In 1930 Erikson married Joan Mowat Serson, a Canadian dancer and artist whom Erikson had met at a dress ball.[8][10] During their marriage Erikson converted to Christianity.[11][12][13]
In 1933, with Hitler's rise to power in Germany, the burning of Freud's books in Berlin and the potential Nazi threat to Austria, the Eriksons left an impoverished Vienna with their two young sons and emigrated to Copenhagen. Unable to regain Danish citizenship because of residence requirements, the Eriksons left for the United States, where citizenship would not be an issue.[7]