing at, 50 Grove St., N. Y. 14, N. Y.
William Steig, residing at, R. D. 2., Cream Ridge, N. J.