The Fateful Year of 1923

GA 259 — 25 February 1923, Stuttgart

The Establishment of “Anthroposophical Society in Germany” and the “Free Anthroposophical Society in Germany” at the Assembly of Delegates

The outcome of the four-day negotiations: At the suggestion of Rudolf Steiner, a German national society, the “Anthroposophical Society in Germany,” and a “Free Anthroposophical Society in Germany” are formed for those mainly younger members who did not feel at home in the previous society.

The leadership of the “Anthroposophical Society in Germany” continues to be assumed by the so-called committee of nine: Dr. Carl Unger as representative of the Anthroposophical Society, Emil Leinhas as director of “Kommenden Tages”, Dr. Eugen Kolisko as director of the research institutes, Johanna Mücke as director of the Philosophical-Anthroposophical Publishing House, Dr. Friedrich Rittelmeyer as the supreme leader of the Movement for Religious Renewal, Dr. Otto Palmer as head of the Clinical-Therapeutic Institute in Stuttgart, Jürgen von Grone as editor of the journal “Anthroposophie”, Dr. Wolfgang Wachsmuth as head of the “Kommenden Tag Verlag” (publishing house), Louis Werbeck as representative of the anthroposophical branches.

The leadership of the “Free Anthroposophical Society in Germany” is assumed by a committee of eight individuals: Moritz Bartsch, Hans Büchenbacher, Jürgen von Grone, Ernst Lehrs, Rene Maikowski, Wilhelm Rath, Maria Röschl, J. W. G. Schröder.

Jürgen von Grone, who belongs to both committees, is designated as the liaison between the two societies.

Report on the delegates' meeting written by Dr. Carl Unger and Dr. Walter Johannes Stein, published in “Mitteilungen, herausgegeben vom Vorstand der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft in Deutschland”, No. 5, Stuttgart, June 1923. The footnotes without [] in these minutes come from the authors of the report.

The following report of the Assembly of Delegates is intended to give all friends who were unable to attend the meeting itself a picture of what took place.

In order to keep the costs of printing this report within affordable limits, the stenographic records of the individual statements of the delegates were summarized as far as possible. Therefore, only part of the statements could be reproduced in the original wording. However, an attempt has been made to give an objective and accurate account of the proceedings. The abundance of material available and the extensive editorial work involved meant that this report can only be published now.

The two lectures given by Dr. Steiner at the delegates' meeting on February 27 and 28 have been published separately by the Philosophisch-Anthroposophischen Verlag, Berlin, and are available from their well-known distributors.