Emil Molt: Responsibility, Money, and Trust

Image above: Berta and Emil Molt
Image on the left: The first Waldorf school in Stuttgart, located on the Uhlandshöhe
Center and right of the image: A Waldorf-Astoria cigarette pack and the cover of the Waldorf-Nachrichten (Waldorf News), which Emil Molt had distributed to his workers as an educational resource.

Quote: «A clear-headed, level-headed, and courageous person.»

In early July 1919, a letter from Stuttgart arrived in Montagnola in the Swiss canton of Ticino: «We here continue to work faithfully. In one respect, we have now taken a serious step forward; while we established a workers’ educational school some time ago—the curriculum for which I have enclosed here—we are now moving forward with the establishment of a free Waldorf school. It will be a unified school in the best sense of the word, because the children of employees and workers will sit side by side—boys and girls of different denominations—and be taught by carefully selected teachers. By chance, the beautiful Uhlandshöhe estate on Kanonenweg came into our possession, so we should be able to begin in September.»

The letter is addressed to Hermann Hesse; the author is his childhood and school friend Emil Molt. Some time later, Hesse sends the Stuttgart businessman a lengthy reply, which includes, among other things, this kind remark regarding the Waldorf School: «I read about your magnificent school with great interest and a hearty Bravo!’»

A foundation born of two movements

It is an almost unique situation for a school to grow out of a business enterprise, and this is true in two ways: first, through the workers’ demand for and desire for education; and second, through the parallel considerations and plans of the entrepreneur Emil Molt himself to found a school. Molt would have liked to recruit Hesse as a sort of public relations representative for his plans, but he was unsuccessful. Hesse felt a connection to literature, not to business, politics, or the public sphere—quite unlike Molt.

Entrepreneur, personality, and biography

Molt was, in many ways, a remarkable man, a striking personality: «His small, stocky, corpulent figure, with its beautifully shaped, large, bald head, revealed a man of strong will. His small blue eyes were lively and had an intelligent, penetrating, and energetic gaze. His large mouth with thin lips and a strong chin gave his very attractive face a distinctive character», as his contemporary Rudolf Grosse described him. After a difficult time in school and becoming an orphan at age 14, Molt worked his way up as a self-made man and built a company with nearly a thousand employees. The Waldorf-Astoria Cigarette Factory was located at Hackstraße 11 in eastern Stuttgart and operated from 1906 to 1929. Molt is also deeply committed to social responsibility as an employer. Waldorf-Astoria operates two recreational centers, a cafeteria, and a library for its staff. An in-house savings bank pays above-average interest rates, and a pension fund is designed to provide for retirement. Educational opportunities such as the employee magazine Waldorf-Nachrichten (Waldorf news) and a workers’ educational school—which could be attended in part during working hours—were, alongside the school for workers’ children, an expression of his desire for social progress. At that time, Molt was deeply rooted in Stuttgart’s economic, social, and political circles and knew everyone of note. He was able to secure an appointment with a government minister with relative ease and was friends with Simons, the foreign minister at the time.

Theosophy, Steiner, and the first Waldorf teachers

He was also interested in the arts and culture in general, and so as early as 1900 he came across theosophy and, shortly thereafter, Rudolf Steiner. He joined the group around Adolf Arenson and Carl Unger and studied anthroposophy with them. Looking back, Molt notes that the fact that there were so many practical anthroposophical initiatives in Stuttgart was precisely due to this thorough and epistemologically sound foundation. Shortly thereafter, he also met the first two Waldorf teachers: 21-year-old Karl Stockmeyer in Malsch and 18-year-old Herbert Hahn in Heidelberg.

He regarded his special task as maintaining contact with the so-called «outside world» and translating anthroposophical ideas into practical reality. He soon became treasurer of the Stuttgart Anthroposophical Society, served on the board of the AG Der Kommende Tag in Stuttgart and the Swiss AG Futurum, and was appointed curator of the construction of the Goetheanum. At the school, he was called «Father» and «Protector», and at his company, «Father Molt». He always managed to raise substantial sums of money for all the projects. He financed both the school building and the large plot of land on the Uhlandshöhe out of his own pocket. Herbert Hahn recalls: «The department heads and assistant directors at the factory would tap their foreheads with a knowing look in their eyes whenever they spoke of the boss’s fantastical plans to found a school in his absence. I don’t know how often I saw that gesture back then.»

Intuition, Money, and Decisions

Molt does not let this deter him; he possesses a unique intuition from which he draws the confidence and courage for his decisions: «One had the impression that a part of his soul—as if in an intense daydream—was immersed in some important plans, in fundamental considerations», as Herbert Hahn describes it. When it comes to important decisions, Molt never makes petty financial calculations. He has a heart that’s always ready to give—in both big and small ways. To celebrate his silver wedding anniversary, he raises considerable sums for the school; at Christmas, he gives gifts to the teachers—even simple ones like bread sticks and cigarettes, if necessary. Incidentally, his son Walter seems to emulate this generosity by handing out cigarettes to his classmates—much to the teachers’ dismay! Emil Molt gives each graduating senior a copy of Steiner’s Philosophy of Freedom, and he also gives gifts to students in connection with their first youth celebration. The activities of the Free Religious Education program are particularly close to his heart.

Berta Molt, «school mother», and Walter

In all his endeavors, his wife Berta stands by his side as an indispensable pillar of support—«the soul of his life», as he calls her. At school, she is revered as the «school mother» and also works there herself as a home economics teacher. Without her, his life’s work would have been almost unimaginable. The school becomes their shared «child». Their son Walter also attends the school, but he frequently causes trouble and is often the subject of critical discussion at faculty meetings. This makes it all the more painful for Molt when Walter leaves school in tenth grade.

External attacks, internal conflicts

Courageous and determined, Molt also stood up to the attacks directed against Rudolf Steiner in Stuttgart. As early as December 1919, Dietrich Eckart—a key ideological figure in Adolf Hitler’s inner circle and co-founder of the NSDAP—launched a scathing attack on Molt and the founding of the school. Molt remained largely unfazed by this. Internal conflicts weighed more heavily on him: His commitment provoked envy and resistance, and the burden of responsibility brought with it much personal suffering. In the final years of his life, he also struggled with serious health setbacks.

What are the source and foundation of his determination and courage? Rudolf Steiner speaks so clearly about this in relation to hardly any other person—that through his spirit of service, higher spiritual forces were able to connect with his actions. Molt possesses an unshakable trust in the efficacy of the spiritual world. «For me, what matters most is how committed I feel to Dr. Steiner and to the spiritual world … The Waldorf School is a gift from the spiritual world …» Molt spoke these words on February 6, 1936, a few months before his death, during a confrontation with a small but active group of National Socialist-minded parents at Uhlandshöhe. As chairman of the school association, he defends the school one last time, in a sense—against its dissolution and against conforming to the regime: «You can’t separate pedagogy from anthroposophy!»

Here, too, he comes across as clear, objective, and courageous. Overall, this makes it clear what Herbert Hahn—the first Waldorf teacher who knew Molt very well from personal experience—emphasizes: «It should … become a spiritual tradition within the entire Waldorf school movement—to keep the image of Emil Molt alive in the consciousness of both teachers and students, alongside that of Rudolf Steiner.»