The Rudolf Steiner Archive

147

To Marie Steiner on a eurythmy tour
Monday, 7 March 1921

Stuttgart, 7 March 1921

My dear Mouse!

Before I leave Stuttgart,¹ I am sending this greeting quickly. Saturday morning we arrived; now Monday evening I want to leave. Wagner ² is coming with me. I will spend the night in Freiburg and will be in Dornach tomorrow. There was plenty to do in the short time available. And Ith ³ has already arrived here.

The most wretched smear campaign, originating in Göttingen and published in the Frankfurter Zeitung, ⁴ You have no doubt heard that the article, which of course will appear everywhere again, has brought. It is quite dreadful. I would be very grateful if I could at least arrive in Stuttgart again on the evening of the 15th ⁵ could; but it will just be the 8th until I am in Dornach, and then every day will be added up.

At noon today, a meeting was held here with Marx regarding the takeover of Waldorf-Astoria.⁶ I have negotiated with this Marx a Marxism that is not exactly unmarxist either. Incidentally, I can recommend Marx to you.

Otherwise, everything went well here, even if not exactly smoothly. Just the people in the building, Reebsteins and Olga ⁷ They are very nice and are visibly looking forward to seeing you.

Unfortunately I was in such a rush that I couldn't see del Monte. Hopefully everything will go well. Now the car is waiting and I am still waiting for Molt,⁸ who will bring me news of a fisherman who also has something to do with Waldorf-Astoria.

With my warmest regards,

Rudolf

• 1. After events in Holland (February 19 to March 3), Rudolf Steiner traveled to Stuttgart, Marie Steiner to Cologne for a eurythmy performance.
• 2. Otto Wagner, Stuttgart, secretary to Emil Molt.
• 3. Dr. Arnold I (1890-1979), 1920-1922 Director of Futurum AG. Later Director of Transport for the City of Zurich.
• 4. Göttingen was one of the main focuses of the opponents' activity. The aim of the attacks was not only the person of Rudolf Steiner and the anthroposophy he represented, but they were also directed against the efforts towards threefolding. Prof. Hugo Fuchs, director of the anatomical institute, emerged as the main opponent. On the one hand, personal motives were decisive – his wife Franziska had been a member since 1912 – but on the other hand, he belonged to the circle of the ethnically oriented Pan-Germanists, who accused Rudolf Steiner of treason. In January 1921, the Upper Silesian local groups of the Federation for Threefolding had published an appeal for the rescue of Upper Silesia (so far in GA 24, new in GA 255) in view of the referendum of March 20, 1921 on the question of which state it should belong to. The appeal, which was mainly written by Rudolf Steiner, called on the people of Upper Silesia to reject for the time being the annexation to a neighboring state until the clarification of the European situation and to realize the social threefolding in their territory. On February 25, 1921, the Göttingen local group of the “United Associations of Homeland-loving Upper Silesians” convened a protest meeting that passed a resolution protesting against the content of the appeal because it advocated the separation of Upper Silesia from the German Reich. The driving force behind this meeting and resolution was Prof. Fuchs and his followers. They were able to achieve that a counter-meeting planned by the Dreigliederungsbund for the next day was banned by the relevant authorities in the “interest of public peace, security and order”. The Dreigliederungsbund, under the leadership of Ernst Uehli, had no choice but to publish an “answer to the protest meeting” in the Dreigliederungszeitung of March 8 (2nd year, no. 36). In the Frankfurter Zeitung of March 4, 1921 (65th year, no. 167), the representatives of the threefolding idea were nevertheless branded as “traitors to Germanness”. The accusation was so serious that the Frankfurter Zeitung had to give the Federation for Threefolding the opportunity for a counterstatement on March 12, 1921 (65th year, no. 188). On the basis of this statement, which appeared under the title “Threefold Social Order and Upper Silesia”, the charge of treason could not be sustained, and the Frankfurter Zeitung had to withdraw it on March 15. (65th year, no. 196). However, nothing has changed in the hostility towards anthroposophical efforts.
• 5. for his course “Mathematics, Scientific Experiment, Observation and Knowledge Results from the Point of View of Anthroposophy” (GA 324), which takes place from 16 to 23 March.
• 6. The Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart, managed by Emil Molt, was a joint-stock company. However, Molt was only a minority shareholder and depended on the approval of his other business partners for his decisions, the most important of whom was the Hamburg merchant Max Marx. As a co-founder of the business association “Der Kommende Tag AG”, Emil Molt considered it desirable to bring his company into this economic context as well. This meant that “Der Kommende Tag” had to take over the majority of the shares. Negotiations with the Hamburg shareholders began in October 1920 and led to a preliminary agreement in March 1921. The necessary clarifications, however, dragged on until the end of May. The acquisition of the shares was made retroactively to January 1, 1921. However, the hoped-for profit from the integration of Waldorf-Astoria failed to materialize, leaving the Coming Day with no choice but to resell the Waldorf-Astoria shares. In March 1922, a corresponding sales contract was concluded with a German banking consortium and the shares were sold again with effect from April 1, 1922. For Molt, this development was tragic, as it ultimately led to the downfall of his company in 1929.
• 7. (1894-1961). Came to Berlin from Posen around 1912. From 1913 until her marriage in 1927, she worked as a domestic helper in the Steiner household, first in Berlin and then in Dornach.
• 8. Kommerzienrat Dr. h.c. Emil Molt (1876-1936), industrialist, head of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart, member since October 1907. Actively involved in the development of the social threefolding movement and in this context founder of the Freie Waldorfschule Stuttgart (1919). Co-founder of Kommende Tag AG, Stuttgart, and Futurum AG, Dornach.

148

To Marie Steiner in Berlin
Saturday, 24 September 1921

Dornach, 24 Sept. 1921 My dear Mouse!

I would like to share with you the facts that took place after my arrival in Stuttgart so that you do not hear any inaccuracies about them before coming to Stuttgart.⁹

Emil Leinhas has been appointed general director of the Kommenden Tages. ¹⁰ The matter was, of course, not easy until it was so far that I Thursday the 22nd before. 11 o'clock Leinhas personally in Champignystr. 17 ¹¹ could inaugurate his office.

Benkendörffer,¹² The matter has become very difficult for him and he has returned to del Monte, which now belongs to Kom, Tag as a subsidiary. There he will officiate as a member of the supervisory board (and delegate of the board of directors) of Kom. Tages.¹³

The external modalities are such that del Monte has declared: he absolutely needs Benkendörffer in his company for the prosperous further development of the business. And so it was possible on Wednesday evening to organize this very profound question.

Then further, which also affects the continuation of eurythmy in Stuttgart. Alfred Maier was asked by the management of the Guldesmühle ¹⁴ resign. I was able to withdraw after hearing Count Keyserlingk,¹⁵ who had come to Stuttgart during my presence to present his expert opinion, could not have come to this decision otherwise. But with that, the entire Maier family leaves the Guldesmühle – a process that is already underway. Provisional management until a definitive order is established is provided by Haußer ¹⁶ in Guldesmühle. It was impossible to take the eurythmy to be established in Guldesmühle into account when sorting out this matter. The matter must not be allowed to founder economically there. That would have happened if the Maier family had been left there.

So the Maiers, and with them Lory Smits-Maier, were also ¹⁷ in the future, probably live in Stuttgart Werfmershalde. And I ask you to take this into account when making your eurythmy arrangements. I think Maier's side reckoned that a radical break with Guldesmühle would be avoided because of the eurythmy equipment there. Given the circumstances, that was out of the question.

Since Alfred Maier has adopted a strangely conciliatory position when he saw the seriousness of the situation, it is to be expected that you will not meet anger in Lory Smits – one cannot say anything definite, of course – but rather a willingness to cooperate if you, at your own discretion and discretion, want to use her for this or that in eurythmy. Alfred Maier wrote that only now does he realize how impossible he was as the director of the Guldesmühle. So he has actually admitted that we were right. Only time will tell what this means. I did not read Alfred Maier's letter in Stuttgart myself, but only learned about it from Molt on the way here on Thursday. So it will also be possible to use Lory in Stuttgart for eurythmy if you want.

I have discussed with Molt and Mrs. Reebstein that you arrive in Stuttgart at half past seven on Saturday morning, and then continue by car to the Feldberg at your discretion. Molt will take care of everything at the station and will then accompany you to Dornach himself. So I can assume that everything will go well. Here I have the future tense worries on my mind. I can only hope that Leinhas' leadership in Stuttgart will do everything well. It is not easy.

Molt came with me here; but he returned to Stuttgart yesterday, Friday, after all sorts of future tense negotiations.

Kindest regards to Mrs. Röchling, Waller, Mücke, etc. and, above all, heartfelt greetings to you from

Rudolf Steiner

• 9. Marie Steiner was still in Berlin and Dresden for eurythmy performances and did not return to Dornach via Stuttgart until October 1.
• 10. The previous general director of “The Day Ahead”, Eugen Benkendoerfer, was not happy in his position and was glad that he was released from his duties with immediate effect at the supervisory board meeting on September 21, 1921, at 11 pm. He was appointed delegate of the board of directors and resumed his former managerial role in the cardboard factories Jose del Montes - a department of the Coming Day. He was replaced by Emil Leinhas, previously a director at Waldorf-Astoria A.G. The next day, Rudolf Steiner, in his capacity as president of the supervisory board, introduced the new general director of the Coming Day to his office. In his address to the assembled staff at the headquarters of the Kommende Tag on September 22, 1921, Rudolf Steiner (henceforth in CW 256b) emphasized: “We just need the right feeling for working together, then it will work. Mr. Leinhas's personality guarantees this to me personally.”
  (1878-1967), merchant, member in Hamburg since December 1909. March 1920 co-founder, then general director and finally liquidator of Kommende Tag A.G. From 1921 to 1923 on the central council of the Anthroposophical Society, from February 1923 on the council of the German branch of the Society, Stuttgart. From 1949, a member of the Rudolf Steiner estate administration.
• 11. In the building at 17 Champignystraße (today Heinrich-Baumann-Straße) – in the immediate vicinity of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory – not only was the office of the Bund für Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus (Federation for the Threefolding of the Social Organism) located, but also the board of directors (general management and management) of the Kommenden Tages.
• 12. Eugen Benkendoerfer (1878-1939), member since March 1906, before the war director of Waldorf-Astoria, later partner in the del Monte company, son-in-law of Adolf Arenson. Together with Arenson and Carl Unger, he was 'one of the most loyal pioneers of our movement' (Marie Steiner).
• 13. The executive core of the supervisory board.
• 14. The Kommende Tag AG had taken a financial interest in the Guldesmühle in Dischingen (Württemberg), which also included a sawmill and a large agricultural estate. Alfred Maier was entrusted with the administration of the estate. Despite his great creative talent, he proved to be completely unsuitable for this task; the financial chaos he created and the management style, which was contrary to the aims of the Kommende Tag, led the supervisory board, chaired by Rudolf Steiner, to demand Maier's immediate resignation on September 21, 1921. Maier saw no other way out than to bow to the pressure and leave the Guldesmühle with his family. Konradin Haußer, one of the directors of Kommendes Tag, took over the provisional management of the Guldesmühle. After Maier's departure, conditions in Dischingen improved.
  Alfred Maier (1889-1958), merchant, member in Stuttgart I since February 1909, married to the eurythmist Lory Smits.
• 15. Carl Wilhelm v. Keyserlingk (1869-1928), farmer, member since 1918. He was particularly committed to the realization of the Agricultural Course and to the biodynamic approach to farming at his Koberwitz castle estate near Breslau. It was also on his initiative that the “Versuchsring anthroposophischer Landwirte” (Association of Anthroposophical Farmers) was set up.
• 16. Konradin Haußer (1883-1973), merchant, member since January 1920. One of the three directors of the AG Der Kommende Tag from 1920 until its liquidation in 1925. In 1960/61, he used his wealth to establish the Konradin Haußer Foundation, which supports the worldwide dissemination of Rudolf Steiner's work.
• 17. Lory Maier, née Smits (1893-1971), member from March 1912, daughter of Clara Smits Mess'oud Bey. She received her first instructions in eurythmy as a primal eurythmist in 1912. From 1913 she gave courses at her house in Haus Meer near Düsseldorf, with her mother teaching the lessons in anthroposophy. In 1915 she came to the second eurythmy course in Dornach and also took part in the Faust scenes. In 1917 she married Alfred Maier. Here I have the Futurum worries on my mind: with the illness-related absence of Roman Boos in May/June 1921 and the resignation of Johann Hirter announced in August 1921, Rudolf Steiner, as President of the Board of Directors, increasingly felt left alone in his responsibility for Futurum AG. Boos had not only been vice president, but as a delegate of the board of directors had the ultimate business responsibility for the company. Hirter had joined the board of directors at the express request of Rudolf Steiner; he enjoyed great public esteem as a well-known liberal politician and as president of the board of directors of the Swiss National Bank. But it was not only the increasing burden of business responsibility for the company as a whole that weighed on Rudolf Steiner, but also the increasingly difficult economic situation in individual departments, such as the “Filiale Bönigen Schirmgriff- und Stockfabrik” (umbrella handles and cane factory) or the “Bureau A.G.” in Basel. The whole situation prompted Rudolf Steiner to undertake an analysis of the situation in November 1921 in the form of a strictly confidential memorandum (in future in GA 256), in which he called for Futurum to reconsider its tasks. At the same time, he instructed Emil Molt to take vigorous action to safeguard the fate of Futurum. In the following months, Emil Molt, as the “commissioned” delegate of the board of directors, tried to initiate and implement the necessary restructuring measures – a task that he would thoroughly fail at. 17

156

To Marie Steiner on a eurythmy trip
Saturday, 25 November 1922

Stuttgart, 25 Nov. 1922

My dear Mouse!

I hope the journey continues to go well and that you arrive safely in Berlin. I had a fright as soon as I arrived here: I had your suitcase key. Now I have given it to Clara ¹⁸ But you will have had the suitcase opened long ago, of course.

I am busy here from morning till night. And now, as I write this, Husemann ¹⁹ who was the actual initiator of the boycott of Kolisko's brochure ²⁰. I had to tell him over the telephone, since he wanted to speak to me personally that same day: the Medical Council has been more outspoken in its opposition than anyone in the Society: they have given the order to prevent the lecture during the Medical Week ²¹ There is also a brochure that I think should be hidden so that no one can see it: I will refrain from asking you for any information about it.

At the teachers' conference yesterday, it was not possible to resolve the timetable issue because the preliminary meetings held without me were ineffectual. In addition, the Moltke book ²² these days with Mrs. v. Moltke ²³ on the first morning and afternoon of my stay here. Now, as I write this, Rittelmeyer is waiting downstairs; and I had to spend all mornings in school. ²⁴

Well, it is really quite difficult here. But forgive me for writing all this. But it is so clear to me at this moment that it just flowed from my pen.

I now intend to come to Berlin for the last of your performances and to give a branch lecture the following day.²⁵ I hope that this will be possible, although I will find much misery in Dornach. So hopefully everything will be fine there; I will telegraph in good time whether I will definitely come.

Warmest regards, Rudolf.

Greetings to Waller.

• 18. (died 1987), sister of Olga Zibell, member since May 1921, employed in the Reebstein household in Stuttgart.
• 19. Dr. med. Friedrich Husemann (1887-1959), a specialist in psychiatry, transferred from the French to the German Section in January 1912. 1921-1924 Physician at the Clinical-Therapeutic Institute in Stuttgart. In 1925 he founded a sanatorium, first in Freiburg-Günterstal, and from 1930 in Wiesneck near Freiburg im Breisgau.
• 20. Lilly Kolisko, “The Spleen Function and the Platelet Question”, Stuttgart 1922.
• 21. “Medical Week” Stuttgart, organized by the Clinical-Therapeutic Institute of “(Kommende Tag AG”. Rudolf Steiner gave 4 lectures (October 26-28, 1922). These are contained in the volume Physiological-Therapeutic Foundations on the Basis of Spiritual Science, GA 314.
• 22. The discussions with Mrs. v. Moltke related to the publication “H. v. Moltke, Erinnerungen, Briefe, Dokumente 1877-1916“, Stuttgart 1922. Three years earlier (1919), under the title ‘Die ’Schuld' am Kriege” (The 'Guilt' of the War), reflections and memories of the Chief of Staff H. v. Moltke on the events from July 1914 to November 1914, “introduced in agreement with Mrs. Eliza v. Moltke by Dr. Rudolf Steiner”. However, this edition was not delivered. Rudolf Steiner's introduction at that time is printed in Essays on the Threefold Social Organism and on the Present Times 1915-1921, GA 24.
• 23. liza v. Moltke, née Countess Moltke-Huitfeldt (1859-1932), from Sweden, wife of Helmuth v. Moltke, member of the Berlin branch since November 1905.
• 24. Rudolf Steiner held a total of 70 conferences with the teaching staff of the Free Waldorf School in Stuttgart, which he directed, from 1919-1924, GA 300.
• 25. On December 6, 1922, the last of several eurythmy performances took place in Berlin. Rudolf Steiner spoke the introductory words and gave a lecture the next day in the Berlin branch called 'The Experiences of the Human Being in the Ethereal Cosmos', GA 218.

165

To Rudolf Steiner in Dornach
Friday, November 23, 1923, from Berlin

Friday

Dear E., Unfortunately my letter was delayed for a day because Muck declared that no letter could be sent on ^{Wednesday, November 21, 1923,} which was ^{a day of prayer and repentance.}. Yesterday I was in the underworld from 3 o'clock in the morning until 4 o'clock in the afternoon and only then was I able to get myself together enough to get the letter. In the evening I had office hours. Miss Vreede is leaving in two hours and I want to give her this letter. She has been clearing out and is bringing some things to Dornach, and is depositing a suitcase in Stuttgart. I received Waller's telegram today, unfortunately without any message from you; so I just have to hope that you are well. I find the price for the move exorbitant, especially since the moving of the books is not included. I would still like to try an eight-meter-long wagon – and send the other wagon with furniture for Stuttgart. But I don't want to make up my mind today. Dr. Unger is giving a lecture here on November 30th and they are having a meeting on December 1st. Perhaps it would be best for me to travel to Stuttgart with Dr. Unger then, because I still have to see my house. ²⁰ I am not quite sure whether I should write Wachsmuth ²¹ abtelegraphieren soll. I tell myself that if he comes, it could at most serve if he were to direct the move instead of us later. Otherwise he can hardly help me with anything. The main thing was to have been here after all, and to let the things that are happening draw near to me. - If I were to delay for another week, Dziu. ²² perhaps her men to appear again for eurythmy clothing ^{23 23From “Galgenlieder” by Christian Morgenstern. 24From “Galgenlieder” by Christian Morgenstern.} would be rewarding tasks. It's a shame to miss so many lectures.

Warmest regards from Marie.

• Wednesday, November 21, 1923, which was
• a day of prayer and repentance.
• 20. Refers to the ongoing expansion of the living quarters for Rudolf and Marie Steiner at Landhausstrasse 70.
which was
• a day of prayer and repentance.
• 20
• 21. Dr. Guenther Wachsmuth (1893-1963), member since January 1920, resident in Dornach since 1921. 1922-1923 on the inner working committee at the Goetheanum, since Christmas 1923 on the Executive Council of the General Anthroposophical Society as secretary and treasurer, leader of the natural science section.
• 22. Ela Dziubaniuk (d. 1944), painter trained in Lviv, member since September 1911. Came to Dornach in 1914/15 and worked on painting the Little Dome of the first Goetheanum. She was also one of the eurythmists working under Marie Steiner. She later moved to Paris.
• 23. At that time, there were first attempts to present eurythmy through men. The income should be used to purchase eurythmy clothing.

168

To Marie Steiner in Berlin
Friday, 23 November 1923

Dornach, 23 November 1923

My dear Mouse!

With warm greetings, I would now like to write about what could be explored initially. I will only be able to say something final about the furniture after I have spoken to the higher customs authority in Bern, which will probably happen tomorrow. I still have to wait for a telephone message about this.

First and foremost, therefore, we need the removal certificate to be issued by the Berlin police authorities. This must include a declaration that all the goods being removed are your property and that they are being transferred for your continued personal use due to the relocation of the publishing house to Dornach. It must then list in detail what is being transferred.

The removal firm, which is willing to carry out the move with two eight-meter-long trucks for 2,750 francs, says that the books should be packed in crates that can then be transported in railway wagons. These book crates are not included in the above price. That will be added.

With regard to customs, the books are subject to customs duty under all circumstances. However, the duty is not high: 6 francs per 100 kilograms. That would be fine. But only for the books. However, Swiss law does not recognize the concept of a legal person for these items either, only a physical person. I have now been told by the Basel customs authorities that the bookshelves etc., everything that belongs to the publishing house in the narrower sense, is not initially duty-free because we have been living in Switzerland since 1913. Such things are only duty-free for one year after the physical person has moved. The same then applies to the rest of the furniture.

The question now is what they say in Bern about this matter. I have only gained full clarity here because of the answer to my question as to whether, for example, a joint-stock company, i.e. a legal, non-physical person, has duty-free access to factory equipment (which is the same as our shelves). It does not. It has to pay in any case. So it turns out that claiming the move of the publishing house as such is of no use to us. Because it is a legal entity, not a physical person. So you can only get the shelves etc. and the furniture duty-free if you tie them to our physical person and then claim that we ourselves want to get this furniture only now, when the publishing house is moving, as our belated moving goods. I will only find out from the higher authority in Bern whether we will be granted this.

If customs had to be paid, it would amount to CHF 60 per 100 kilograms for the furniture.

We will have to consider whether it would not be better not to bring the things here, or at least only some of them. Because, as I said, the duty for the books is low. It is only the furniture that makes it expensive. If the books arrive on their own, I am told, the matter will be quite easy, perhaps even without a special import permit.

All the other documents are formalities. I will take care of them and then they will only have to be presented here when the items arrive.

I will write again as soon as I have been to Bern.

It now seems desirable to me that I receive the request for the employees soon; perhaps something can still be done then.

Waller has now occasionally expressed the intention of bringing the information to Berlin in person.

Now, dear Maus, I would just like to say that the trip here went without a hitch. Everything went according to plan. I only wish that your trip to Berlin had also been good. There is a lot of work and worry here.

The entry permits for Zaiser ²⁸ and Büchenbacher ²⁹ are not without difficulty. The same are to provide certificates for the visas in Stuttgart that they can support themselves in Switzerland. Of course they cannot produce them because no one in Stuttgart will issue them. The question now is whether we at the Goetheanum should do so. I can do it, but I would first like to hear from you whether this is what you would like. Of course, something like this cannot be a general rule, and we must avoid people who receive such a certificate from here seeing it as an instruction to demand something here, or even to tell others who then want the same. If you write me just a word that the Goetheanum should give the two the certificate, it will be done immediately. For the Kuxe ³⁰ That is not necessary; they get the certificate from their father. But you can see from this that one enters into an obligation with the certificate. And it must be issued to those entering the country. They must not then see what they have been granted as a right. It is all very laborious now.

I am told that the “skipped performance” on Saturday received ³¹ stormy applause. I am almost afraid now that the matter has lost some of the seriousness of the eurythmy events. But I know nothing about it. I only heard from Vietinghoff ³² and: Käthe ³³the matter belongs.

Now just to say that I sincerely hope that you, my dear mouse, will not be too badly off in Berlin. I would love to be there. But what was discussed in The Hague should stand if the case arises.

With my warmest wishes, Rudolf Steiner

Waller also told me to send her regards and to say that she will come immediately if you need her. The Basel removalist will contact the Berlin one and make all the arrangements with him. The Berlin one will not be paid. You will be informed about the tips. The Berlin removalist will present himself when you write that the move is going ahead.

• 28. Gerlinde Zaiser (1899-1971), member since 1919, one of the first speech formation students of Marie Steiner, writer (dramatic poetry).
• 29. Dr. Hans Büchenbacher (1887-1977), lectured on the threefold social order, 1923 on the committee of the Free Anthroposophical Society, 1931-35 chairman of the Anthroposophical Society in Germany. Later, head of the working group for philosophy and psychology at the Goetheanum.
• 30. Ralph Kux (1903-1965), musician and eurythmist.
  Willi Kux (1902-1976), studied eurythmy with his brother, first in Stuttgart and then in Dornach. After several years, he took over his father's business in Dortmund and worked there for the branch work and the founding of a Waldorf school. 30
• 31. Eurythmy performance in Dornach on November 17, 1923 (in the absence of Rudolf and Marie Steiner), in which French poems were presented.
• 32. Marie (Mischka) v. Vietinghoff-Scheel (ca. 1885-1949), from Russia, member since January 1912, came to Dornach in 1914, where she worked as a gardener and as a guard at the Goetheanum, including as a personal guard for Rudolf and Marie Steiner. Some time after Rudolf Steiner's death, she moved to Ascona.
• 33. Käthe Mitscher (1892-1940), daughter of Gertrud Noss, member since July 1906, worked on the mystery plays in 1910/13, from around 1914 a contributor to the Dornach building, later mainly active in organizing eurythmy.

170

To Marie Steiner in Berlin
Sunday, 25 November 1923

Dornach, 25 Nov. 1923

My dear Mouse,

Thanks for the letters. The last one [no. 165] was brought by Miss Vreede yesterday. Hopefully you will soon be out of the woods of the processing. By now you will also have received my letters. Yesterday evening the eurythmy players arrived and reported successes similar to those in the telegram I wrote about.

Now there is still some uncertainty about the Christmas play performance in Schaffhausen. I thought that it had all been canceled. But now Käthe [Mitscher] tells me that Gnädinger ³⁸ now wants to have a performance scheduled for December 16 in Schaffhausen. Please write and tell me whether I should prepare some rehearsals for the Christmas play before you come. I will take care of the performance you write about for next Sunday.

Now for something rather unpleasant. Two letters have just arrived from Del Monte, one to you, one to Waller. They say that you are being asked to immediately provide a further 20,000 francs for the Eurythmeum in Stuttgart; Waller is being asked to provide 12,000 francs for her house. Waller is furious, has categorically declared that she will not do so and has telegraphed that she will not continue to run her building under such circumstances. Today she first went to Winterthur to visit her sister. I don't know if she will go to Stuttgart tomorrow. She is afraid because Del Monte and Schmid ³⁹ Incidentally, the people have already exceeded the funds provided, and Stammer ⁴⁰in your and Waller's name.

I find it all outrageous. As I said at the beginning of the construction, Schmid's calculations were not worth a thing. When you come to Stuttgart, the “Stuttgart system” will try to make clear to you ⁴¹ that it must be so because in 1914 a liter of milk cost 18 pfennigs and now it costs 32 gold pfennigs ⁴² But that is all nonsense; and all the planning that is done there is just wishy-washy.

Spiller ⁴³ has asked about the following: Goldacker wants to recite her poems somewhere in Zurich and Spiller – I don't know if anyone else – wants to accompany her with eurythmy. She even says that she has already practised doing this. I told her that I would have to discuss it with you first. But the stuff is supposed to start as early as Sunday. If you don't have anything particular against it, I think you should let Spiller do what she wants. But I won't say anything to her until I hear from you.

I have many concerns here. I have to come to terms with the decision these days regarding the extent to which the Goetheanum should be rebuilt, and that is difficult because it is impossible to say how the funds will be. Everything is quite difficult. I would also like to be there in Berlin. Now we will see what you write about the next few days.

With all my heart, Rudolf Steiner

• 38. Franz Gnädinger (1894-1971), active as a priest of the Christian Community in Switzerland from 1928.
• 39. Dr. Carl Schmid (d. 1931), married to Hilda Curtius, member since October 1907, architect of the first Stuttgart Society House, Landhausstr. 70, and from 1911-1914 the first architect of the Munich-Dornach building project.
• 40. Hans Heinrich Carl Stammer (1886-1956), head of the banking house H. Stammer & Co., Stuttgart, which was associated with the “Kommende Tag AG” from 1922-1924
• 41. Term used by Rudolf Steiner for the leading members in Stuttgart.
• 42. The gold mark was a unit of account during the period of hyperinflation in Germany, equivalent to the pre-war mark, defined as 2790th part of a kilogram of fine gold, i.e. 100 GM = 35.8423 g fine gold.
• 43. Agnes Spiller, eurythmist in Dornach. Goldacker: Dagmar v. Goldacker, member of the Berlin branch since February 1911.

171

To Rudolf Steiner in Dornach
Monday, November 26, 1923, from Berlin

Monday night, November 23rd,

Dear E., It is actually very terrible, all that you say about the customs tariffs; for they can hardly be raised. The transportation costs alone are unbelievably high. We have around 90,000 books and 18,000 cycles and 19,000 individual lectures. How are we to pack all that into boxes? I think the books will almost fill two moving vans; if we had been able to put the shelves in as well, the load would have been less than just the books. The shipping agent probably didn't realize there were so many books. He won't be able to find that many boxes. Wachsmuth was also quite surprised by the quantity. He had imagined there would be 15,000 books. He will now tell you what he thinks about the matter, and thinks he can explain to the shipping agent that the books be put directly into a car that will not be reloaded but transported directly. He also cannot imagine that you pay customs duty for the books, but you will know better than that. Even with such a high duty, we will still be better off than if we continue to pay taxes here. We just have to make sure that we leave as quickly as possible. But if we also have to pay 3,000 francs for the furniture (because that's how much it will cost in tips) and the same or more in customs duties, then it's probably nonsense. That's what you seem to think, since you use the phrase: “If you're supposed to bring any of the furniture here at all.” It's probably better not to.

We could probably sell some of it to members. But it is just as likely that they will want to pay as little as possible. Today we have already negotiated with Sommerfeld ⁴⁴, who is the first person we have approached and probably the only one who would pay in foreign currency. He said that he is just about to set up his office. What he would like to take are your furniture; he has taken a shine to your beautiful big cupboard, of course. He would like the big table with 8 to 10 chairs, the Sönnecken desk from the purple room together with the roll-fronted cupboard. But he found the large beautiful shelf too big and thought that it could perhaps be arranged differently. That's my nut to crack now. I don't like the fact that he doesn't understand that he doesn't have to touch it: something you designed; the proportions are just so beautiful. — Now I'm also thinking about whether we should put them in the adjoining room instead of selling them? ⁴⁵ We have the skylight hall there; it was used for eurythmy courses. The people downstairs often complained; now they want to take legal action. It should no longer be possible to practice there. The podium, on the other hand, should dampen the sound enough so that people below it do not complain. But Berliners can only take evening courses because of their jobs. And there are always lectures in the evening. But since only Meyer's lectures fill the large hall, I suggested holding the other lectures in the Oberlichtsaal, setting it up for the purpose and having the courses on stage. Walther grumbled a bit about having to set up the stove there: it would be so cold that people couldn't be expected to sit there; the stove would be ruined and there would be no money to fix it. So I suggested using the money that the speech course would bring in. There is never any money in the till, because all the money serves Meyer's purposes. But his lectures on the theory of colors are good and very well attended. Posters were put up and flyers distributed. The hall is sold out twice, on Saturday and Thursday. I was there on Saturday. He has been provided with equipment, he has a command of his subject and is also witty when he compares Goethe's teaching with that of Newton. We are just waiting to see when he will come to you in this context.

There is a return of the same. Almost 21 years ago (in March 1903), you presented Goethe's color theory to me in Schlachtensee ⁴⁶ and demonstrated blue and yellow with a candle. Now I see blue and yellow projected onto the screen in the large Steiner Hall and I hear Meyer. ⁴⁷ Twenty-three years ago, I came to Berlin to study elocution and to cure my throat. Now I am ending my Berlin period with a speech course for 35 young people, and every day I have to turn some people away. Among others, the doctor sends me one with a sick throat to cure; and a singer who is not a member wanted to have lessons, etc. It was not even announced, because there were so many participants right away.

Wachsmuth is leaving tomorrow and will report his impressions. I have no choice but to wait here. I still don't know what is going to happen. And I am convinced that it will be cheaper to order the shelves in Dornach than to transport furniture. And apart from shelves, we only need a few beds, which could perhaps be added to the books in folded form. On the other hand, I could use a few things for the house in Stuttgart. There was also a blow from Kolb: an exorbitant price increase that will be difficult to bear. Should I sell the blue furniture or put it in the Oberlichtsaal, which would then also have to be painted blue? (Which would be good, because the walls are terribly stained and worn out there.) What

The following are under consideration: 1. the large, beautiful shelf, 2. the large, beautiful cupboard, 3. the large table, 4. a small table cupboard, 5. a Sönnecken desk, 6. perhaps your blue, solid wardrobe and 7. chairs.

But these last items could possibly go to Stuttgart.

Tuesday

Today I already mentioned to Selling that I am thinking of the branch office for the blue furniture. He seems to have thought of the library in the meantime, because both Sommerfeld and he would have come to the conclusion that the shelf should not be changed. Sommerfeld would also have to take his wife into consideration when making a purchase. Wachsmuth has today enquired about the terms for a transport to Stuttgart. At least it would be much cheaper. I can already see that I will have to be here even longer to get the things in the right order. After Stuttgart, it would also be possible to ship the countless packages of letters and receipts that are in the lower rooms of your large shelf. But it would be terrible to have to pay customs duty on them. I can't look through them anyway. So it will have to go over? Wachsmuth says he might come to pick me up. Perhaps it would be good to have the Austrian actor stand in for him. But the Herodesspiel is much later. Did anything come of Neuhausen [near Schaffhausen] on December 16th with the plays? I would then have to give the eurythmy programs in broad strokes from here to begin with. The worst part is missing so many lectures – Michael is punishing me justly.

Zaiser and Büchenbacher will probably have to do without us. We can hardly take on such obligations now.

Waller is lucky not to have come here. I send her my warmest greetings. Later on we can see whether it would be better for Wachsmuth to come, who could supervise the workers, or for her or I to travel with Walther's, who want to go to Dornach on December 15th, and possibly also go earlier via Stuttgart.

Now you must be very tired from the long letter.

Much love and warm greetings from Marie.

Would the Stinde and Kalkreuth pictures be subject to even higher customs duties and would they go better to Stuttgart?

• 44. Lothar Sommerfeld, in Berlin.
• 45. From 1917, the Berlin branch was located at Potsdamerstrasse 98; previously at Geisbergstrasse 2. - Cf. note on no. 65.
• 46. notes in the hand of Marie Steiner are reproduced in the volume “Farbenerkenntnis”, GA 291a, $. 53ff.
• 47. Dr. Rudolf Meyer (1877-1947), a member of the Berlin branch since 1908, appointed by Rudolf Steiner in 1919 as deputy head of the same. At the first Goetheanum School of Spiritual Science course in the fall of 1920, he gave three lectures on the philosopher Herbart. In 1925, he withdrew completely from his activities in the Society. In 1946, he founded the “Studienhaus Hammerberg” in Uchte and continued to work there actively until his death.

174

To Marie Steiner in Berlin
Saturday, December 1, 1923

Dornach, December 1, 1923 My dear Mouse!

Dr. Wachsmuth has now finally arrived here and brought your letter as well as the news to be conveyed verbally. I can imagine that you were impatiently waiting for this reply. But I was waiting for your news from hour to hour. Only yesterday a letter arrived from Mücke that arrived earlier than the one brought by Wachsmuth in person.

Now, as for what Wachsmuth meant,⁴⁸ that by asserting that we could not have accommodated the removal furniture here before: That won't do. I wrote to you that I went to Bern to see the man who has to issue the permit himself. He told me that he could only judge the matter according to the current law and there is nothing else to be done but to pay the customs duty. The man was exceptionally kind. Waller, who was sitting there, presented her moving method, which is the same as the one Wachsmuth wants to apply. The man said: a few years after the war we were able to do such things; now they are no longer possible. I can only tell you: we have tried everything, and nothing else can come of it than what I have written.

So I now have the following picture in my mind. According to your letter and what Wachsmuth said, the blue furniture that I designed is being sold. If they happen to be placed in anthroposophical rooms, that is quite all right. These pieces of furniture are outwardly beautiful and good; inwardly they are made so badly that it is certainly not worth bringing them to Dornach. Wachsmuth says they will be set up in Berlin. I fully agree with that.

The books have reached the exorbitant number of 127,000. Naturally, they can only be packed in moving vans. However, due to their weight, only half of the moving vans can be packed with them. Of course, customs duties have to be paid for this. If it is now too expensive for you, my dear mouse, to bring furniture here, these costs can be added to the books. The best person to determine how all of this should be packed is the shipping agent. It will also be necessary to bear in mind that some bulky items, namely those going to Stuttgart, that are not heavy, are better sent as piece goods. In this case, the weight is calculated, not the volume. Whatever seems right to you: whether you send one thing to Stuttgart and the other here; I agree with it. The duty on books is not high; as for the rest, one pays it for everything one would like to have here. And I believe, my dear Maus, that you should just take with you what you would like to have here. The shelves could be folded up and perhaps taken with you.

The relocation of the eurythmy exercises from the Oberlichtsaal to the lecture room, as you mention, seems to me to be the best solution.

Yes, that's how it is: as you write in “The Return of the Same”. Except that I only had two candles and Meyer needed a projector, etc.

It is sad that you have so much to do in Berlin for so long. I would love to go and help you if possible.

Now I will tell the shipping agent here to instruct his agent in Berlin to come to you. I hope that everything will happen at the right time.

Now for one thing, to which I would like to have your answer right away. We are expecting a fantastic number of people here for Christmas. And it seems almost impossible to accommodate everyone. I would now ask you whether you would allow female guests to use the new eurythmy room in the Brodbeck House. ⁴⁹ I would not have thought of this if it had not been for an unprecedented exceptional case. And I certainly do not want people who want to come to be turned away. Because I place the last hopes for society, so to speak, on the Christmas gathering. And it should not be just Meyer who has the auditorium.

Now I have to go to the dress rehearsal of the performance you ordered for tomorrow. All the young men will perform the pieces you wrote to me [in no. 165]. The performance will be given in part by the ladies and in part by the young men.

I will now start preparing the Christmas plays. The performance in Schaffhausen will then be on December 16. I have one more request: Bring me my original doctoral diploma in person. It differs from the copies that Wachsmuth brought, in that it bears a real stamp and real signatures. It will be in the red scroll. You can easily distinguish it by this information. In these matters, you always get an original and then copies. Wachsmuth didn't know that, even though he has two doctorates.

I submitted the application for the four employees personally. Now we want to wait and see what happens. Waller is currently in Stuttgart. She wants to get rid of the house there, for which she doesn't want to give any more money under any circumstances. I have already written to you [no. 170] that I find this whole thing outrageous. All the excuses that the gentlemen of the “Stuttgart system” make so abundantly are, of course, the excuses that one always has there. The fact is that it was foolish to make a calculation like the one Schmid made with the knowledge of the others. Added to this is the disgusting arrogance that these gentlemen show when you smile in their faces about their “commercial expertise” in a justified manner. Yesterday Waller called me after her arrival in Stuttgart to ask when you were coming. She might have wanted to wait for you in Stuttgart.” She left for the unknown, because with your letter written at the right time, Wachsmuth was “roaming around” the world.

There is now a lot to do and many concerns. As I hear from Flossy ⁵⁰, on top of everything else, tomorrow I will have to visit the once again unsteady Mrs. Leinhas ⁵¹ wants to visit. That could still be a clean story!

Once again: it is sad that you have to toil in Berlin for so long. If you would like to send me the provisional programs for the Christmas performances, I will prepare everything.

I look forward to seeing you. I think I have written everything necessary and just add the warmest greetings.

Rudolf Steiner

* She won't be able to because of the Christmas play rehearsals. If she is to pick you up, she would have to drive there again.

The Stinde and Kalckreuth pictures would probably be better sent to Stuttgart than here.

• 48. In a letter from Berlin to Rudolf Steiner dated November 25, 1923.
• 49. Brodbeck House was purchased from Heinrich Brodbeck in May 1921 and expanded in 1923 to include the northern extension (Eurythmeum). The old part was intended as a residence for Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner, but for the time being it housed eurythmists. Due to delays in the renovation, illness and the death of Rudolf Steiner, the planned move did not take place during his lifetime. Marie Steiner only moved from Haus Hansi to Haus Brodbeck in 1936 – after the east wing was built in 1935 – and has since been called Rudolf Steiner-Halde.
• 50. Flossy von Sonklar (1893-1991), member since May 1909, eurythmist in Dornach, second wife of Emil Leinhas since 1923/24.
• 51. Olga Leinhas, née Svärdström (1883-1980), member in Hamburg since December 1909, one of the four Svärdström sisters from Sweden who were known as singers at the beginning of the 20th century. In December 1922, they also sang at the Goetheanum. She met Rudolf Steiner in 1908 in Hamburg, where her oldest sister was married to Louis Werbeck.

175

To Rudolf Steiner in Dornach
Monday, December 3, 1923

Berlin, Dec. 3, 1923

Dear E., I would not have expected this of Wachsmuth, that he would dawdle around the world with a hasty letter to you. It should have been in your hands by Thursday evening. Well, in the meantime I have thoroughly experienced and borne the heavy concerns of the Berlin branch. There was a very strange meeting of the Berlin regional association here. This was supposed to be a very private Meyer association, which had been summoned by Meyer before the delegates' meeting in Stuttgart, partly in vain, so it arrived a day early, and then met with Meyer towards the end of the delegates' meeting. By some coincidence, they had heard something about it, and shop stewards in Stuttgart and Berlin decided to go there as well, but were turned away by Meyer because it was something that was based on his personal work. However, they forced their way in. Then, about two weeks ago, Walther Wind heard about the story (apparently, I don't know for sure) through some people in Spremberg, a small town that he had also visited: on December 1 and 2, there would be a meeting of the regional association in Berlin, which was supposed to expand to Hamburg, Hannover, Breslau, Dresden, Leipzig. He is annoyed because he also visits the neighboring towns, and asks Münch.⁵² Münch knows nothing about this and demands to be informed, since he is the deputy chairman; he is very annoyed. This is the situation I find here. It is not at all clear what the future will bring. Unger, Werbeck and ⁵³ Keyserlingk. Unger will give a branch lecture on November 30th. He has managed to schedule a business trip to coincide with the conference; all the anti-Meyerians are very relieved. But no one understands why Meyer, who is furious and has been abusing Unger, has officially invited him, while Münch knows nothing about the whole thing. (He seems to have gotten into some kind of trouble once, and apparently couldn't talk his way out of it in Stuttgart). Meanwhile, I experience the misery of Sam [Samweber].⁵⁴ Meyer and Gantenbein ⁵⁵ treated her terribly; she carried the meditation you received to Berlin like a sacred object, without closing an eye at night; ⁵⁶ She wanted to share it with a few words of explanation at a specially prepared, solemn moment. Meyer did not allow it, wanted to do it himself; there was an exchange of words, an argument and a flood of tears. Before that, she had asked Münch and me whether we thought she was allowed to do this, and we had said yes. Now I advised her to let the matter rest for the time being. But it made a deeply sad impression on me. Some other dreadful conditions that had arisen in the branch life had the same effect. And the Waldherr story was that after the night meeting in Stuttgart, Meyer here the Waldherr had the last word by reading a letter from her in which she horribly insulted the board, and forbade others who wanted to speak and bring up “material” from saying anything. So she had the last word and sits in all meetings, sure of victory. From a conversation with Räther, ⁵⁷ who visited me to ask if the gentlemen of the board could come to me, and in which we very gently groped our way towards some sincerity, I gathered how burdened and depressed he was. Mr. Rath ⁵⁸(Youth Council), who in a requested conversation first touched on a few other points, then spoke most insightfully about the concerns that the impossible conditions in the “old” ; spoke very wisely and insightfully, and one could not but agree with his opinion. Then Mr. Münch came. I actually had yet to get to know him. When we were finished after 2½ hours, we had understood and agreed on some points. He is, of course, a close friend of Meyer's, but he confronts him and sees through him three quarters of the time. Then the four of them set to work: Meyer, Gantenbein, Räther, Münch. It began in Meyer's usual way, as if he were only concerned about eurythmy, then he turned to his usual I-I-I ranting and his quirk of presenting himself as persecuted. Only he took up the thread at such a stupid point: Stuttgart had given him a telling-off when he wanted money for his equipment, so I was able to remind him of all the things that had been done for him, what a ready-made, warm nest he had settled into, and that he couldn't possibly demand that everything revolve around him, Berlin and everything else: after all, there was a Waldorf school that was still worth keeping. He then no longer knew which way to turn, and after attempting a touching speech, he retreated. Then he suddenly appeared almost honest, admitting mistakes, and you couldn't get any closer to him. But his position was still shaken. (It lasted three hours). That same evening Unger gave an excellent lecture, warm-hearted, profound and imbued with such loyalty, repeatedly pointing out what Steiner had given to the world, that he had everyone on his side except the angry Meyerians. The conference was at 10 o'clock the next morning, several had canceled, including Keyserlingk. The following were present: four members from Spremberg, one member from Magdeburg – these were the new ones; also Mund ⁵⁹ (Leipzig), Miss Wagner ⁶⁰ (Quedlinburg), Mrs. Petersen (Hannover). That's it for the outsiders. Otherwise: Meyer and his secretary, Miss Werner, Walther, Selling, Mücke, me, Unger. Münch and Räther unfortunately arrived a little late. This large group was now sitting in the front rows of the large, cold hall, facing away from me. Meyer opened the conference; it was clear that he had lost the booklet. The introductory false words, which he referred to Dr. Steiner, immediately turned around; he continued: “So you see, we have to support his work and that is why we have come together. Perhaps, Dr. Unger, you have something to say about this?” Dr. Unger smiled a little: “Well, if it is up to me to determine the course of the negotiations, I would like to suggest a few points: lecturing, Waldorf school, rallies, eurythmy, opponents, etc.” Meyer had lost his lead right away. Eurythmy was very close to the hearts of the good people of Spremberg, and once it became clear that the Waldorf School needed to be supported first and foremost, eurythmy seemed to have become the main reason for this conference. The Sprembergers asked whether the regional association could employ a teacher to travel to the small towns in turn. Suddenly Meyer came out of his stupor: “So there we are, the regional association needs a fund.” With that he jumped up. “So what do we do to set up a fund?” I put my veto on that. The regional association does not need to be established in order to establish a fund for eurythmy. It would continue to work as it has been working. Poor Meyer gave up. His secretary went out and said to Drescher: ⁶¹ “Nothing will come of it.”

The aim, of course, is to raise funds for Meyer and his lecture tours or his research in the scientific field; because the Berliners can hardly afford it anymore: apart from his allowance and the purchase of the Goethe library and the equipment, he needs, or so I am told, 100 gold marks a week to maintain the equipment. That seems so outrageous to me that I assume there must be some kind of accounting error, as often happens.

The poor people of Spremberg; they seemed to have no real idea why they had been summoned from Spremberg to Berlin. The gentleman from Magdeburg and, for a while, Mrs. Petersen, seemed to assume that Meyer had to be protected from some dark forces, but didn't know how. Meyer dismissed the question of opponents by saying that Werbeck would come in the evening to give a private lecture on Leisegang at 10 o'clock on Sunday morning. ⁶² They parted.

That evening was Meyer's public lecture. I stayed in the rooms because I had examined the eurythmists the day before and thought that a student performance could be risked. I quickly announced it for 5 o'clock on Sunday because nothing at all was scheduled for the afternoon, despite the conference, and we also thought that many people from out of town would come.

We had our rehearsal between 3 and 7. Werbeck came soon after. “I don't really understand why I'm not giving a public lecture,” he said. Then Meyer's lecture was very well attended; it was not nearly as skillful as the first time; it repeated itself a lot, turned around; it emphasized the experimentation too much. Since he had already noticed some of the indignation of some members, he mentioned, in passing, Kürschner's edition ⁶³ and Rudolf Steiner.

Sunday morning: Werbeck's lecture. About fifty members. Not even the religious ones with their followers ⁶⁴ could have been there, because it was Sunday morning; many members didn't know about it. I was sitting next to Gantenbein. It lasted a bit long, because Werbeck read some of his book. I had set the dress rehearsal at 12 o'clock. Gantenbein asked: “Should I show Werbeck the clock?” — “No, let him finish.” The lecture was excellent. Gantenbein says obligingly, but wrongly, because he had heard me say a few words to Mücke about the poor announcement of the lecture, something like, “I'll make sure everyone leaves quickly...” “Leave it,” I said, “it's all the same to me. But it is outrageous that so few people were able to hear such a lecture.” Meanwhile, Meyer addressed the front rows: “At 5 o'clock we will have a eurythmy performance, which unfortunately I won't be able to attend. Please excuse me because I will be having a meeting with scientists that has been scheduled for a long time.” I couldn't help but say, “Gladly,” but that was for Gantenbein's special benefit.

The eurythmy performance was quite nice and some of the things that followed. Later I took Werbeck for tea in Sam's [Samwebers] room. He spoke so radically about Meyer that it culminated in the sentences: “If an enemy were to make it his business to blow up a large branch in our society, he would put Meyer in it as chairman.” But he spoke very calmly on the basis of his experience. Münch came along later. Because I had spoken briefly before about my difficult situation, he advised him to make it clear to Meyer that he would come off best as a lecturer, but that he should resign the chair for his own good. That morning I had asked Münch if he would be willing to be the first chairman, with Räther as the second, in case Meyer realized that he should resign. In that case, I would have telegraphed: “On the basis of the circumstances here, may I suggest to Meyer that he cede the chairmanship to Münch?” At first, Münch was still afraid of the consequences that would befall him; then he was in favor of us having another board meeting like the previous three-hour one (Friday from 12:00 to 3:00), in which I would tell him everything and he would second me. He recoiled at Werbeck's suggestion; he wanted me to be there.

At 8 o'clock Unger's second lecture, very good, always tying in with you and the October-November lectures in Dornach.⁶⁵ It got warm in the hall. And when Unger had finished, Rath stood up and gave a very heartfelt and moving speech of thanks, explaining that if the youth could be had like this, it would be by speaking to them in this way. Whereupon the gentleman from Spremberg also thanked everyone for what the guests would take with them; yesterday it hadn't looked quite right; but today the morning lecture had been such that a warm sense of community had spread and passed to the others and now in the evening; Unger had spoken wonderfully. Whereupon Münch closed the meeting emotionally and said how moved he had been by Rath's words. Someone had mentioned the beautiful Advent candle that had been lit. But really, everything was genuine, and nothing was staged, and nothing was exaggerated. But it was as if a burden had been lifted and a hope had been awakened. Some of the older members went out and said to Mücke: “You see, things can get warm again, as long as Meyer isn't there.

Meyer was indeed absent, and everyone realized that only through this fortunate circumstance could the conference, which had begun so miserably, come to a harmonious conclusion.

He made an incredible fool of himself; only a few people experienced it in the morning, and later he stayed away. This matter with the private association has failed him completely.

Büttner ⁶⁶ Then Münch and he came to see me in Sams room. We had discussed with Münch his possible involvement in the board. He said he would only do it if Dr. and Mrs. Dr. wanted him to. I suggested to Münch that I would take an even softer approach: that I would tell Meyer that I would report to Dr. Meyer in detail about my impressions here, and that he could do the same.

At home, Mücke told me that the morning after Werbeck's lecture, she had spoken to Miss Winkler had spoken indignantly about the impossible direction, and Winkler had raged angrily about Unger's lecture from the previous evening; to link to Dr. St. at every moment would be boring, –- one is now accustomed to different things here, and incidentally Meyer would withdraw from the chairmanship at Easter and take up his position again. “Then you can choose someone else!” In response to this, I ask myself: should we talk to Meyer at all, or wait for him to leave on his own? Münch also told me last that Meyer would have to take up his position again, because after Easter the money would no longer be available.

I assume that Räther withdrew at the same time as hopes for the association were so thoroughly dashed.

There was also an episode with Waldherr on Sunday. She caught me off guard when she entered my room and demanded to speak, which I refused.

I am sorry that I wrote such a book to you; it <501> also <502> took me half a day, because my hand is so easily paralyzed. But I really had serious concerns. The matter seemed so dishonest and so dangerous and so sad and hopeless to me. But now you are the chairman and so I could only appeal to Meyer's sense of morality. He is so thick-skinned. Since I will have to stay here for more than a week, perhaps you could write me your opinion by express letter. Or maybe even, if I did the right thing, you could telegraph: right. That way I would know that I can continue to be honest, even at the risk of him resigning. Of course, he hates me now like the devil.

The matter of the Brodbeck house ⁶⁷ is quite difficult. Actually, I wanted to have the ladies moved out by then and the rooms painted, because if the furniture vans with the books are standing in front of the Hansi house ⁶⁸, and we are still inside, what should we do? Do you have a room for it?

The new hall, on the other hand, would be absolutely necessary for rehearsals, and how it will be dirtied by a mass accommodation. Nobody can guarantee that.

But the worst thing is the move, and if the publishing house does not move before Christmas, we will have such enormous tax burdens for further months!

Of course I don't want to put anything in your way. But we are the ones who get the short end of the stick again. And we can't handle the taxes anymore. I see it every day. Today just the health insurance stamps for one month: 42 trillion.

And now there is one more thing on which I need your opinion: Mr. Rath and Mr. Schmidt ⁶⁹ (from Karlsruhe, but has been running the business – a bookshop and antiquarian bookshop – for six months since the death of Mr. Rath) came with a bouquet of flowers and a substantial sum for the now completed speaking course. Both nice young people. They always present their “points” in a beautifully deliberate order. The most important came last. - Whether we could leave them book stocks for sale in Germany.⁷⁰ They asked how we intended to sell books in Germany. It would attract a certain amount of attention, since the father had a very good name, and would perhaps work well. Mücke had chosen a Ms. Hoffmann, who had already worked in publishing, to sell books. She did not respond. Kinkel says she sells a lot. Mannheim and Hamburg are doing well. The rest, she says herself, has slowed down because she can only send cash on delivery. Otherwise she gets devalued money.

Your opinion would be very important to me; if it's a flat no, just say “Books no” in the telegram. If you think we should leave a van-full here, please write and tell me how you would go about such a thing. The bookshop is in Wilmersdorf.

I have resigned myself to being here for a long time. You can't just abandon a branch like Berlin to disintegration. And it's good to have worked with the youth. Especially here, a lot of human contact develops, simply because you're there longer. Drescher is a very sensible, dear girl. An older one would hardly be so reasonable. But now and then you have to help so that they are not suppressed as a quantitative factor.

If you are rehearsing the Christmas plays, they could also be performed for the public in Dornach during Advent. It is the right time for it, and we can no longer do well without regular income. It's a shame that I can't be there for the dress rehearsal, where you will be cheering on the men. When the ladies ask you for eurythmy forms, I will be very grateful if you give them.

All my warmest regards, Marie

• 52. Martin Münch (1883-1960), bank official, writer, member in Berlin since 1910. Appointed by Rudolf Steiner as head of the Berlin branch in 1923.
• 53. Louis Michael Julius Werbeck (1879-1928), member since September 1910, head of the Hamburg Pythagorean branch from 1917, on the board of the German national society in 1923. In 1924, he dealt with his opponents in two books: 'Die christlichen Gegner Rudolf Steiners durch sich selbst widerlegt' and 'Die wissenschaftlichen Gegner Rudolf Steiners durch sich selbst widerlegt'.
• 54. Anna Samweber (1884-1969), from Munich. Worked as a governess in Russia from 1902-1914. 1914/15 encounter with anthroposophy in Munich. Soon after, she worked in the secretariat and as a domestic servant for Rudolf and Marie Steiner in Berlin.
• 55. Bernhard Gantenbein (1874-1962), merchant and painter, joined the Berlin branch in October 1910. He was later invited by Rudolf Steiner to join his board.
• 56. It is the meditation “To Our Friends in Berlin”, printed in “Mantrische Sprüche”, GA 268, which Anna Samweber received at her request from Rudolf Steiner during her stay in Dornach in October/November 1923.
• 57. Hans Raether (d. 1962), member in Berlin since October 1908.
• 58. Wilhelm Rath (1897-1973), member since June 1920, from 1923 on the committee of the Free Anthroposophical Society in Germany. From 1924 to 1927 he took care of the distribution of the Philosophical-Anthroposophical Press in Germany.
• 59. , a member from Leipzig.
• 60. The two sisters Ellida and Martha Wagner from Quedlinburg had become members of the Hannover branch in 1909 and 1910 respectively.
• 61. Ursula Drescher (d. 1973), member since June 1921 in Berlin, later eurythmy therapist.
• 62. Dr. Hans Leisegang (1890-1951), philosopher, opponent of anthroposophy.
• 63. of Goethe's scientific writings by Rudolf Steiner.
• 64. Refers to the movement for religious renewal, the “Christian community”.
• 65. “Man as the harmony of the creating, forming and shaping world word”, GA 230.
• 66. Dr. Carl Büttner, a lawyer in Berlin.
• 67. See note on no. 174.
• 68. House or Villa Hansi, since Easter 1914 home of Rudolf and Marie Steiner.
• 69. Helmuth Schmidt, bookseller.
• 70. The delivery for the Philosophical-Anthroposophical Publishing House was carried out from spring 1924 by the Rath bookshop in Berlin.

177

To Marie Steiner in Berlin
Thursday, December 6, 1923

Dornach, December 6, 1923 My dear Mouse!

With regard to Meyer, I agree with everything you have done and continue to do in this matter. Even if he resigns immediately, I believe that after everything that has happened, we have to accept this and continue to tell him what is necessary. So you are completely free to do as you see fit.

The things you write are all terrible. And I regret that you have to go through all this. Most of all, that you are being held in Berlin for so long. But Meyer didn't have an easy time in Berlin either. Because basically, as big as the branch is, he is faced with nothing but zeros. Or, as for Büttner, people who, because of their rashness, are the same as zeros. Of course, you still have to form a new board with these zeros. There is no other way. But it cannot be assumed that these people, such as Münch, will achieve anything. Meyer is an unconscious schemer, a bottomless babbler, and — whatever his first lecture may have been like — he doesn't really understand the true basis of any of the things under consideration. He has not been scientifically educated in the real sense either. But he prattles with superficial knowledge; and he has acquired airs in speaking that the “scientists” believe are similar to theirs. That is why people listen to him. Basically, he is even more harmful as a lecturer than as a chairman. Of course, that doesn't mean that he is still useful as a chairman. He should leave as soon as possible after the way he has behaved now. But the others are not useful either. But where can we work with useful people at all? I am certainly pleased that you are writing good things about Dr. Unger. He is now making every effort. And I want to be the first to recognize this. But he is not suited to lead the Anthroposophical Society in the sense that it has now become through the anthroposophical movement, even though he, when he does get somewhere, says the things that had to be drummed into him in countless sessions. That is enough for a few lectures, but no more. It would only go further if it were backed by real independent thinking. But that is not the case either. Yet I regard all this as my official secret.

Only things backed by strength have a real effect. This is the case where, as in speech courses, eurythmy and other things, real things are given. That is why I am very happy that you have had such great success with the speech course and that you have been able to put together a eurythmy performance so quickly. Of course, the Anthroposophical Society is necessary for all of this. But it will decay if new blood does not flow into it. It will not flow in as long as those who are in have a deterrent effect. People will not come from outside. Nevertheless, there is nothing else to be done but to work with the people who are there and, when people become as dubious as Meyer, to simply get rid of them.

Regarding the matter of the book warehouse in Berlin. I agree with this; I only ask you to consider whether the Rath'sche Buchhandlung is not a continuation of the Judge-Theosophers Rath ⁷¹. I cannot know that. If that were the case, it would seem to me to be quite questionable. But a book warehouse should be in Germany. And the question would have to be considered, if Rath-Schmidt is not suitable, whether one would not want to give the warehouse to the Kommenden Tag-Verlag in Stuttgart only on commission. But if it were possible, Rath would be better.

We will do the Christmas play rehearsals. The performance in Schaffhausen is scheduled. If it is possible to still perform here during Advent, then it shall be done.

I will refrain from using the eurythmy room as a mass accommodation, according to what you write. I am also thinking that the hall, which is just becoming usable, will be very necessary for eurythmy rehearsals. But I foresee that the Brodbeck House will not be completed in time, no matter what Aisenpreis ⁷² promises. I can only count on what I see myself. But now, because of the books, I have been nurturing a plan, which I am also submitting to you by telegraph. If it should be necessary to have a permanent book storage facility, I could have a shed built right away at the Goetheanum. It could be built next to the greenhouse, facing up towards the path to the carpentry workshop. It could be ready by the time the books arrive here, even if that is not until the beginning of January. You will think the plan is fantastic. Otherwise, it could indeed happen that it would be difficult to find space for the books when they arrive while we have to be in Hansi's house. I am thinking that the shed will be the permanent storage place and that Hansi's house will later be the office and shipping rooms. But of course I will only do so if you agree and if the book storage can be insured. But you can be sure that I will find space for the time when the books cannot yet be in Hansi's house, whatever happens. I just dread the fact that then everything has to be moved from the storage place to Hansi's house.

Once again: I am saddened that you were held up in Berlin for so long and had so many unpleasant experiences; but I am pleased that the speech therapy course went so well.

I only suggested the matter of the eurythmy room to you because, as I said, I am not dealing with it now, because for the time being no one here really knows how to accommodate the fantastically large number of participants. From Germany alone, 200 people are registered, and there is no accommodation for any of them yet, not to mention the fact that we don't have any money to pay for the accommodation of those who do not pay. And yet, everything now depends on the Christmas event on the anniversary of the fire being a worthy one, also in terms of the number of participants. If that is not the case, I think it would be best not to build at all anymore. After the bitter meetings in London and The Hague ⁷³ It can still go well here; but we must do everything we can.

Warmest regards, Rudolf Steiner

• 71. The follower of the Leipzig Society that Rudolf Steiner had in mind was called Paul Raatz.
• 72. Ernst Aisenpreis (1884-1949), member since 1908, from summer 1914 leading architect on the two Goetheanum buildings.
• 73. At the founding of the English and Dutch national societies in September and November 1923. (GA 259).