Freud as a writer was not so productive in the period of the First World War. Still, two important articles of his characterize that period: 'On Narcissism: An Introduction' (1914) and 'A Child is being beaten' (1919a). The first was often quoted in the literature, and the other has come into focus recently, especially here in Serbia after the war years. The second article is considered from the point of view of specific trauma characterizing the situation of war, and how it affected Freud before and in the course of writing of this particular article. The decision to educate his daughter (and not his son) by taking her in didactic analysis and so to provide continuation out of his own family has been understood as a way of overcoming 'mortal' danger for psychoanalysis. The father - daughter relationship was looked upon as specific kind of union called narcissistic rapport. The situation created in such a way was used by Freud to develop his ideas about war and violence in a study of transformations of fantasy of humiliation. The implications for theory of psychoanalysis and for Anna Freud are discussed.