The Rudolf Steiner Archive

159

For Marie Steiner, December 25, 1922

[IMAGE REMOVED FROM PREVIEW]

160

To Rudolf Steiner in Dornach
Monday, March 12, 1923, from Berlin

12/III 23 Dear E.

Our journey ¹ went well, hopefully yours too. Only the long wait at the station in the cold was quite unpleasant. Everything is sold out here, so we can easily add a few performances. Countess Keyserlingk ²I wrote off for the 24th, and said that we might be able to visit Breslau at the end of April or beginning of May, following Prague. I could already make friends with Mörike. The quickest way to find the right rhythm is through eurythmy. I am enclosing a few poems here³ They would be delightful with your eurythmic forms. May I beg them as a birthday present? If I could get them here in Berlin, we could practise a bit. I think we are leaving on Wednesday the 21st. But Miss Bauer ⁴It would probably be best to make copies for me; I would have preferred to have the originals kept by Miss Lehmann. Sorry to be ordering about so much already; it's just that you were always so willing to do these things. - Hopefully not too much difficult stuff comes your way again.

With warmest regards, Marie

• 1. Marie Steiner was in Berlin with the eurythmy group until March 21.
• 2. Johanna v. Keyserlingk (1879-1966), member since 1918, wife of Count Carl Wilhelm on the Koberwitz estate near Breslau.
• 3. : Eduard Mörike, “Um Mitternacht”, “Die Geister am Mummelsee”, “Zwei Liebchen”, “Der Zauberleuchtturm”.
• 4. Sophie Bauer (1882-1958), a trained painter, became acquainted with Rudolf Steiner's writings and lectures in 1905, became a member in January 1914. From around 1917/18 in Dornach; mainly active in eurythmy, helping everywhere.

161

Telegram to Marie Steiner in Berlin (draft)
Wednesday, March 14, 1923, from Dornach

Warmest birthday wishes. Letter to follow. Rudolf Steiner

162

To Marie Steiner in Berlin
Thursday, 15 March 1923, from Dornach

My dear Mouse!

I hope the birthday telegram reached you. I am sending it with my warmest birthday wishes. I am adding these thoughts to the summary of the content of my lecture on Sunday ⁵ here:

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I am glad to hear that things are going well in Berlin. Your letter only arrived this morning. I immediately set about eurythmizing the four poems. I think they turned out well. I am sending them with this letter. I will keep the originals and send the copies made by Bauer.

I have been very busy here. The book expert was here for another half day. And it is hard to cope with the other one. There are many dissatisfied people who criticize everything. Knauer ⁶ continues to work at the Clinical Institute. This is particularly unpleasant now, when things are supposed to be getting back on track.

The recent fire at the Goetheanum was the subject of a long debate in the Solothurn cantonal council because of the insurance. Anthroposophy was sharply attacked by the clerical side; but there were also defenders on the other side who even spoke up quite bravely for the Goetheanum. But there is one part of the report that I would like to share with you verbatim: Councillor Affolter: “A different building could only have been enforced by a building regulation from Dornach.” Recently there was a rumor that the Anthroposophists want to build again and there were already rumors that they were awarding all the work abroad. None of this is true. But all sorts of rumors are spread about people. In the Johannesbau ⁷ there were no backdrops, no curtains and no stage construction. They don't need any of that for their eurythmic movements (amusement because Affolter tries to demonstrate these movements with his arms).” So what more could you want: eurythmy in the Solothurn cantonal council! And Walliser said: “Three quarters of the population of Dornach and the Schwarzbubenland ⁸ Are on the side of the anthroposophists.” And Eckinger said: “Steiner and the other anthroposophists behaved nobly and correctly. We no longer live in the age of witch burning and have freedom of thought.” The report notes: (bravos). — On the whole, the debate was heated.

Now, warm greetings from Rudolf Steiner

Dornach, March 15, 1923.

• 5. Dornach on March 11, 1923; contained in the volume “The Impulses of Spiritual Powers in World History”, GA 222.
• 6. Dr. med. Sigfried Knauer (1894-1984), at times a co-worker at the Clinical-Therapeutic Institute in Stuttgart. 1924 physician in Berlin, 1939 emigration to America.
• 7. The original name of the Goetheanum building.
• 8. Term for the Jura mountain range behind Dornach in the Solothurn district of Dorneck-Thierstein, of which Dornach is the main town.

163

To Rudolf Steiner in Dornach
Sunday, October 7, 1923

Vienna, October 7.

Dear E., so far everything has gone well; ⁹I just couldn't find a moment on Saturday to write, as I was always on the move. Yesterday morning the telephone rang, it was an awfully long procedure with greetings from me and the waiter and shouts and questions from the operator, but the story didn't progress any further. |

In Gmunden, everything was very well prepared and pretty. Zitkowsky ¹⁰ was prudent and clever in every way. The cozy old theater was entirely at our disposal, the lighting excellent (like in Stuttgart; he spent two million on it), the people willing and nice. The hotel [Krone] close to the lake was bourgeois, clean and cozy, with excellent cuisine (Austrian - I had to think of you and sighed after such a relaxing time), the landlady and maid were humanly amiable and kind: she wouldn't have believed that something so beautiful even existed, the landlady said after the performance. The theater was sold out and the royal family (Duchess of Cumberland) ¹¹ present; Her Highness is said to have been very charmed, only the music for the four winds did not suit her.

Grunelius wired that he had secured the theater in Salzburg for Thursday evening; we sent him Frau v. Molnar ¹² with programs, which then came here and reported that the director is interested and will put a note in the newspaper every day. Hopefully everything goes well.

Salzburg, 9 October.

I wanted to write at length, but I soon had to stop because people kept coming to me. The second performance was just as warmly received as the first, with an attendance of almost three quarters. But the posters were very poorly displayed. Grunelius has prepared everything excellently here. The director is counting on a full house and suggests a second performance, or at the workers in Hallein. We will probably have to wait for the outcome of the first before deciding on a second. I am considering whether I should also use Grunelius' talents for Innsbruck, so that we can eventually play our way down to St. Gallen. But I am still wondering whether it is too bold. If we don't do it now, we'll hardly ever do it – but then we could also be very isolated.

Thanks for the telegrams, hope you are well, and hope Rietmann has invited you to give a lecture in St. Gallen too; otherwise he'll do it two months later; we had the rehearsal on Sunday morning, but without curtains! Pfeiffer ¹³ must travel tonight and takes the letter.

Kind regards also to Mieta and the three young ladies ¹⁴ Marie

• 9. After the autumn event in Vienna (September 26 to October 1), Rudolf Steiner traveled to Dornach on October 4-5, and Marie Steiner continued with the eurythmy group to Gmunden, Vienna, Salzburg and St. Gallen.
• 10. Dr. Wilhelm von Zitkovszky (died 1942), in Gmunden on Lake Traun, Upper Austria, member since January 1913 in the Linz branch.
• 11. Thyra, born in 1853 as Princess of Denmark, married to Ernst August, formerly Crown Prince of Hanover, who lost his country to Prussia in 1866, lived in exile in Gmunden, where he died on November 14, 1923.
• 12. Helene (Ilona) v. Molnar (d. 1945), from Hungary, member since January 1920, eurythmist, She gave eurythmy courses for lay people in Gmunden.
• 13. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer (1899-1961), in Dornach since 1920, initially to develop stage lighting suitable for eurythmy. In his small research laboratory in Dornach, he carried out experiments with preparations for agriculture as early as 1922, according to Rudolf Steiner's indications, and developed the method of copper chloride crystallization to demonstrate etheric formative forces. Since 1938 in the USA.
• 14. The three household helpers: Helene Lehmann, Helene Dubach, Olga Zibell.

164

To Rudolf Steiner in Dornach, probably
Wednesday, November 21, 1923, from Berlin ¹⁵

The first pages of the letter are missing.

... without contact with people. Of course they already have their rehearsals for the Christmas plays and are already busy with that. But it will hardly be possible again. I am sorry for every day that I am not close to you. But on the other hand, you are very present here, since we lived together here. And so I can relive it again in retrospect before I leave here. 21 ¹⁶

It has been years since we worked here.

It is very good for Waller that she is not here. She wouldn't have the strength to clear out, and otherwise there wouldn't be anything to do at first. The Walthers have only been here for a week; they were always on lecture tours until then. Waus ¹⁷ is cooking and we are eating at her place downstairs.

The trillion-dollar economy is outrageous, and ¹⁸ simply cannot continue. It has absolutely grown over [her] head.

I hope to hear soon that your cough is not persistent and that Waller is nice and together.

Warmest regards, Marie

• 15. This is probably the letter referred to in nos. 165 and 169.
• 16. Marie Steiner was in Berlin until December 17 to prepare the relocation of the Philosophical-Anthroposophical Publishing House to Dornach and to dissolve her Berlin household. Due to inflation, the situation had become very difficult and Johanna Mücke was despairing. In September, Rudolf Steiner had taken the first steps to initiate the relocation of the publishing house. After the conference in The Hague (November 13-18), Marie Steiner traveled directly to Berlin, accompanied by Elisabeth Vreede. 16
• 17. Clara Walther, née Selling, formerly also called Wiesel.
• 18. Johanna Mücke, the managing director of the publishing house.

165

To Rudolf Steiner in Dornach
Friday, November 23, 1923, from Berlin

Friday

Dear E,

Unfortunately, my letter was delayed for a day because Muck declared that no letter could be sent on Penance Day. ¹⁹ Yesterday I was in the underworld from 3 o'clock in the morning until 4 o'clock in the afternoon and only then was I able to get myself together enough to ensure that the letter was sent. In the evening I had office hours. Miss Vreede is leaving in two hours and I want to give her this letter. She is clearing out and bringing some things to Dornach, and is depositing a suitcase in Stuttgart. I received Waller's telegram today, unfortunately without any news from you; so I just have to hope that you are doing well. I find the price for the move exorbitant, especially since the move of the books is not included. I would still like to try an eight-meter-long wagon – and send the other wagon with furniture for Stuttgart. But I don't want to make up my mind today. Dr. Unger is giving a lecture here on November 30th and they are having a meeting on December 1st. Perhaps it would be best for me to travel to Stuttgart with Dr. Unger then, because I still have to see my house. ²⁰ I am not quite sure whether I should write Wachsmuth ²¹ abtelegraphieren soll. I tell myself that if he comes, it could at most serve if he were to direct the move instead of us later. Otherwise he can hardly help me with anything. The main thing was to have been here after all, and to let the things that are happening draw near to me. - If I were to delay for another week, Dziu.²² perhaps her men to appear again for eurythmy clothing ^{23 23It was the first attempt to present eurythmy through gentlemen. It's a shame to miss so many lectures.}

Warmest regards from Marie.

• 19. Wednesday, November 21, 1923.
• 20. Refers to the ongoing expansion of the living quarters for Rudolf and Marie Steiner at Landhausstrasse 70.
• 21. Dr. Guenther Wachsmuth (1893-1963), member since January 1920, resident in Dornach since 1921. 1922-1923 on the inner working committee at the Goetheanum, since Christmas 1923 on the Executive Council of the General Anthroposophical Society as secretary and treasurer, leader of the natural science section.
• 22. Ela Dziubaniuk (d. 1944), painter trained in Lviv, member since September 1911. Came to Dornach in 1914/15 and worked on painting the Little Dome of the first Goetheanum. She was also one of the eurythmists working under Marie Steiner. She later moved to Paris.
• 23. At that time, there were first attempts to present eurythmy through men. The income should be used to purchase eurythmy clothing.

168

To Marie Steiner in Berlin
Friday, 23 November 1923

Dornach, 23 November 1923

My dear Mouse!

With warm greetings, I would now like to write about what could be explored initially. I will only be able to say something final about the furniture after I have spoken to the higher customs authority in Bern, which will probably happen tomorrow. I still have to wait for a telephone message about this.

First and foremost, therefore, we need the removal certificate to be issued by the Berlin police authorities. This must include a declaration that all the goods being removed are your property and that they are being transferred for your continued personal use due to the relocation of the publishing house to Dornach. It must then list in detail what is being transferred.

The removal firm, which is willing to carry out the move with two eight-meter-long trucks for 2,750 francs, says that the books should be packed in crates that can then be transported in railway wagons. These book crates are not included in the above price. That will be added.

With regard to customs, the books are subject to customs duty under all circumstances. However, the duty is not high: 6 francs per 100 kilograms. That would be fine. But only for the books. However, Swiss law does not recognize the concept of a legal person for these items either, only a physical person. I have now been told by the Basel customs authorities that the bookshelves etc., everything that belongs to the publishing house in the narrower sense, is not initially duty-free because we have been living in Switzerland since 1913. Such things are only duty-free for one year after the physical person has moved. The same then applies to the rest of the furniture.

The question now is what they say in Bern about this matter. I have only gained full clarity here because of the answer to my question as to whether, for example, a joint-stock company, i.e. a legal, non-physical person, has duty-free access to factory equipment (which is the same as our shelves). It does not. It has to pay in any case. So it turns out that claiming the move of the publishing house as such is of no use to us. Because it is a legal entity, not a physical person. So you can only get the shelves etc. and the furniture duty-free if you tie them to our physical person and then claim that we ourselves want to get this furniture only now, when the publishing house is moving, as our belated moving goods. I will only find out from the higher authority in Bern whether we will be granted this.

If customs had to be paid, it would amount to CHF 60 per 100 kilograms for the furniture.

We will have to consider whether it would not be better not to bring the things here, or at least only some of them. Because, as I said, the duty for the books is low. It is only the furniture that makes it expensive. If the books arrive on their own, I am told, the matter will be quite easy, perhaps even without a special import permit.

All the other documents are formalities. I will take care of them and then they will only have to be presented here when the items arrive.

I will write again as soon as I have been to Bern.

It now seems desirable to me that I receive the request for the employees soon; perhaps something can still be done then.

Waller has now occasionally expressed the intention of bringing the information to Berlin in person.

Now, dear Maus, I would just like to say that the trip here went without a hitch. Everything went according to plan. I only wish that your trip to Berlin had also been good. There is a lot of work and worry here.

The entry permits for Zaiser ²⁸ and Büchenbacher ²⁹ are not without difficulty. The same are to provide certificates for the visas in Stuttgart that they can support themselves in Switzerland. Of course they cannot produce them because no one in Stuttgart will issue them. The question now is whether we at the Goetheanum should do so. I can do it, but I would first like to hear from you whether this is what you would like. Of course, something like this cannot be a general rule, and we must avoid people who receive such a certificate from here seeing it as an instruction to demand something here, or even to tell others who then want the same. If you write me just a word that the Goetheanum should give the two the certificate, it will be done immediately. For the Kuxe ³⁰ That is not necessary; they get the certificate from their father. But you can see from this that one enters into an obligation with the certificate. And it must be issued to those entering the country. They must not then see what they have been granted as a right. It is all very laborious now.

I am told that the “skipped performance” on Saturday received ³¹ stormy applause. I am almost afraid now that the matter has lost some of the seriousness of the eurythmy events. But I know nothing about it. I only heard from Vietinghoff ³² and: Käthe ³³the matter belongs.

Now just to say that I sincerely hope that you, my dear mouse, will not be too badly off in Berlin. I would love to be there. But what was discussed in The Hague should stand if the case arises.

With my warmest wishes, Rudolf Steiner

Waller also told me to send her regards and to say that she will come immediately if you need her. The Basel removalist will contact the Berlin one and make all the arrangements with him. The Berlin one will not be paid. You will be informed about the tips. The Berlin removalist will present himself when you write that the move is going ahead.

• 28. Gerlinde Zaiser (1899-1971), member since 1919, one of the first speech formation students of Marie Steiner, writer (dramatic poetry).
• 29. Dr. Hans Büchenbacher (1887-1977), lectured on the threefold social order, 1923 on the committee of the Free Anthroposophical Society, 1931-35 chairman of the Anthroposophical Society in Germany. Later, head of the working group for philosophy and psychology at the Goetheanum.
• 30. Ralph Kux (1903-1965), musician and eurythmist.
  Willi Kux (1902-1976), studied eurythmy with his brother, first in Stuttgart and then in Dornach. After several years, he took over his father's business in Dortmund and worked there for the branch work and the founding of a Waldorf school. 30
• 31. Eurythmy performance in Dornach on November 17, 1923 (in the absence of Rudolf and Marie Steiner), in which French poems were presented.
• 32. Marie (Mischka) v. Vietinghoff-Scheel (ca. 1885-1949), from Russia, member since January 1912, came to Dornach in 1914, where she worked as a gardener and as a guard at the Goetheanum, including as a personal guard for Rudolf and Marie Steiner. Some time after Rudolf Steiner's death, she moved to Ascona.
• 33. Käthe Mitscher (1892-1940), daughter of Gertrud Noss, member since July 1906, worked on the mystery plays in 1910/13, from around 1914 a contributor to the Dornach building, later mainly active in organizing eurythmy.

166

To Rudolf Steiner in Dornach
Saturday, November 24, 1923, from Berlin

Saturday

Dear E., So now the documents ²⁵ are being sent to you. Muck had informed me that Miss Knispel was desperate to come with us, while Mr. Wendel ²⁶ thought he could get ahead better here. Miss Tolch ²⁷ naturally wants to come, but at the same time she wants all kinds of guarantees, and she asks about Swiss tariffs, etc. – It's so awful that she always brings up this note right away.

Councillor Jacoby, to whom the apartment has been allocated, comes to see me immediately. I also received another document stating that if I did not object to the confiscation, the apartment would have to be vacated within three days. That was a warning shot. The others say it is only a formality. So I raised the objection first.

I am surprised that I have not heard a word from you this time, not even by telegram, and I don't know whether I should be worried.

All my love, Marie.

• 25. requests from the employees of the publishing house for residence permits in Switzerland, with enclosed character references etc.
• 26. Karl Wendel (d. 1945), member of the Berlin branch since May 1909.
• 27. Marie Tolch (died 1942), member since October 1910, employee in the publishing house.

169

To Marie Steiner in Berlin
Saturday, 24 November 1923

Dornach, 24 November 1923

My dear Mouse,

I have just returned from Bern, where I was with Waller. The man I asked for information is the one who will also have the final say as the person in charge when it comes to the decision on whether something can be duty-free when it is imported. So we have to assume that the final decision will certainly be as the man, who was very kind, told me today. According to this, none of the furniture, not even the bookcases from the publishing house, can be exempt from duty. Yesterday I wrote that 60 francs would cover 100 kilograms of furniture. The man in Bern added to this otherwise correct information by stating that raw furniture costs 35 francs per 100 kilograms and simple furniture 45 francs per 100 kilograms. The publisher's furniture would certainly be considered as such raw furniture. This now provides a yardstick for how much, or whether anything at all, of the furniture should be transported here.

Waller wanted to claim that she had indeed received the items free of charge. The man said that this was possible shortly after the war, but not anymore. Back then, people were more lenient. Waller now wants me to write to you that the Basel shipping agent, who is sure to do the best job, is taking on the Berlin shipping business: Josef J. Leinkauf Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin NW7, Dorotheenstraße 77. We have nothing to do with this man other than to know that when we receive his name, he is the right one. If, for example, a somewhat cheaper price is offered in Berlin, you have to know that this only applies as far as Basel – that is how the Berlin hauliers calculate – whereas the Basel hauliers calculate the whole way to Dornach. On the whole, the Basel hauliers charge much less.

What you write in your letter that has just arrived [probably No. 164] is very, very dear to me. They are beautiful thoughts that take us back to the beginning of our work. Thank you very much for the letter.

I would love to be there; but it is just not possible; but, I would like to say again, what was discussed in The Hague will probably remain so.

There is much concern here; the International ³⁴ Laboratorien Akt. Ges. has the bad legacy of Futurum in its body; and everything depends on the book that is to be written.³⁵ Our business people – but please, that's a trade secret – are all just miserable.

The picture of the dust and excitement clouds there is “in the style”; hopefully you, my dear mouse, will be able to do your deeds at a distance that is free of dust and excitement.

Olga [Zibell] says that she has emptied the travel bags properly; the horsehair cushions and leather bag have also arrived safely.

Helene Lehmann ³⁶ is still in bed; the influenza has passed; but now there is another problem: pressure on the nerves emanating from the cerebellum due to the fatty tissue above the heart; and I told her at once that she must fast every day until 11. Later, the fast must also be extended to the quality of the food. I hope she will be able to work in 2-3 weeks.

A telegram from Rihouet has just been delivered; ³⁷ I read: presentation successful, full house, send feelings of gratitude and devotion.

Now only warmest greetings from Rudolf Steiner.

Waller sends her regards, “she doesn't know anything more now,” she says.

• 34. The later Weleda AG. Emerged from Futurum AG, for more details see GA 260a, page 723f, and “Beiträge...” issue 118/19, 1997.
• 35. Rudolf Steiner/lta Wegman, “Foundations for an expansion of the art of healing according to spiritual scientific knowledge” (1925), GA 27.
• 36. (1886-1953), employed in the household of Marie v. Sivers, first in Berlin and from 1914 in Dornach, member since 1907, sister of Bertha Lehmann (Mrs. Reebstein from 1916), who worked in the secretariat.
• 37. Performance by the Dornach Eurythmy Group in Paris on November 23, 1923.
  Simonne Rihouet (1892-1982), later Madame Coroze, has been a member in Paris since September 1913. She founded the Paris Eurythmy School and the journal Science spirituelle in 1921.