Waldorf
"Das grüne Heft" als Buch
02.Dez.2008 20:44 Uhr
Christoph Kellers „Das Grüne Heft- Mein Konflikt mit meiner anthroposophischen Erziehung“ ist seit geraumer Zeit in Auszügen bei den Egoisten zu lesen. Früher waren diese und weitere Teile auch auf einer eigenen Homepage zu lesen und haben dabei eine gewisse Bekanntheit erreicht. Nun ist diese Arbeit, in der Christoph auch zum „Mut zum Nicht- Glauben“ aufruft, endlich als Buch erschienen und hier bei Amazon zu beziehen. Das Buch richtet sich an Menschen, die „in irgend einer Form mit der Waldorfschule zu tun haben oder hatten: An Menschen, die pädagogisch tätig sind, waren oder werden wollen, an Schüler, Absolventen und Eltern, die ihre Kinder in die Waldorfschule geschickt haben oder noch schicken wollen, an alle, die selbst Schwierigkeiten mit der Erziehung durch die Waldorfschule hatten oder noch haben, aber auch an alle, die den Mut und das Interesse haben, überlieferte und übernommene Inhalte aus Religion und Philosophie daraufhin zu prüfen, in wie weit sie mit der Wirklichkeit, auf die sie sich beziehen, übereinstimmen.“
Wenn er nicht gerade Bücher schreibt, beschäftigt sich Christoph, der in Thailand lebt, mit der Fotografie von Vögeln, Reptilien, Insekten und Pflanzen seiner Wahlheimat.
Wenn er nicht gerade Bücher schreibt, beschäftigt sich Christoph, der in Thailand lebt, mit der Fotografie von Vögeln, Reptilien, Insekten und Pflanzen seiner Wahlheimat.
Comments
Peter Staudenmaier: Waldorf and the re-ascent of the German Volk
29.Mai.2008 21:05 Uhr Abgelegt in:Pädagogik & Psychologie
Even after a series of severe setbacks for the positive vision of Waldorf education as part of the ‘new Germany’, the hope of Steiner's educational principles making a significant contribution to the education of the Nazi state continued to animate central segments of the Waldorf movement. The October 1937 newsletter of the Waldorf school in Stuttgart contains several examples. An internal report from the director of the school declared that “today as always, the teaching staff aspires to contribute to the constructive pedagogical measures of the state. The Waldorf school has much to contribute to these efforts of the state.” The report also noted with pride the role of Waldorf pupils within the Hitler Youth. Another article in the same newsletter reflected the combination of concern and hopeful expectation: "The basic mood of the participants in this year’s membership assembly of the Waldorf school association could be described as one of ‘anticipation.’ In every face the anxious question could be seen: Will our efforts meet with understanding, will the contribution that we are willing to make to the rise of the new Germany be accepted?"
In spite of difficult circumstances and upcoming challenges, the article expressed confidence: “The conviction that our efforts are in accordance with the re-ascent of our German Volk and fatherland gives us the strength to meet these challenges.” This all-important re-ascent of Germany (Wiederaufstieg unseres deutschen Volkes und Vaterlandes) was cast in explicit reference to the Nazi ‘revolution’ of 1933, seen as a great opportunity for the Waldorf movement:
"After the turn-around of our public life in 1933, the leadership of Germany recognized the renewal of the education of our youth as its most urgent task. Both the faculty of the Waldorf school and the Waldorf school association could hope that the years of selfless labor which they had contributed toward this task would now find recognition and support." (All quotes from Mitteilungen an die Mitglieder des Waldorfschulvereins Stuttgart, October 1937)
Peter Staudenmaier
In spite of difficult circumstances and upcoming challenges, the article expressed confidence: “The conviction that our efforts are in accordance with the re-ascent of our German Volk and fatherland gives us the strength to meet these challenges.” This all-important re-ascent of Germany (Wiederaufstieg unseres deutschen Volkes und Vaterlandes) was cast in explicit reference to the Nazi ‘revolution’ of 1933, seen as a great opportunity for the Waldorf movement:
"After the turn-around of our public life in 1933, the leadership of Germany recognized the renewal of the education of our youth as its most urgent task. Both the faculty of the Waldorf school and the Waldorf school association could hope that the years of selfless labor which they had contributed toward this task would now find recognition and support." (All quotes from Mitteilungen an die Mitglieder des Waldorfschulvereins Stuttgart, October 1937)
Peter Staudenmaier
Peter Staudenmaier: Waldorf schools building the Third Reich
04.Mär.2008 18:53 Uhr Abgelegt in:Nationalsozialismus | Pädagogik & Psychologie
Along with Rene Maikowski, Elisabeth Klein was one of the top spokespeople for the Waldorf movement during the Nazi era. She was a longtime anthroposophist who had worked with Steiner personally; she was also founder and leader of the Dresden Waldorf school. Klein was particularly successful in furthering the Waldorf cause with high-level Nazis such as Rudolf Hess and Alfred Baeumler.
Klein viewed her task in 1937 as promoting, in her words, the “honest work of the Waldorf schools in building the Third Reich.” (Klein to Baeumler, December 18, 1937 ) The opening sentence of the draft constitution for the Dresden Waldorf school, prepared by Klein in early 1939 and meant as a model for other Waldorf schools as well, stated unequivocally: “The Rudolf Steiner School in Dresden stands on the foundation of the National Socialist state.” (“Entwurf einer Konstitution der Rudolf Steiner-Schule Dresden (gleichzeitig als Entwurf für andere Waldorfschulen)” March 13, 1939, signed by Elisabeth Klein) Already in 1933, the Hannover Waldorf school (led by Maikowski) had declared: “The faculty stands entirely on the foundation of the National Socialist state.”
This perspective was shared by a number of Klein’s interlocutors within the Nazi party hierarchy, including Ernst Schulte-Strathaus on Hess’s staff. Schulte-Strathaus held that Waldorf schools “work according to National Socialist principles and produce excellent benefits.” In his view, Waldorf education was to be considered “wholly positive from the standpoint of the National Socialist movement.” His 1934 report to Hess on the Waldorf schools began as follows:
"The goals of the Waldorf schools coincide in their fundamental principles with what the Führer has called for in education: “above all the development of character, especially fostering willpower and determination, as well as educating toward a joyful embrace of responsibility, and only last scientific instruction” (Mein Kampf 452). The Waldorf schools have been fulfilling this mission, as articulated by the Führer, for fifteen years."
The report continued: "The educational approach of the Waldorf schools grows out of the German essence and is systematically directed against materialist thinking and mere intellectualism. A way must be found to make this educational approach useful to the reshaping of the educational system in order to secure the spiritual and soul content of National Socialism. This should not be difficult, since the basic principles of Waldorf schooling are much closer to the ideas of National Socialism than may appear at first glance; the words of the Führer quoted earlier prove this." (Schulte-Strathaus, “Bericht an den Stellvertreter des Führers über die Waldorf-Schulen” May 14, 1934)
Peter Staudenmaier
______________
Hier eine weitere, umfangreiche Quelle zu den Aktivitäten Maikowskis und Kleins aus den "Flensburger Heften"
Zur Biografie Maikowskis Recherche bei Kulturimpuls
Klein viewed her task in 1937 as promoting, in her words, the “honest work of the Waldorf schools in building the Third Reich.” (Klein to Baeumler, December 18, 1937 ) The opening sentence of the draft constitution for the Dresden Waldorf school, prepared by Klein in early 1939 and meant as a model for other Waldorf schools as well, stated unequivocally: “The Rudolf Steiner School in Dresden stands on the foundation of the National Socialist state.” (“Entwurf einer Konstitution der Rudolf Steiner-Schule Dresden (gleichzeitig als Entwurf für andere Waldorfschulen)” March 13, 1939, signed by Elisabeth Klein) Already in 1933, the Hannover Waldorf school (led by Maikowski) had declared: “The faculty stands entirely on the foundation of the National Socialist state.”
This perspective was shared by a number of Klein’s interlocutors within the Nazi party hierarchy, including Ernst Schulte-Strathaus on Hess’s staff. Schulte-Strathaus held that Waldorf schools “work according to National Socialist principles and produce excellent benefits.” In his view, Waldorf education was to be considered “wholly positive from the standpoint of the National Socialist movement.” His 1934 report to Hess on the Waldorf schools began as follows:
"The goals of the Waldorf schools coincide in their fundamental principles with what the Führer has called for in education: “above all the development of character, especially fostering willpower and determination, as well as educating toward a joyful embrace of responsibility, and only last scientific instruction” (Mein Kampf 452). The Waldorf schools have been fulfilling this mission, as articulated by the Führer, for fifteen years."
The report continued: "The educational approach of the Waldorf schools grows out of the German essence and is systematically directed against materialist thinking and mere intellectualism. A way must be found to make this educational approach useful to the reshaping of the educational system in order to secure the spiritual and soul content of National Socialism. This should not be difficult, since the basic principles of Waldorf schooling are much closer to the ideas of National Socialism than may appear at first glance; the words of the Führer quoted earlier prove this." (Schulte-Strathaus, “Bericht an den Stellvertreter des Führers über die Waldorf-Schulen” May 14, 1934)
Peter Staudenmaier
______________
Hier eine weitere, umfangreiche Quelle zu den Aktivitäten Maikowskis und Kleins aus den "Flensburger Heften"
Zur Biografie Maikowskis Recherche bei Kulturimpuls
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
Peter Staudenmaier: Nazi supporters of Waldorf
Waldorf schools had a number of enemies within the Nazi state and party apparatus, from local and regional educational officials to high-profile figures like Martin Bormann and Reinhard Heydrich. Waldorf also had quite a few supporters within the ranks of the Nazi hierarchy.
Ohlendorf*
Anthroposophical sources generally credit a small number of figures in the party apparatus with long-term efforts on behalf of Waldorf education, most prominently Rudolf Hess, Otto Ohlendorf, and Alfred Baeumler. Each of these men did indeed play an important role in promoting and sustaining Waldorf initiatives during the Third Reich, and they are recalled fondly in the memoirs of Waldorf representatives. (I've discussed each of them before, and will set them aside for now in favor of lesser-known figures.) Waldorf advocates additionally viewed two high officials within the Nazi Ministry of Edcuation as allies of the Waldorf cause: Helmut Bojunga and Albert Holfelder. Bojunga was head of the Education Office in the Ministry of Education from 1934 to 1937, and Holfelder held the same position from 1937 onward; the position was known as the Minister of Education's right-hand man.
Other powerful Nazi officials also intervened occasionally in support of Waldorf and its advocates. Hess’s counterpart at the Führer Chancellery, Philipp Bouhler, provided early assistance to the leadership of the League of Waldorf Schools and arranged crucial contacts within the party hierarchy. Hans Schemm, the founding leader of the National Socialist Teachers League, was for a time viewed as a potential protector by Waldorf adherents. Even the Interior Minister, Wilhelm Frick, acted to impede the attempts by anti-anthroposophical Nazis to dismantle the Waldorf schools. After WWII, Nazi-era Waldorf leaders Elisabeth Klein and René Maikowski identified a number of further less prominent Nazi officials who were supportive of Waldorf education.
In practical terms, however, perhaps the most influential party and governmental figures working in favor of the Waldorf movement, generally behind the scenes, were Lotar Eickhoff, Alfred Leitgen, and Ernst Schulte-Strathaus. Leitgen and Schulte-Strathaus repeatedly used their positions on Hess’s staff to promote the interests of Waldorf schools and defend them from adversaries in other corners of the far-flung constellation of Nazi agencies. From his post in the Interior Ministry, Eickhoff launched a determined campaign to establish Waldorf education as an integral part of the institutional landscape of National Socialist Germany. The work of this group was moreover made possible by the continued support of both Hess and Goering.
The Waldorf movement also enjoyed at times a notably positive reception in the National Socialist press. The August 1935 issue of the Waldorf journal Erziehungskunst, 134-36, carried three pages of excerpts from the local, regional, and national press on various Waldorf events, including reports from the local Nazi newspaper, the Stuttgarter NS-Kurier, as well as the Völkischer Beobachter, all extremely positive. Three excerpts were included from the Völkischer Beobachter alone, the flagship Nazi newspaper. Even in 1939, a lengthy article in the Völkischer Beobachter explicitly embraced the “healthy” aspects of Waldorf education as an example of what is positive and worthy of adoption from anthroposophy into National Socialism; see “Wissenschaftliche Arbeit am nationalsozialistischen Gedankengut” Völkischer Beobachter January 29, 1939, 5-6.
_________
Zu Ohlendorf: "During the first nine months of Ohlendorf's year in command of Einsatzgruppe D, this force destroyed more than 90,000 human beings. These thousands, killed at an average rate of 340 per day, were variously denominated Jews, gypsies, Asiatics, and "undesirables". Between 16 November and 15 December 1941, this Einsatzgruppe killed an average of 700 human beings per day for the whole 30-day period. The intensity of the labors of Einsatzgruppe D is suggested by an April 1942 report upon its work in the Crimea, which states- "The Crimea is freed of Jews..."" Link als Ergänzung. Elisabeth Kleins Verteidigungsschrift zu Ohlendorf findet man in ihren "Begegnungen. Mitteilenswertes aus meinem Leben" " 112 ff, Freiburg 1978. M.E.
Ohlendorf*
Anthroposophical sources generally credit a small number of figures in the party apparatus with long-term efforts on behalf of Waldorf education, most prominently Rudolf Hess, Otto Ohlendorf, and Alfred Baeumler. Each of these men did indeed play an important role in promoting and sustaining Waldorf initiatives during the Third Reich, and they are recalled fondly in the memoirs of Waldorf representatives. (I've discussed each of them before, and will set them aside for now in favor of lesser-known figures.) Waldorf advocates additionally viewed two high officials within the Nazi Ministry of Edcuation as allies of the Waldorf cause: Helmut Bojunga and Albert Holfelder. Bojunga was head of the Education Office in the Ministry of Education from 1934 to 1937, and Holfelder held the same position from 1937 onward; the position was known as the Minister of Education's right-hand man.
Other powerful Nazi officials also intervened occasionally in support of Waldorf and its advocates. Hess’s counterpart at the Führer Chancellery, Philipp Bouhler, provided early assistance to the leadership of the League of Waldorf Schools and arranged crucial contacts within the party hierarchy. Hans Schemm, the founding leader of the National Socialist Teachers League, was for a time viewed as a potential protector by Waldorf adherents. Even the Interior Minister, Wilhelm Frick, acted to impede the attempts by anti-anthroposophical Nazis to dismantle the Waldorf schools. After WWII, Nazi-era Waldorf leaders Elisabeth Klein and René Maikowski identified a number of further less prominent Nazi officials who were supportive of Waldorf education.
In practical terms, however, perhaps the most influential party and governmental figures working in favor of the Waldorf movement, generally behind the scenes, were Lotar Eickhoff, Alfred Leitgen, and Ernst Schulte-Strathaus. Leitgen and Schulte-Strathaus repeatedly used their positions on Hess’s staff to promote the interests of Waldorf schools and defend them from adversaries in other corners of the far-flung constellation of Nazi agencies. From his post in the Interior Ministry, Eickhoff launched a determined campaign to establish Waldorf education as an integral part of the institutional landscape of National Socialist Germany. The work of this group was moreover made possible by the continued support of both Hess and Goering.
The Waldorf movement also enjoyed at times a notably positive reception in the National Socialist press. The August 1935 issue of the Waldorf journal Erziehungskunst, 134-36, carried three pages of excerpts from the local, regional, and national press on various Waldorf events, including reports from the local Nazi newspaper, the Stuttgarter NS-Kurier, as well as the Völkischer Beobachter, all extremely positive. Three excerpts were included from the Völkischer Beobachter alone, the flagship Nazi newspaper. Even in 1939, a lengthy article in the Völkischer Beobachter explicitly embraced the “healthy” aspects of Waldorf education as an example of what is positive and worthy of adoption from anthroposophy into National Socialism; see “Wissenschaftliche Arbeit am nationalsozialistischen Gedankengut” Völkischer Beobachter January 29, 1939, 5-6.
_________
Zu Ohlendorf: "During the first nine months of Ohlendorf's year in command of Einsatzgruppe D, this force destroyed more than 90,000 human beings. These thousands, killed at an average rate of 340 per day, were variously denominated Jews, gypsies, Asiatics, and "undesirables". Between 16 November and 15 December 1941, this Einsatzgruppe killed an average of 700 human beings per day for the whole 30-day period. The intensity of the labors of Einsatzgruppe D is suggested by an April 1942 report upon its work in the Crimea, which states- "The Crimea is freed of Jews..."" Link als Ergänzung. Elisabeth Kleins Verteidigungsschrift zu Ohlendorf findet man in ihren "Begegnungen. Mitteilenswertes aus meinem Leben" " 112 ff, Freiburg 1978. M.E.
Peter Staudenmaier: Waldorf advocates who were Nazis
07.Jan.2008 21:21 Uhr Abgelegt in:Anthroposophie | Nationalsozialismus
The majority faction within the Waldorf movement during the Third Reich did not belong to the Nazi party, as far as I have been able to determine, or to its more notorious affiliated organizations (Waldorf teachers did belong to the Nazi teachers association), and their various expressions of sympathy for National Socialism were not for the most part accompanied by active participation in Nazism. But alongside this majority faction was another grouping, smaller but very vocal and for a time quite influential within the Waldorf milieu. This second faction included several active Nazis. It is worth noting that the mainstream Waldorf leadership sometimes boasted of its close working relationship with this openly pro-Nazi tendency within the Waldorf movement.
The most important members of the explicitly Nazi-affiliated Waldorf grouping were Eugen Link, Margarete Link, Leo Tölke, Hermann Mahle, Els Moll, and Hans Pohlmann. While the Nazi-affiliated Waldorf advocates did not all share the same vision for how to integrate Waldorf education into the National Socialist project, they did consider anthroposophy and Waldorf compatible with and congruent with Nazi ideals. Here is some basic information on each of them.
Eugen and Margarete Link, a longtime anthroposophist couple and parents of four Waldorf pupils, had known Steiner personally and belonged to the Anthroposophical Society from 1924 onward. Eugen Link was an officer in the Luftwaffe and worked on the construction of the Autobahn, while Margarete Link devoted much of her time to advancing the Waldorf cause through her various Nazi connections. Both were party members and served on influential Waldorf boards and committees.
Leo Tölke, father of four Waldorf pupils, was secretary of the Stuttgart Waldorf school and worked for the publishing arm of the Waldorf movement. He was a member of the Anthroposophical Society until mid-1934, held a position in the SA, and has been described as a “dedicated National Socialist.” (Uwe Werner, Anthroposophen in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus, 118)
Another Waldorf parent, industrialist Hermann Mahle, was a prominent Waldorf official and belonged to the Christian Community. Mahle was also a Nazi party member, and one of the leading Waldorf representatives in negotiations with various party and state agencies in 1934 and 1935. Mahle additionally headed the “National Socialist Parents Group” at the Stuttgart Waldorf school, which included 53 party members and 22 members of other Nazi organizations.
Els Moll, member of the Anthroposophical Society since 1925, was among the most outspokenly Nazi advocates for Waldorf education during her time as a teacher at the Stuttgart school in 1933 and 1934. Both she and Margarete Link remained committed supporters of Waldorf for a long time after parting ways with the Stuttgart school. Moll receives a fair bit of attention in anthroposophist accounts of the Waldorf movement during the Nazi era.
Perhaps the most noteworthy and hitherto neglected member of the openly pro-Nazi Waldorf faction was Hans Pohlmann, a wealthy building contractor and longstanding anthroposophist who had known Steiner personally. Pohlmann founded the second Waldorf school in Germany in Hamburg-Wandsbek in 1922. With the exception of the failed schools in Cologne and Essen, the Wandsbek school was the only other German Waldorf school besides the Stuttgart school established during Steiner’s lifetime, and its initial faculty and curriculum were overseen by Steiner directly. Pohlmann’s role thus paralleled that of Emil Molt at the Stuttgart school. In 1933, the Wandsbek school was the second largest in Germany, after the original Stuttgart school. Pohlmann, who also headed a branch of the Anthroposophical Society in Hamburg, remained chairman of the local Waldorf school association throughout the Wandsbek school’s first seventeen years of existence. He joined the Nazi party some time before 1934. Basic background on Pohlmann can be found in Götte, “Erfahrungen mit Schulautonomie,” 299-302. Other anthroposophist sources seem remarkably reticent to discuss Pohlmann and his contributions to the Waldorf movement; Deuchert does not mention him, and Werner refers to him only in passing. None of the existing literature mentions his Nazi party membership.
The most important members of the explicitly Nazi-affiliated Waldorf grouping were Eugen Link, Margarete Link, Leo Tölke, Hermann Mahle, Els Moll, and Hans Pohlmann. While the Nazi-affiliated Waldorf advocates did not all share the same vision for how to integrate Waldorf education into the National Socialist project, they did consider anthroposophy and Waldorf compatible with and congruent with Nazi ideals. Here is some basic information on each of them.
Eugen and Margarete Link, a longtime anthroposophist couple and parents of four Waldorf pupils, had known Steiner personally and belonged to the Anthroposophical Society from 1924 onward. Eugen Link was an officer in the Luftwaffe and worked on the construction of the Autobahn, while Margarete Link devoted much of her time to advancing the Waldorf cause through her various Nazi connections. Both were party members and served on influential Waldorf boards and committees.
Leo Tölke, father of four Waldorf pupils, was secretary of the Stuttgart Waldorf school and worked for the publishing arm of the Waldorf movement. He was a member of the Anthroposophical Society until mid-1934, held a position in the SA, and has been described as a “dedicated National Socialist.” (Uwe Werner, Anthroposophen in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus, 118)
Another Waldorf parent, industrialist Hermann Mahle, was a prominent Waldorf official and belonged to the Christian Community. Mahle was also a Nazi party member, and one of the leading Waldorf representatives in negotiations with various party and state agencies in 1934 and 1935. Mahle additionally headed the “National Socialist Parents Group” at the Stuttgart Waldorf school, which included 53 party members and 22 members of other Nazi organizations.
Els Moll, member of the Anthroposophical Society since 1925, was among the most outspokenly Nazi advocates for Waldorf education during her time as a teacher at the Stuttgart school in 1933 and 1934. Both she and Margarete Link remained committed supporters of Waldorf for a long time after parting ways with the Stuttgart school. Moll receives a fair bit of attention in anthroposophist accounts of the Waldorf movement during the Nazi era.
Perhaps the most noteworthy and hitherto neglected member of the openly pro-Nazi Waldorf faction was Hans Pohlmann, a wealthy building contractor and longstanding anthroposophist who had known Steiner personally. Pohlmann founded the second Waldorf school in Germany in Hamburg-Wandsbek in 1922. With the exception of the failed schools in Cologne and Essen, the Wandsbek school was the only other German Waldorf school besides the Stuttgart school established during Steiner’s lifetime, and its initial faculty and curriculum were overseen by Steiner directly. Pohlmann’s role thus paralleled that of Emil Molt at the Stuttgart school. In 1933, the Wandsbek school was the second largest in Germany, after the original Stuttgart school. Pohlmann, who also headed a branch of the Anthroposophical Society in Hamburg, remained chairman of the local Waldorf school association throughout the Wandsbek school’s first seventeen years of existence. He joined the Nazi party some time before 1934. Basic background on Pohlmann can be found in Götte, “Erfahrungen mit Schulautonomie,” 299-302. Other anthroposophist sources seem remarkably reticent to discuss Pohlmann and his contributions to the Waldorf movement; Deuchert does not mention him, and Werner refers to him only in passing. None of the existing literature mentions his Nazi party membership.
Waldorf and the "national community" von Peter Staudenmaier
12.Dez.2007 00:45 Uhr Abgelegt in:Anthroposophie | Pädagogik & Psychologie
"To a large extent, the complicated struggle over Waldorf education in Germany from 1933 onward can be understood as a series of conflicts about the true nature of the "Volksgemeinschaft," the people’s community or national community, a theme which played a conspicuous role in anthroposophical as well as Nazi contributions to the Waldorf debate. This debate involved competing factions within both the Nazi movement and the anthroposophical movement, and since much of it was carried out via written texts, we have lots of evidence about the various positions. To make sense of this evidence, it helps to keep in mind that the notion of the Volksgemeinschaft or national community was a central element in Nazi rhetoric that also had distinct roots within anthroposophical doctrine."...
weiter
weiter