Peter Staudenmaier: Waldorf and the "national uprising"
Emphatic commitment to the national community was not confined to official statements from the leadership of the League of Waldorf Schools. A 1934 essay written by Richard Karutz on behalf of the parents at the Stuttgart Waldorf school offers a striking example of Waldorf advocates’ thinking on the new political situation in Germany. Referring to the Nazi ‘revolution’ of 1933 as the “national uprising” (völkische Erhebung), the first page announced:
"Since the national uprising of 1933, the launching of the nation toward the National Socialist unified people’s state and the most profound transformation of every political and social course of life, the school is committed to participation in the rebuilding of the Reich, along with every other cell of German life and every individual German person. Toward this goal, the school is committed to active collaboration, putting itself at the service of the leaders of the school system of the new Reich and showing them what positive values the school has to offer from its pedagogical experience." (Richard Karutz, “Erklärung aus dem Kreise der Elternschaft der Freien Waldorfschule Stuttgart” )
The leadership of the Stuttgart Waldorf school association endorsed the Karutz text and distributed it to the association’s membership in March 1934. None of the existing secondary literature quotes this eleven-page Karutz text. The passage above reads in the original: “Seit der völkischen Erhebung von 1933, dem Aufbruch der Nation zum nationalsozialistischen einheitlichen Volksstaat und der tiefstgreifenden Wandlung aller politischen, sozialen Lebensrichtung ist die Schule so gut wie jede andere deutsche Lebenszelle und jeder einzelne deutsche Mensch verpflichtet am Neuaufbau des Reiches mitzuwirken. Zu dem Zwecke ist sie verpflichtet, den Führern im Schulwesen des neuen Reiches sich zur tätigen Mitarbeit zur Verfügung zu stellen und ihnen zu zeigen, was sie aus ihrer pädagogischen Erfahrung an positiven Werten zu geben hat.”
Karutz continued:
"We declare, on the foundation of the New State, that we recognize the Free Waldorf School as an outstanding and reliable institution in accord with the New State. […] For fifteen years Waldorf pedagogy has been pursuing methodological paths and striving toward practical goals that point in the spiritual direction of the National Socialist uprising. Waldorf schooling anticipated demands of the New State and is well positioned to produce students who are thoroughly prepared in body, soul and spirit, who are capable and determined to serve the New State with personal dedication."
The text went on to emphasize that all of the Waldorf teachers at the Stuttgart school share the same “national convictions” (nationale Gesinnung), a “unified worldview” centered on “the spiritual-cultural mission of the German Volk.” As a result of this commitment, and what Karutz called the “authoritarian” methods of Waldorf pedagogy, many Waldorf graduates have “enthusiastically joined the National Socialist movement.” Karutz underscored the school’s devotion to the “national community,” boasted of the military background of the Waldorf faculty, and quoted Hitler repeatedly to demonstrate the proximity of Waldorf’s objectives to the premises of National Socialism.
Peter Staudenmaier
"Since the national uprising of 1933, the launching of the nation toward the National Socialist unified people’s state and the most profound transformation of every political and social course of life, the school is committed to participation in the rebuilding of the Reich, along with every other cell of German life and every individual German person. Toward this goal, the school is committed to active collaboration, putting itself at the service of the leaders of the school system of the new Reich and showing them what positive values the school has to offer from its pedagogical experience." (Richard Karutz, “Erklärung aus dem Kreise der Elternschaft der Freien Waldorfschule Stuttgart” )
The leadership of the Stuttgart Waldorf school association endorsed the Karutz text and distributed it to the association’s membership in March 1934. None of the existing secondary literature quotes this eleven-page Karutz text. The passage above reads in the original: “Seit der völkischen Erhebung von 1933, dem Aufbruch der Nation zum nationalsozialistischen einheitlichen Volksstaat und der tiefstgreifenden Wandlung aller politischen, sozialen Lebensrichtung ist die Schule so gut wie jede andere deutsche Lebenszelle und jeder einzelne deutsche Mensch verpflichtet am Neuaufbau des Reiches mitzuwirken. Zu dem Zwecke ist sie verpflichtet, den Führern im Schulwesen des neuen Reiches sich zur tätigen Mitarbeit zur Verfügung zu stellen und ihnen zu zeigen, was sie aus ihrer pädagogischen Erfahrung an positiven Werten zu geben hat.”
Karutz continued:
"We declare, on the foundation of the New State, that we recognize the Free Waldorf School as an outstanding and reliable institution in accord with the New State. […] For fifteen years Waldorf pedagogy has been pursuing methodological paths and striving toward practical goals that point in the spiritual direction of the National Socialist uprising. Waldorf schooling anticipated demands of the New State and is well positioned to produce students who are thoroughly prepared in body, soul and spirit, who are capable and determined to serve the New State with personal dedication."
The text went on to emphasize that all of the Waldorf teachers at the Stuttgart school share the same “national convictions” (nationale Gesinnung), a “unified worldview” centered on “the spiritual-cultural mission of the German Volk.” As a result of this commitment, and what Karutz called the “authoritarian” methods of Waldorf pedagogy, many Waldorf graduates have “enthusiastically joined the National Socialist movement.” Karutz underscored the school’s devotion to the “national community,” boasted of the military background of the Waldorf faculty, and quoted Hitler repeatedly to demonstrate the proximity of Waldorf’s objectives to the premises of National Socialism.
Peter Staudenmaier
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