The Fateful Year of 1923

GA 259 — 16 January 1923, Stuttgart

First Meeting with the Circle of Seven

[Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner arrive in Stuttgart in the evening and are received by the “Circle of Seven” at the Anthroposophical Society's house at Landhausstraße 70. No minutes were kept of the first session, which took place that same evening and lasted all night. Marie Steiner reports in her 1947 edition from memory, adding: “It's a bit awkward to rely only on one's own memory after decades; one should be able to check it against that of others.”:]

The purpose of this first meeting was to present the disagreements that had arisen between the board and the other leading figures, but especially to examine the complaints of the young people. Dr. Steiner angrily rejected the very personal talk about Dr. Unger's shortcomings and wanted to know why his assignment had not been fulfilled and the board had not provided an answer.¹ Nobody knew anything about it. Uehli had kept quiet, simply forgotten the matter.² Now it became more than serious. Dr. Steiner did not hold back his indignation. He demanded energetically that the board should be clear about its tasks, review the situation and make the expected proposals to him at the next meeting, which would have to be worked out by then. The night would have to be used for this.

Elsewhere Marie Steiner reports on this meeting as follows:

The first of the intimate meetings was of crucial importance. It had been requested by a group called the “Circle of Seven” and was intended to dismiss Dr. Unger. Dr. Steiner asked for the list of names and asked in astonishment: But Dr. Unger's name is missing! — He was not invited, they replied. You are not going to bring charges against Dr. Unger, Dr. Steiner replied indignantly, without giving him an opportunity to respond? They acknowledged this with shame. Mr. Uehli was the first speaker; he spoke at length, but without substance. The most serious thing he said was that the youth did not want to work with Dr. Unger; they could not find a relationship with him and wanted to work among themselves as a separate society. Other complaints were that Dr. Unger looked at the newspaper when he spoke to people, and the like. The whole thing had no real basis; one sank into the insubstantial. Dr. Steiner remained silent. I ventured to say, “Oh, Mr. Uehli, would you please restate your complaint?” He did so, and the whole matter suddenly disintegrated like a blown bubble. But Dr. Steiner gave vent to his indignation: I am called upon for something like this, something that is based on gossip, antipathy and competitive envy!³