The Rudolf Steiner Archive

10. Documentation on the Dornach Crisis

[ 1 ] In 1913, construction began on the central building for the anthroposophical movement—then called the Johannesbau and later renamed the Goetheanum—on the hill in Dornach, not far from Basel, Switzerland. Members of the Anthroposophical Society from all over the world were called upon to work on the project, and they were gradually joined by others who came to Dornach on their own initiative—some for a short time, some for a longer period, and some for good. Thus, a center of anthroposophical life of a very special kind emerged in Dornach—understandably burdened, however, with shortcomings and problems that are bound to arise in any such community. In Dornach, these challenges were further exacerbated by the outbreak of World War I in the summer of 1914, in that members of the most diverse nations—some of which were at war with one another—now had to continue working together and getting along. Added to this were isolation from the rest of the world and, not least, hostility from the immediate and wider surroundings toward the building and the small community gathering around it. Notwithstanding this, the building project progressed under the artistic direction of Rudolf Steiner, the teacher equally beloved by all and perceived by everyone as a constant, calming influence. This changed in the summer of 1915, when a crisis became a test of endurance for the Dornach Circle and, with it, for the entire Anthroposophical Society.

[ 2 ] Rudolf Steiner’s marriage to Marie von Sivers on Christmas 1914 not only sparked general gossip but also, particularly among one member, Alice Sprengel, triggered strange mystical eccentricities that were taken up by a married couple, Heinrich and Gertrud Goesch, and used to attack Rudolf Steiner personally. Since they made this public within the Society, Rudolf Steiner demanded that the matter be resolved by the Society itself. This led to negotiations that dragged on for weeks and ended with the expulsion of the three. Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner had not participated in either the negotiations or the decision to expel them.

[ 3 ] The following is a chronological reconstruction of the case based on the available documents.

[ 4 ] Alice Sprengel (dates of birth and death unknown) joined the Theosophical Society in Munich in the summer of 1902, at a time when Rudolf Steiner was not yet serving as the German general secretary. A few years later, she joined the German Section. Regarding her character, the document in which the Central Executive Committee of the Anthroposophical Society informed the members about the case in the fall of 1915 states that she had endured an unusually painful youth and, even at the time she approached the Society, had made a very depressed impression. Furthermore, she was unemployed, so that her external living circumstances were also anything but favorable. For this reason, they wanted to help her. In 1907, Marie Steiner (then Marie von Sivers) invited her to participate in the Munich Festival and arranged for her to receive financial support from Munich members. To help her secure a livelihood commensurate with her artistic and craft skills, she also received advice from Rudolf Steiner on creating symbolic jewelry and similar items for members of the Society. In 1914, she was also given the opportunity to move to Dornach. However, she interpreted the assistance so generously granted to her as a sign that she was destined to fulfill an important mission within the Society. Due to the role of “Theodora” assigned to her in Rudolf Steiner’s Mystery Dramas, as well as the fact that Rudolf Steiner had attempted, in late 1911—in connection with the project to construct a dedicated building for the Mystery Plays—to found a “Society for Theosophical Art and Culture,” in which she had been nominated as “Keeper of the Seal,” she became increasingly absorbed in her notions of a mission. She imagined that she had great past incarnations behind her and even considered herself the inspiration behind Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual teachings. The role of “Theodora” assigned to her had also given rise to the delusion that she had thereby received a symbolic promise of marriage from Rudolf Steiner. When Rudolf Steiner and Marie von Sivers married on Christmas 1914, this triggered an emotional catastrophe for her. The following letters, which she wrote to Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner, clearly identify her as a psychopath:

Alice Sprengel to Rudolf Steiner
(Undated letter, received by him on December 25, 1914; see page 172)

[ 5 ] “It has been seven years now” since you, Doctor, appeared before my mind’s eye and said to me: “I am the one you have been waiting for all your life; I am the one to whom the forces of fate have destined you.”

[ 6 ] You saw the struggles and doubts that this experience brought me, and you knew that, in the end, one thing remained unshakable for me: Yes, it is so. And you waited for my soul to open up and for me to speak of this matter. But I remained silent, for my soul was broken. Long before I came to Theosophy, and even into the last few years, I experienced many things in the face of which I had to say to myself: I willingly accept whatever suffering life brings me, no matter how difficult it may be. For the Spirit has shown me that it cannot be otherwise. But here is something that seems to go even beyond the original plan of destiny; I lack the strength to endure it, and so it kills something within me; it destroys a strength that I was once meant to possess. These were mostly instances in which people, supposedly out of love, systematically abused my trust. Yet I had the feeling that this was not caused solely by my own fault; it seemed to me as if the will of fate was imposing more upon me than I could bear.

[ 7 ] I had a vague idea why that might be. Several years ago, a thought occurred to me: There are beings in the spiritual world whose work requires that people harbor hopes; but they have no interest in seeing those hopes fulfilled—quite the contrary. What we later heard about the mystery of premature death, of goals left unfulfilled, and so on, had not yet fully dawned on me at that time.

[ 8 ] But now I harbored within me a desire, a hope, which seemed to me to be a message from the spiritual world—the same world that had enabled me to endure the unbearable; these now worked within me with such immense force that they swept me along. But my soul was in a state where it could neither do without this nor endure its fulfillment; or rather, it could not fulfill what that fulfillment would have demanded of it. Thus, I could not come to understand what the aforementioned experience meant for my earthly self. For neither the teaching nor the teacher alone could revive my soul; only the person who was capable of greater love than others—and who could therefore also make amends for greater lack of love—could do so.

[ 9 ] I can no longer remain silent. It’s pouring out of me. Years ago, I sought your advice; I asked for clarification. Back then, you offered me comfort and hope. I thank you for that, but I couldn’t bear it anymore today. Why did you say to me the other day that I seemed to be doing just fine? That I should persevere? Did you think I was already aware of the step you are about to take and that I had “overcome” it? I was as far from that as ever.

[ 10 ] Finally, I ask you: Would you like Miss von Sivers to read this letter?

Alice Sprengel

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Alice Sprengel to Rudolf Steiner

Arlesheim, February 3, 1915

Doctor!

[ 11 ] This is likely my last letter to you; I will not contact you again in the future, either in writing or in person. I just want to tell you that I no longer see a way forward, that I feel I have reached the end. The past few weeks have shown me that it is out of the question to think that time might soften or blur this. It can only reveal what is hidden. Until now, I’ve managed to hide my true state of mind fairly well. That won’t be possible in the long run. Melancholy is settling over me; being with others and their attention become a torment to me, yet I cannot endure solitude in the long run either. I feel as if what was meant to unfold within me—what was meant to flow through me into our movement—has been buried. A life lies before me that lacks the air it needs to breathe. Yet even in the darkest hour of my existence, I felt condemned to live. But my soul will be dead. Desolation and numbness will alternate with bouts of pain. I do not have a mental image of how this tragedy will unfold. Yet perhaps as early as the coming weeks, some sad aspects of myself will become apparent, and it seems to me that I might say or do things that will surprise both myself and others. I do not feel that my words to you will find any kind of echo. It feels as though I were speaking to an image. You have become unreal to me ever since, during the first part of the past seven years, when I stood physically before you, you appeared to me as the condensed form that had revealed itself to my inner eye. Your voice sounded sweet and comforting, like my own hopes. You delighted me with mysterious hints and promises, which were so often followed by the opposite as events unfolded. And when my soul sought to open up under your radiant gaze—in which I read the knowledge of what had happened to me—something in your eyes looked at me and cried out: “This is a temptation.” —

[ 12 ] That is precisely what is so terrible—that what stood visibly before me as a human being became unreal to me. And yet I had the feeling that there was something real behind the whole thing. I do not know the power that makes your being a reality to me. You know that I have fought for my faith, and that I will continue to do so until the very last glimmer. You also know that I have implored that being whose light and teachings you are to bring to those who have been dealt the terrible lot of being human. May whatever guilt enters into this matter through me be such that you are not hindered in your mission. I have the feeling that I have been heard. Nevertheless, the shadow of what has happened to me will fall upon your path, just as it will darken my future earthly lives. This shadow will also fall upon the progress of the movement and upon the fate of our temple. If the Mystery Plays are ever performed again, you will have to find another Theodora; and since I will never come to terms with what has happened, the temple’s gates will remain closed to me in the future as well. Yes, I must ask myself: under these circumstances, can there ever again be—I need not finish the sentence.

[ 13 ] I suspect that, from an occult perspective, all of this is a truly terrible thing. Yes, is there really no way out?

[ 14 ] Only a miracle can help here.

[ 15 ] I know full well that salvation is possible, and that it would be terrible—not just for me—if it did not come.

[ 16 ] Let me tell you something to conclude—the story of the “Soeur gardienne.”

[ 17 ] I certainly noticed in the summer of 1913, during the preparations for the Games, that you were dissatisfied with me; and when it was all over, I felt like a sick person who knows his doctor has given up on him. That feeling has never left me, and I could tell you many things—such as how, even in recent months, when your words actually sounded encouraging, a deathly chill would run through me; a feeling that intensified whenever I encountered someone who knew what was coming. Why does it feel as if I’ve been slapped in the face? And don’t they all look as if they’re part of a conspiracy? That’s what flashed through my mind during many an encounter. Yet I was relatively cheerful back then, and I shook off that impression. But this is merely a digression. — Shortly before rehearsals began the summer before last, I read *La Sœur gardienne*. I had always assumed that Miss von Sivers would play the title role. But as I read, I began to doubt whether the role would suit her; indeed, it seemed to me as if she didn’t even want to play it. And then I realized that the character was beginning to come alive within me—she spoke, she moved within me! It was my role. If only I could play it! I saw what it would mean to me—it was too good to be true. Then invisible eyes looked at me, and a voice said: “They won’t give you the role—be prepared for that!” In my experience, that voice was always right. In light of the situation I actually found myself in, I told myself: the doctor knows as well as I do that I had this experience; if he’s making this arrangement anyway, he must have his reasons;—as for Miss von Sivers, I must have been mistaken—the whole thing is probably just another one of those incomprehensible disappointments that form the leitmotif of my life. And my soul shrank within me, and I behaved as calmly as I could. But that did not seem to satisfy them. Both Miss von Sivers’s and your behavior were completely incomprehensible to me. They were, so to speak, searching high and low for an actress to play the title role (anyone else); they did not seem to consider me at all; anyone else seemed more desirable. Yet there were remarks about how strange it actually was that I had nothing to do in the play. I was reserved, for at one point I truly feared I would have to play another role in the play. Now, the performances were pretty much the only occasion in my life where I was allowed, so to speak, to breathe freely and be myself. And that was only in roles that lived within me, like Theodora and Persephone. But if I didn’t feel at ease with a role, it increased the pressure I lived under for a long time. So I certainly didn’t have the same composure toward this matter as others might have had; it was a matter of life and death for me. - And amid all this tension, something happened to me that I’ve experienced countless times, in the most varied situations, and against which I’ve always been defenseless. My soul would always crumble as soon as this happened to me. Once again, “It” looked at me and said: “This is a lesson!” (Sometimes it was also called a “test” or something similar).

[ 18 ] And I felt in my soul the effects of countless experiences, repeated daily and hourly, that stretched back to my earliest childhood years. I do not know why it is that, from time immemorial, those around me have felt compelled to intrude upon my inner life in an unwarranted manner. Only very recently, only here, have I been able to keep that at a distance, but it has led me to complete isolation. What haven’t foster parents, teachers, playmates, friends, strangers, and others done to see what kind of face I would make, or to imagine what I might be feeling about this or that? And much more besides. As I said, these experiences were so commonplace that I couldn’t process them. I was suffocating under them. I usually accepted the situation calmly—we simply didn’t know any better. But now, in the situation I’ve described, these half-conscious memories played a trick on me, and anger seized me. —This summer, a year later, the whole thing came back to me; I had to relive it all over again. And it occurred to me that I should have told you about that previous experience.

[ 19 ] As I said, the words “this is a lesson” always had a paralyzing, chilling effect on me. When I look back on my life, it seems to me as if some diabolical wisdom had foreseen what life opportunities would pass me by in these last few years, and as if this intelligence had mobilized every conceivable means to render me incapable of seizing them. I could observe it happening, yet I was powerless. Much could be said about why this happened. But nothing that lives within me—or within any soul on its own—could ever lead me past this precipice. Only that which flies like a spark from soul to soul—which is still so faint, oh so faint—can work a miracle here ---

2 February

I'm rereading what I've written.
And now I ask:

[ 20 ] Can all of this really happen the way I described it? And it would have to happen that way if everything remained as it is now. But—don’t the three of us sense how fate stands between us? Can there really be one among us who does not know what is about to happen? This will bring many things to light; the course of events will depend on what was once the secret of a single individual. This is truly a test, but not just for me. What is hidden will be revealed.

[ 21 ] Let me tell you one more thing, my leader: even if the Tempter were to look you in the eye, there have been many times when I have shuddered with empathy, realizing that what had been revealed to me also meant something to you—something that was not given its due here. But you know full well that this must and will happen; so does

[ 22 ] the Keeper of the Seal.

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Alice Sprengel to Marie Steiner (excerpt) (undated letter, received on August 21, 1915; see page 150)

[ 23 ] ... I know that, for those in charge of our movement, people with “occult experiences” are a major problem. That’s understandable, after all, our movement exists precisely to deal with such things.

[ 24 ] So it is not the relationship between you and the doctor that is at issue here. Rather, it is the one between you and me. But that registration at the civil registry office triggered the catastrophe that I had been dreading for years—mind you, not in terms of its course, but in terms of its nature and gravity. This means, then, that for years I had seen something developing between my teacher and me to which what is being discussed—not for the first time—these days certainly applies. It has a will of its own and its own laws, and cannot be appeased with the wisest of sayings. As I said, I had enough self-awareness to foresee what was bound to happen if nothing was done about it. And just as a sick person seeks out a doctor, I asked the doctor for a consultation three years ago. On that occasion—and increasingly often thereafter—I had to utter these sad words: Even if I could follow the teachings, I could not comprehend anything concerning myself or what was happening to me. I must skip over what led me to make this statement; I do not know how much you know about my upbringing and life story. I did not get the chance to speak of my distress; the doctor made it clear that he did not want to hear any of it. The following summer, however, we were given *The Guardian of the Threshold*. In it was the conversation between Strader and Theodora, which reflected in the most delicate way what was troubling me. Perhaps the doctor did not “mean” anything of the sort. Nevertheless, it is a fact. Could it perhaps have been an attempt at healing? I do not understand—.

[ 25 ] The following letter from an Englishwoman who was also living at the Goetheanum at the time provides an exceptionally apt and sound characterization of Alice Sprengel

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Mary Peet to Alice Sprengel (translation):

Arlesheim, October 1915

Dear Miss Sprengel

[ 26 ] I do not wish to wait any longer to express my outrage at your disgraceful behavior toward Dr. Steiner and Mrs. Steiner as well.

[ 27 ] I have always considered you to be a rather sensitive and hysterical person, but I would never have thought it possible that your obviously hysterical nature could lead you this far.

[ 28 ] The fact that your hopes of becoming a prominent figure in our society turned out to be illusions was a disappointment you could not cope with. It is, after all, a very common occurrence for disappointed young women to fall into all sorts of hysterical states, which then give rise to fantastical dreams. In this case, truly sacred things were mixed with illusions born of vanity, pride, and a craving for recognition.

[ 29 ] If someone believes themselves to be the reincarnation of David and the Virgin Mary, there is not much more to say, for anyone who indulges in such mental images places themselves outside the realm of logic and reason.

[ 30 ] A dog does not usually bite the hand that has fed it for years—you have not even shown the loyalty of a dog by directing all your resentment and hatred toward the one who brought life into your existence, both mentally and physically, for you owed your very livelihood to him and his friends.

[ 31 ] And now, because you are disappointed, you are doing everything you can to insult him with lies and insinuations that spring from the thoughts that have taken hold of your mind.

[ 32 ] Dr. Steiner is loved, revered, and respected; his life serves as an example to all. Through the power of his logical and clear mind, he has been able to nourish us with the bread of wisdom and life, and has proven himself to be a true bearer of light for us all.

[ 33 ] I urge you to come to your senses before it is too late! Try to spend just one hour in self-reflection and recognize the cause of the terrible self-delusion from which you suffer. Beware of the dreadful specter of HATRED that you summon through your jealousy and constant disappointment!

[ 34 ] You can't undo the past, but you can try to reclaim the missed opportunities by stopping to project an image that many can see, but which is apparently invisible to you: that of a jealous, ungrateful, disappointed, hysterical delusional woman!

[ 35 ] O man, know thyself!

Best regards
Mary Peet

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[ 36 ] Heinrich Goesch (Rostock 1880–1930 Konstanz) was a man of many talents and interests and had already earned his Dr. phil. and Dr. jur. degrees by the age of 20. In December 1900, his name appeared once in the attendance lists of the Berlin literary society “Die Kommenden.” Financially supported by his parents and relatives, he was able to lead a life that allowed him to pursue numerous interests. With the exception of his final years, during which he lectured on art at the Dresden Academy of Arts and Crafts, he had never held a regular profession, likely for health reasons. According to an expert opinion by psychiatrist Friedrich Husemann, Goesch likely suffered from epilepsy or epileptic equivalents (absences) from a very early age. An expert eyewitness reported witnessing one of Goesch’s most severe epileptic seizures. (See Karl Heyer, “Wie man gegen Rudolf Steiner kämpft,” Stuttgart 1932.)

[ 37 ] Goesch had first come into contact with psychoanalysis around 1908–09, when he was living in Niederpoyritz near Dresden with his wife—a cousin of Käthe Kollwitz—and his brother Paul, who was a painter; there, they were engaged in the study of architecture, aesthetics, and philosophy. The journalist Paul Fechter, who was friends with the Goeschs at the time, recounts the following in his memoirs, *Menschen und Zeiten: Begegnungen aus 5 Jahrzehnten* (Gütersloh, 1948):

[ 38 ] “Psychoanalysis now burst onto the scene. One day, Heinrich Goesch met one of its earliest adherents, the son of a university professor from Graz, who had made Sigmund Freud’s teachings—which had not yet become widely popular at the time—the foundation of his life. He took him to Niederpoyritz, where the young doctor initiated the two brothers into the secrets of the new doctrine during endless nightly sessions—with the result that Heinrich and Paul Goesch, consistent and logical in everything they absorbed intellectually, did not content themselves with theory but set about putting the doctrine into practice. They did not merely listen to what their guest had to say; they immediately tested it on themselves and on everything within reach. They analyzed themselves and others; they staged nightly “complex resolutions” with such thoroughness that Niederpoyritz grew restless, and they gained a reputation that was hardly inferior to that of the young Schlegels in Jena.

[ 39 ] That wouldn’t have mattered much: rumors rise and subside again. What was more fateful was that Paul Goesch’s fragile psyche had been shattered by these experiments. The analysis had apparently eliminated the inhibitions that had been necessary to keep his life on track: shortly after seeing the doctor, he was admitted to an institution for the first time...

[ 40 ] The “Doctor” whom Fechter does not name here was Otto Groß, a private lecturer in psychopathology in Graz and one of Freud’s earliest students. He sought not only to apply psychoanalysis as a medical treatment method, as Freud did, but also to realize it in social and political terms, making it the universal foundation of life. As a result, he ultimately came into conflict with all social structures. As a drug addict, he also became a patient of C. G. Jung at the Burghölzli in Zurich and, in that capacity, played a certain role in the professional disputes between Freud and C. G. Jung. Later, at the instigation of his father, Hans Groß—a professor of criminology in Graz—he was placed under legal guardianship and spent most of the rest of his life in mental institutions. (See Emanuel Hurwitz, “Otto Groß: A Seeker of Paradise Between Freud and Jung,” Zurich 1979.)

[ 41 ] Regarding Goesch’s relationship to psychoanalysis, Paul Fechter’s “Words of Remembrance” on the death of Heinrich Goesch (in “Deutsche Rundschau,” May 1930) states:

[ 42 ] “When Otto Groß joined him and first introduced him to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis—which at the time had scarcely attracted any attention—Heinrich Goesch immediately realized that he had been presented with a method that would enable him to expand his personal realm into previously unimagined depths. He embraced this new approach with passion—again, not theoretically or conceptually, not abstractly, as an object for his knowledge and experience—but rather he threw himself with all his strength and his entire being into this stream of life that was opening up before him and leading into new depths. He did not study psychoanalysis; he lived it, taking himself as the object of his analysis and, with all the upheavals and ecstasies—without any regard for the consequences for his external existence—descending into the darkness that opened up before him. He removed the theory from the realm of science and immediately incorporated it, like everything else he encountered, into his immediate life. It was a very dangerous experiment ...”

[ 43 ] Goesch was introduced to Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy around 1910. Soon afterward, he became a member of the German Section of the Theosophical Society—which was then led by Rudolf Steiner as its general secretary—on the recommendation of Dr. Max Asch, who had written to Rudolf Steiner on April 27, 1910: “For about two weeks now, I have been engaged in a lively personal exchange of ideas with Dr. phil. Heinrich Goesch, who, it seems to me, is predestined for occult training. He is one of the most gifted people I have ever met, and about a year ago he had such remarkable inner experiences—which came to light during an eight-day state of ecstasy—that I am inclined to believe this case might also be of special interest to you. Lately, he has immersed himself entirely in the study of your writings—Theosophy, Esoteric Science, etc.—and the incredible speed with which he has grasped these matters leads me to believe that he has already undergone some form of esoteric training in a previous incarnation—it seems to me that it was specifically Christian training, given the experiences during the aforementioned ecstasy. Dr. Goesch will be attending the lecture tomorrow evening; if you wish, I will introduce him to you. He also wants to become a member of the Theosophical Society immediately.” The lecture in question took place on April 28, 1910, at the Architektenhaus in Berlin, and its topic was “Error and Madness” (in *Metamorphoses of the Soul Life: Paths of Soul Experiences*, Part Two, GA 59). On April 30, 1910, Asch wrote again to Rudolf Steiner: “Dr. phil. Heinrich Goesch, about whom I wrote to you, would be very grateful if you would give him an opportunity to speak with you soon, as he would like to attend the lectures in Hamburg—which are somewhat related to his specialized research from last year—and would therefore like to become a member of the Theosophical Society as soon as possible. Dr. Goesch lives in Charlottenburg ...”

[ 44 ] Shortly after Heinrich Goesch and his wife Gertrud became members, the project to build a central building took center stage in the Society’s activities. Since Goesch had a keen interest in architecture, he made proposals in 1912 for the design of the central building and, evidently motivated by this interest, traveled to Dornach in the spring of 1914, where work had been underway since the fall of 1913 on the construction of the Johannes Building (the first renovation of the Goetheanum).

[ 45 ] The facts cited regarding Goesch’s development—which, according to Paul Fechter, involved “a very distinctive combination of logic and mysticism”—go some way toward explaining why he threw himself into the Sprengel case with his characteristic passion. Since, according to the psychiatrist Friedrich Husemann, a prominent characteristic of people with epilepsy is their egocentricity—which is associated with a disproportionately strong sensitivity to personal slights and a tendency toward quarrelsomeness—and since delusions could easily develop on the basis of an emotional life altered in this way, an affinity must have developed between his own delusions and those of Alice Sprengel. He elaborated on them in a long letter to Rudolf Steiner; the treatise, dated August 19, 1915, was read aloud in place of his usual evening lecture on Saturday, August 21, 1915:

At board and general membership meetings held on August 25 and 26, 1915—in which Rudolf and Marie Steiner did not participate—a resolution was passed to no longer recognize Heinrich and Gertrud Goesch and Alice Sprengel as members of the Society. These meetings gave rise to the following statement addressed to Marie Steiner:

Dornach, August 27, 1915

Dear Dr.

Our Central Executive Committee has submitted to you, dear Dr., our unanimous request, as adopted at the general meeting, that you kindly continue to hold the office you currently occupy in the Anthroposophical Society.

We, the members, feel a heartfelt need to reaffirm what we have already expressed to you verbally by adding our signatures.

With the expression of our deepest respect and gratitude for your blessed work, in which the Society has been privileged to share, yours most devotedly

(approx. 300 signatures)

On September 10, the seven lectures in this volume on the living conditions of an anthroposophical society began. On September 11, a meeting of the Central Executive Committee took place, following the ongoing member discussions that had been held in the interim—discussions in which Rudolf and Marie Steiner did not participate and for which no records exist. It was decided to prepare a detailed account of the Goesch-Sprengel case for the membership and to postpone the implementation of the expulsion until this document was available. The following day (September 12), a members’ meeting took place, which was designated as a substitute general assembly, since members from other countries were unable to attend due to the war. There are no minutes from this meeting, which was intended to confirm the Executive Board’s resolutions; only a few brief notes remain, indicating that Rudolf Steiner also participated in this meeting.

In the days that followed, the agreed-upon document was drafted. It comprises 20 typewritten pages and contains a detailed summary of the letter from Heinrich and Gertrud Goesch, a characterization of the three individuals, and the statement that Rudolf and Marie Steiner were not involved in the decision to expel them. All essential elements of this document have been included in the present documentation and, in some cases, are even reproduced in greater detail. It can be assumed, though not proven, that this document was attached to the letter from the Central Executive Committee of the Anthroposophical Society sent on September 23 to Heinrich and Gertrud Goesch as well as to Alice Sprengel:

The Central Executive Committee of the Anthroposophical Society must revoke your membership in the Anthroposophical Society, as you have placed yourself outside the Society’s goals and principles.

The Central Executive Committee of the Anthroposophical Society

Signed: Michael Bauer.

Dornach, September 23, 1915.

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The next day, September 24, 1915, the women’s meeting requested on September 17 took place. The intention was to discuss, based on Rudolf Steiner’s remarks in his lecture on September 15, the position of women in relation to occult movements in ancient times and today. Marie Steiner had been asked to chair the meeting. Based on the handwritten notes she had available, she stated the following:

Speech at the Women's Assembly

Dornach, September 24, 1915

A number of female members, who suggested today’s meeting, have asked me to chair it. Although I have hardly had time to reflect on myself in recent weeks, I am happy to accept this request, provided that it is also the wish of the rest of those present.

We haven't received many written submissions. We will go through them one by one. I will begin by reading the motion that prompted today's gathering, and I will say a few words about it.

[The motion to convene such a women's assembly was read aloud.]

The fundamental idea expressed in this motion is also the one that concerns me most: Here we are, a group of women who have been given what has hitherto been withheld from the female sex—that which is meant to regenerate humanity—the highest spiritual good. How can we prove ourselves worthy of it? — It is good to take a moment to collectively confront the gravity of our situation and our task, and to examine our position within the broader women’s movement.

Outside, women are fighting for equality with men and for the opportunity to develop freely. This struggle has been waged amid unspeakable difficulties. Many of us once exhausted our best energies in it—some in the struggle against the mounting material difficulties, others collapsing under the weight of conventions, prejudices, and the despotism of traditional attitudes even before they could free themselves.

Suddenly, in the midst of this struggle—in which it seemed that only a few individuals or future generations would be able to reap the fruits of our present efforts—a gateway of light has been opened to us, a field of action was created that surpassed all expectations, pointing us toward our true paths and goals, lifting us above the inevitable aberrations of a culture that had become overripe and was therefore decaying or becoming rigid. Now we were able to escape the danger of suffocating in a mere impulse to imitate—of becoming, as it were, monkeys within male culture—by abandoning our eternal femininity, our spiritual and soulful nature, in the pursuit of the external cultural forms that had been shaped by men.

We were able to help enrich and inspire this culture precisely because we were not its servants or its active agents. Turned inward, focused on ourselves, we were able to develop those qualities that served as the necessary counterpoint to what men had to accomplish: inwardness, depth, warmth of spirit, gentleness, and restraint. We were able to soothe, encourage, comfort, support, heal, sustain, hold things together, and breathe life into both the inner and outer worlds—truly, no small realm. And meanwhile, man conquered the outer world.

Now he had conquered her. Now she was his. He traversed her vast expanses, he dismantled her parts, he became her master. Then his intellect ran wild. With a scornful laugh, he cast aside the sources of his power—the ancient gods.

Now we, too, took notice, for the ground on which we had stood until then was shaking. Were the old gods dead? Was outward life alone what mattered? Was it a delusion—that which lived so vividly and actively within our souls and had instinctively made us feel the mere symbolism of transitory life? Then let us cast it aside! Then we, too, had to be allowed to break down the barriers, to recognize, to act—of our own accord, out of our own conviction. Then we, too, wanted to measure ourselves against the standards of this external world. The life within us demanded its due. We stormed onto the battlefield.

We found two things. On the one hand, the hard, rigid forms shaped by men. To overcome them, we had to submit to iron discipline. Some succeeded. Not everyone was satisfied with that.

The second thing we discovered was external freedom; there we stood suddenly, young and breathing a sigh of relief, in the midst of life’s surging currents, with the old, oppressive chains far behind us. There we had to find our standard within ourselves, our unshakable guiding principle.

Not everyone was able to do that. Many women were swept up as if by a whirlwind. The unbridled nature of their character broke through. Their studies, hard work, and the dry routine of professional life were no longer enough; for some in the waves that followed, they even became a burden. They demanded the freedom to live life to the fullest—equal rights with men, even in the realm of pleasure.

The wave of materialism swept in and engulfed the women, carrying them along with it. As their sense of the reality of a spiritual world faded, their instinctual nature burst forth with elemental force, distorted by the aberrations of their intellect.

Laura Marholm’s theories were followed by the excesses of a group of female poets, among whom I need only mention names such as Marie Madeleine, Dolorosa, Margarete Beutler, and so on. This phenomenon was evident in virtually every country on our European continent.

Literature proved that even the wildest erotic fantasies of men did not give rise to such excesses as what we had before us as the product of women’s overheated imaginations.

We had to witness this with horror: Driven by vanity and a thirst for fame, yet lacking in intellect and knowledge, such women forced into the long-established, fixed forms of our language whatever their agitated imaginations dictated. In literary societies, they recited these works themselves when the men who had been asked to do so replied that they were too ashamed to do it.

The outlook was bleak; on one side loomed the threat of desolation and barrenness, and on the other, brutality and moral decay. Where was the healer who could bring the word of life that would help humanity move forward?

Then something wonderful happened: In this age of cultural excess, moral decay, dulled thinking, and the most blatant selfishness, teachings emerged from obscurity and reached out to people—teachings that had previously been given only to a few but were now allowed to become common knowledge; teachings through which humanity could once again rise from spiritual desolation to spiritual experience. And women were allowed to participate in this work; here lay, if they so desired and if they made themselves worthy of it, their new sphere of activity.

She brought to it a natural devotion to the ideal, a greater flexibility of thought, and, as a result, receptivity. What she lacked was intellectual discipline, precision and accuracy, positive knowledge, respect for positive knowledge, and a sense of fact—qualities that men are compelled to uphold in their business lives. Roughly speaking, her faults were: chattiness, restlessness, vagueness, a tendency to drag everything into the sentimental or the personal, and vanity. Her virtues: enthusiasm and a willingness to make sacrifices. - With these two qualities, if she could rise above herself as a member of her gender, she could help breathe life into a stagnating culture; if she could set aside her personal concerns and become objective, she could help shape the future and be, within the emerging culture, a factor equal in significance, equal in rights, and equally burdened as men.

Did she meet the two conditions mentioned?

Has her personal identity, her very essence, been pushed into the background? Has she become detached? I fear we have failed as a whole.

Only when we bring our mistakes into the realm of consciousness, when we have the will to recognize them, can we overcome them and transform destructive forces into productive ones.

A task lies before us, a field of work greater than even the most ambitious hopes of the past could have envisioned. But we must not lose our footing. We must not get carried away; rather, we must recognize and work. For the first time since esoteric knowledge was given to humanity, we are able to receive this knowledge in community with others; through this collaborative work, we can usher in a new era.

In order for this new era of humanity to come to fruition, women—allow me to repeat this—must, in their work in the Spiritual Science, transcend their narrow personal concerns and their gender-specific nature; they must keep the spiritual heritage pure, untainted by their desires, their instincts, and impure thoughts.

It became alarmingly clear that she could not do this without difficulty. Time and again, she confused the base with the noble; time and again, she had to cloak the sensual with the spiritual in order to appear as something she was not. Time and again, these three evil forces—vanity, eroticism, and lies—appeared, closely intertwined.

Because this happened among us, we are gathered here together, trying to face our mistakes head-on.

The question confronts us: Will we be deemed immature? Will we have squandered what humanity needs for its revival?

What should we do if we are granted another chance to reflect? What should we do to ensure that men and women can work together without interference?

These are the questions we need to ask ourselves, and we should all do our part to answer them.

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In response to the Central Executive Committee’s stance, expressions of support for Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner began to pour in from many sectors of society. Even the two brothers Paul and Fritz Goesch, along with Fritz’s wife—all three of whom were also members of the Society—distanced themselves from the actions of their brother Heinrich. In September 1915, Paul Goesch signed a “Declaration by the Members of the Berlin Branch of the Anthroposophical Society,” in which they expressed “their deepest disapproval and painful indignation at the outrageous conduct of Dr. and Mrs. Goesch.”

The fact that Marie Steiner once again provided financial support to Alice Sprengel after her expulsion and departure from Dornach demonstrates just how magnanimously Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner handled the situation, as is evident from the following letter to a Miss Wernicke, who was still in contact with Alice Sprengel:

Dornach, September 29, 1916

Dear Miss Wernicke,

Miss Waller showed me a letter she received from you in which you ask her to intercede on behalf of Miss Sprengel to collect the money that some members still owe her. Since you yourself assume that not many people will be interested in the situation into which Miss Sprengel has plunged herself through her own excessive missteps, and since Miss Waller has also stated that she wants nothing to do with it, I suppose I have no choice but to cover that debt out of general human compassion for the described predicament. Of course, I must ask you not to mention my name at all, because 1. this would not be pleasant for Miss Sprengel herself, and 2. I do not wish to give the impression that I Sprengel.

I therefore take the liberty, based on the letter from Mrs. von Strauß, to settle the debt items she listed, and I ask you, when transferring the money, to inform Miss Sprengel that this is to cover that debt, but that you are not in a position to name names.

With the utmost respect
Marie Steiner

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This brought the case from the summer of 1915 to a temporary close.

Although his relationship with Alice Sprengel ended shortly thereafter, Goesch remained an unfair opponent. He spread malicious falsehoods wherever he could. In 1923, he again publicly opposed Rudolf Steiner in Berlin as a “non-anthroposophical expert on anthroposophy.” This context will be addressed in the volume on the history of the Society covering the year 1923.