Issue 12/24

Adoration and Contempt

Angelika Lonnemann

His critics, in turn, invented the most colorful metaphors for him, calling him a charlatan, miracle doctor, demagogue, philosophical soldier of fortune or fanatical apostle; Kurt Tucholsky even called him the «Jesus Christ of the little man». The quintessence of anthroposophy, as Wilhelm Renner wrote polemically in the Berliner Tageblatt, was to make sense of the senseless.

When Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy and Waldorf education, died in 1925, many obituaries appeared in the contemporary media. The book Rudolf Steiner in Nachrufen (Rudolf Steiner in Obituaries), recently published by Info3, contains 46 such obituaries from newspapers of all political and denominational persuasions. They reflect the controversial views of Steiner, his followers, his opponents and the period of 1925.

It is astonishing that one hundred years later, the evaluation and classification of Steiner seems to be similarly extreme - either one follows his ideas in the many forms of life that have since been institutionalized or one condemns all those who profess anthroposophy or Waldorf education. And this despite the fact that anthroposophists have had an intensive social impact over the past hundred years. Schools, kindergartens, biodynamic agriculture, anthroposophical clinics, pharmaceutical manufacturers, banks, publishing houses and other commercial enterprises have emerged as a result of Steiner's ideas.

2025 marks the centenary of Steiner's death. In this issue of Erziehungskunst, Walter Riethmüller defines the ideals derived from anthroposophy as an invitation to think for oneself, to think further and to take action. In conversation with Anne Brockmann, Hans Hutzel sheds light on the tricky relationship between Waldorf education and anthrosophy one hundred years after Steiner's death. Angelika Schmitt, soon to be co-director of the Rudolf Steiner Archives in Dornach, would like to prepare Steiner's work in such a way as to provide an authentic basis for scientific research into his written and artistic legacy.

I would also recommend all the other articles in this issue of Erziehungskunst. How is the neutrality requirement at Waldorf schools actually to be understood? Frank Steinwachs and Albrecht Hüttig write about this. Anne Brockmann describes how intensively an eleventh grade class in Hamm dealt with the elections in the USA. Heidi Käfer spoke to two educators who are developing new English textbooks for Waldorf schools with the aim of decolonizing English lessons and making them more non-discriminatory.

I wish you an enjoyable and interesting read. The following quote is said to come from Asia, with which I greet you warmly: «A kind word can warm you for three winter months.»

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