Our Dead

GA 261 — 7 October 1917, Dornach

Eulogy for Heinrich Mitscher and Olga von Sivers

Most of the friends who have combined their work with the construction here were also united in their work with our friend Fleinrich Mitscher, who recently left the physical plane. They all know that we have lost the third link within that dear and loyal community, after Fritz Mitscher and our dear Mrs. Noss, who have previously passed away into the spiritual world. I do not need to say much in memory of Heinrich Mitscher, because there are a large number of friends here who, from a relatively long and beautiful working relationship, will feel what needs to be said in connection with Heinrich Mitscher.

Heinrich Mitscher was with us here from the very beginning of the construction of this building in Dornach, and how fortunate it was for this building, that for many things – especially the artistic natures united with this building will feel this in the same way – that for the work of this building we were able to have precisely this artistic force. In this incarnation, Heinrich Mitscher was a peculiarly constituted artistic nature, an artistic nature of whom one could say: This personality was first and foremost an artist, not a painter, not an artist in any other specialized field, but an artist first and foremost. Such natures have the peculiarity that within the present-day art world, the present-day artistic endeavor, they sometimes find it very difficult to find the path of life that is right for them. Those who, through a richer spiritual disposition, have artistic impulses in general, artistic impulses of organizational power, sometimes find it difficult to cope with today's specialization. But - and especially when the opportunity arises to develop general artistic skills, as is the case with the performance of this building - then such strengths are in the right place. And we felt that, with Heinrich Mitscher working here among us with his strong organizational skills, with his suggestive power in many respects, through which he knew how to convey intentions to other friends, with his strong will, which is suited to enforce what was intended. Above all, artistic natures are needed here, and Heinrich Mitscher was just that. Therefore, the services he has rendered to the construction cannot be praised highly enough.

In this construction, much has been done by dear, expensive friends, of which the world in general may not know much in the individual, specific case. Much loyal and devoted work is embodied here in what the eye sees. Much of the spirituality of Heinrich Mitscher, which was designed for greatness, is in this building. And his will was undivided in the sense of the building during the time when he devoted his strength to it. He was more inwardly connected with this building than with any other link in the anthroposophical movement. This was a consequence of his peculiarly artistic nature, and it will always be a sad memory for me to see Heinrich Mitscher say goodbye to this place of work here in the first days of the outbreak of the war. During the entire period in which his energies were devoted to the sad events now intervening in the development of mankind, he always knew how to put the right man in the right place. And the esteem in which he is held by all those who have recognized his value within the community that is carrying out this work has also been accorded to him in the circles in which he has then entered to engage in a very different kind of activity. To be known and to be connected in life with such natures is an extraordinary gain of life for those who are. For this acquaintance includes the feeling of a real individuality, inwardly willing and thinking in a certain way. In recent times, the word has been misused many times for all kinds of things, but one can still feel its good content, its good essence. One must then say: Those who have come to know Heinrich Mitscher have come to know a real individuality. Individualities are much rarer in today's world than one might think. Therefore, having the company of an individuality is a blessing and a gain in life. One must only understand correctly in such things. Certainly, some sharp, some cutting words could come from Heinrich Mitscher, but never was such a sharp, cutting word used other than in holy enthusiasm for the cause. And those who knew this individuality knew that behind the sometimes rough form, something tremendously fine, something from precisely artfully formed and artfully willing worlds, actually emerged.

Now, like so many of the present day, whose karma is connected in the narrower sense with these present events, Heinrich Mitscher has also hit the ball and he has left us. We may have the feeling, my dear friends, that just as the other members of the Mitscher-Noss family, this soul can also be a source of help and strength for us, especially from the spiritual worlds. And the sister who is in our midst may know and be assured that those who have recognized her brother's value, have experienced her brother's value and friendship, will feel with her in a brotherly-sisterly way and will faithfully carry the memory of this our dear friend. As I said, I do not need to say much about this, because in this case, too, the best is in the souls that have recognized the value of a friend's soul, an artist's soul, a loyally working soul.

Another thought that I would like to mention must be even briefer, my dear friends, because it is not permissible for me to speak at length when the event I am speaking about is one that is extremely close to me personally. But even in this case, even if I only speak a few words, these words must, as is necessary in this case, be spoken from the most personal feelings and emotions, so that these words, with their personal tone, find an independent echo in the hearts of many friends who are united here. Among the many recent losses in the physical realm, is that of Dr. Steiner's sister, Miss Olga von Sivers, who will remain in the loving memory of many of us as a true friend and a soul most beautifully united with our movement. Whoever saw it will not forget the lovely, beautiful embodiment of the figures that Olga von Sivers was able to portray for our mysteries. Who will not remember the quiet, reserved way in which this personality worked within the circles of our society.

Olga von Sivers was one of those members –– I may say –– who has been connected with our movement in a very specific way from the very beginning. She rejected in the most comprehensive sense everything that did not come from the occult truth, the occult impulse, the occult insight, from that strictness that we strive for, from that purity with which we should look at things. One can say: our movement, my dear friends, was, because one must always tie historical to historical, interspersed with other movements in the most diverse ways. One or the other soul even found its way out of other occult societies and theosophical movements with difficulty.

Olga von Sivers was one of those personalities who were never attracted to anything else. And so one could feel all the more closely connected to her, faithfully. In the place to which she found herself assigned, she cultivated in intimate circles what, starting from this movement, must be considered appropriate for spiritual life in terms of the needs of the present and the near future. She was so quiet in her appearance, so gentle in her actions, and so energetic in her inner life, although she kept to herself, that her connection with our movement was particularly specific.

When the war broke out, she had, in addition to the further care she faithfully provided for the anthroposophical cause in St. Petersburg and in Russia in general, she had devoted her energies to the Samaritan service of war, had had to let the heavy loss of her brother, who fell on the battlefield, pass through her soul, had consumed her energies, was inspired to the end by the hope of the spiritual court, which was almost no longer a hope for her because she no longer considered it realizable: to be united with all that is forming around this structure.

As I said, I am forbidden from saying more by the fact that I myself have lost so much, especially with regard to this personality. And I may also say here: It is my deepest conviction that those who have come to know the value and essence of this personality will keep her in the most loyal memory and will sympathize that it is difficult not to be allowed to know this personality in the future at the side of her sister in our circle here on the physical plane. She too will continue to help us faithfully from the spiritual world.