Our Dead

GA 261 — 10 December 1911, Berlin

Eulogies Given at the 1911 General Meeting

Above all, it is my duty to remember an old member of the German Section and the Cologne branch, our dear Miss Flippenmeyer, who, with an ever-increasing warmth for our theosophical thoughts, combined an extraordinarily great activity for the broadest world interests. Those who knew her well were as much drawn to her beautiful, good, theosophical heart as they were to her world interests. Miss Hippenmeyer did not pursue these interests in a philistine way, but undertook extensive journeys that could be called world tours. If you consider only the external, purely technical difficulties of these trips for a single traveling lady, and Miss Hippenmeyer was still a frail lady, then that is something to be admired. She was extremely active in our theosophical cause in a very likeable way, and it was painful for all those who knew her to hear that she left the physical plane in Java during one of her great journeys.

Furthermore, I have to mention an extraordinarily active co-worker, who also belonged to the Cologne Lodge, our dear friend Ludwig Lindemann. I still have the impression I had when I saw Ludwig Lindemann for the first time, who vividly presented his tendencies to me. Since then, it has grown from day to day, despite the fact that the greatest obstacle for him was present, namely a severe illness. Nevertheless, he has had no other thought than to stake his entire existence on the spread of theosophical thought. And when he had to go to Italy for the sake of his health, he worked there to cultivate the theosophical idea. There he founded the small centers that we have in Milan and Palermo. He knew how to establish the most intense and heartfelt Theosophical life in these places. Ludwig Lindemann was loved by all who knew him, with the kind of love that can arise from the self-evidence of spiritual connection with a person. Lindemann pursued his great theosophical interests intensely, and I could see when I visited him in the last few weeks before his death how a deep, heartfelt, theosophical enthusiasm emerged from his decaying body. So it was a deep satisfaction for me to see how our Milanese friends felt deeply connected to our dear friends Lindemann. When I was in Milan, I was shown the room that had been prepared for Lindemann, where he could have lived if he had been able to come to Italy again. At the time, I was firmly convinced that he could have continued to work for a few more years if it had been possible for him to come to Italy again; everything was prepared for him there; karma wanted it differently. But we look after him, as Theosophists look after the one who has left the scene of his life and work in the physical world in our sense, in that we feel just as faithfully and warmly connected to him as we did when he was still with us on the physical plane.

I must also mention a third personality who has left the physical plane, perhaps unexpectedly quickly for many; it is our dear section member Dr. Max Asch. In the course of his very eventful life, he had to endure many things that could make it difficult for a person to join a purely spiritual movement. But in the end he found his way to us in such a way that he, the doctor, found the best remedy for his suffering in the cultivation of theosophical reading and thought. He repeatedly assured me that no other belief could give the doctor any other remedy in his soul than that which could come spiritually from theosophical books, that he felt the theosophical teaching flowing like a balm into his pain-torn body. He continued to cultivate Theosophy in this way until the hour of his death. And it was a difficult renunciation for me when, after our friend had passed away, his daughter wrote to me asking me to say a few words at his grave, but I could not fulfill this wish because that day marked the beginning of my lecture series in Prague, and it was therefore impossible for me to pay this last service to my theosophical friend on the physical plane. You may rest assured that the words I should have spoken at his grave were sent to him in the world he had entered at that time.

Furthermore, I would like to mention a friend from Berlin, a member of our Besant branch, who, after various endeavors, finally found himself in our movement as if in a harbor. He is our dear friend Ernst Pitschner, who had been afflicted with the seeds of decay for a long time, stayed with us and was united with us in the most intense way in our theosophical work until his death. It was a strange karma that after a few weeks his wife followed him into the supersensible worlds.

Furthermore, I would like to remember our dear member Christian Dieterle from Stuttgart. He has worked hard but extremely diligently to find his way into theosophical life and in the last few months was a man who thought in the most intense theosophical way.

Then we want to commemorate an older Theosophist who was snatched from the Mühlhausen branch, Josef Keller. It is one of those cases where, despite having only met a person once in life, one must immediately recognize a deep state of mind and heart in him. In his last months, Keller asked to be among the most fervently convinced Theosophists, and all who knew him will remember him fondly and faithfully.

Furthermore, I have to mention a man who, confined to his bed by a serious illness, was introduced to Theosophy through the mediation of a person dear to us, Kar Gresterding.

I have to mention our dear friend Edmund Rebstein, who was taken from us at a relatively young age after a short illness, and who those who knew him well have come to hold in the highest esteem.

I have a similar story to tell about Frau Major Göring, who worked with our branch for many years.

The list of our deceased this time is so long that what I would like to say would take up too much time.

I still have to mention our members Erwin Baumberger from Zurich, Georg Stephan from Breslau, Mrs. Fanny Russenberger from St. Gallen, Johannes Rademann from Leipzig, Kar! Schwarze from Leipzig, Wilhelm Eckle from Karlsruhe, Georg Flamann from Hannover, Wilhelmine Mössner from Stuttgart I, Walter Krug from Cologne, Mrs. Sölbermann from Heidelberg, Mrs. Zind/ from Munich I.

I still consider it my duty to remember at this point the departure from the physical plane of a personality who was well known in all theosophical circles, who was snatched from us by a painful death, who has done a lot of work, and whom we remember with love as much as the others. I am talking about Mrs. Flelene von Schewitsch. You know her books, so I do not need to characterize her in more detail. I must emphasize that I always accepted her invitation when she asked me during my stays in Munich to give a lecture in her circle as well. I would just like to hint that for me this whole life presents itself as something deeply tragic; and I may well say that Mrs. von Schewitsch has shown me extraordinary trust, and that I am justified in saying: this life had a deep tragedy. I was also granted a glimpse into this heart, and please understand that when I say tragic, I mean what most of you would understand by tragic in my lectures. We are fulfilling a duty of warmth to express outwardly how we are connected in thought with the dead by rising from our seats.