November 15, 2021

From Der Spiegel, Kultur:

Waldorf school and vaccination opponents

In Steiner's Sect

An autobiographical essay by Tobias Rapp

Nowhere in Western Europe is the vaccination rate as low as in German-speaking countries. This is also due to an influential group: the Anthroposophists. As a Waldorf student, I got to know them.

Memory is sometimes deceptive. But I must have been in the 9th or 10th grade when all the students at my school were called to the auditorium in the morning. A fellow student had died, and there was to be a funeral service. I was a Waldorf student, and I still remember the feeling of shame when we were asked by the teachers in the ceremony, an Anthroposophically-inspired service, to now help "transfer the boy over."

Transferred? The boy had died of a severe flu. Not an illness that meant certain death in the eighties of the 20th century. There was a lot of talk at the school afterwards. The child had been the son of very convinced anthroposophical parents, and the attending physician was also an Anthroposophist. Apparently, it had been decided not to treat him adequately with medication. And the boy, who was just learning arithmetic, had, shortly before he became ill, added up in class how many days he had been alive. That's how the teachers told it at the funeral service. That had been a sign.

Nothing ever followed from that story. The boy's siblings continued to come to school, the doctor continued to practice, everyone dealt with their grief differently. What stuck with me was: There are people who, in case of doubt, will sacrifice their children for their convictions.

The vaccination skepticism of the German middle classes

According to statistics published a few days ago, the German-speaking countries have the worst vaccination rate in Western Europe. There are a lot of reasons for this. If you look at the map of the Federal Republic, Thuringia, Saxony and Bavaria are particularly affected by Covid-19 along their external borders; it stands to reason that geographic location is one of the driving factors. In Poland and the Czech Republic, the numbers are even worse than ours.

But there is another reason: the vaccination skepticism of a special middle-class milieu that has its centers mainly in southern Germany and Switzerland. And many of these people are Anthroposophists. What are they concerned about?

Very many Germans have daily contact with Anthroposophy without knowing it. The cosmetics company Weleda, for example, is a company co-founded in 1921 by Rudolf Steiner, the inventor of Anthroposophy. All the creams, soaps and medicines that Weleda sells are made according to Anthroposophical guidelines, which include rather peculiar rituals. The water in which substances are dissolved, for example, must be stirred in a certain way so that they can unfold their power. Biodynamic agriculture is also an Anthroposophical activity. A biodynamically produced apple is not simply organic - if you want the label "biodynamic," you have to align your farm along Rudolf Steiner's esotericism - which includes burying cow horns filled with minerals in the fields in the fall. Steiner believed that they would thus release their "tremendous" power "of the astral and the etheric" during the winter. This practice does no harm, of course. It is nevertheless bizarre.

The GLS Bank was founded by Anthroposophists (although it has been distancing itself from parts of anthroposophical teaching for some time). And then there are the Waldorf schools, which many Germans consider an alternative to the state education system.

Anthroposophists are involved everywhere in education, personal hygiene, nutrition, and health. They themselves believe they are working for a better world. A world in which culture and nature, work and capital, faith and knowledge are no longer in contradiction. But one could also simply say: They are a sect on the edge of Christianity.

Never commented on television

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), the founder of Anthroposophy, is for the Germans a very similar figure as L. Ron Hubbard is for the Americans. A founder of cults and a great weirdo who connected some strands of cultural history and made a belief system out of it. With Hubbard, it is hyperindividualism, self-improvement ideology, and belief in the future with Hubbard. With Steiner, it is the Goethe cult, modernity criticism, and reformist faith in nature.

In fact, Steiner - like Hubbard, who wrote science fiction novels before founding Scientology - was an extremely modern figure in his time. He was a scientist, book editor, traveling lecturer, home teacher, researcher, and industrial consultant. He was politically on the left, had contacts with social democracy. But he was also one of the great crackpots in German cultural history.

He believed that he had a direct line to outer space and that this was where he received his teachings, which he presented in 5965 lectures and many books - thematically, there is nothing he did not touch upon. From the "Essence of Bees" to the question "How to gain knowledge of higher worlds?" He did not dare to approach the subject of sex, for which he probably had no knowledge to impart. There are accusations that Steiner's conception of man has racist elements because he believed in different stages of development of mankind - the dispute about this has been raging for many years.

What can be stated, however, is this: Because they believe in the worldview of a man who has been dead for almost a hundred years, because they study his writings as if they were sacred, very many Anthroposophists have difficulty finding their way in the present. Or vice versa. The present is too confusing for them, so they take refuge in the visions of a man like Steiner. And his mixture of mysticism, natural science, Goethe reading, German idealism, and occult secret knowledge - these led a rather liberal teacher at our school to joke that we students were not allowed to watch television because television did not exist at all, Steiner had after all never commented on television.

This could all be chalked up to the kind of nonsense to which every citizen has a right. However, it becomes dangerous when it comes to vaccination.

Bad for karma

Rudolf Steiner believed that diseases have their meaning in karmic events. Fever, for example, could help children to settle into their bodies. Those who had done things wrong in previous lives might have to make up for them through illness - and those who vaccinate themselves might become deaf to the karmic message. Whoever reads the corresponding passages in Steiner learns that all illnesses must be fought primarily spiritually. "Complete consciousness" can "work just as well" as a vaccination.

Hence the vaccination skepticism of Anthroposophical circles - of their hard core at least.

And if this sounds crazy: It is. And very many Anthroposophists prefer their life to professing their faith. Most of them would not risk their social position and proclaim such nonsense in public. For them Anthroposophy is also rather a wellness philosophy, a surface for a more pleasant everyday life.

Whoever takes Anthroposophy seriously, however, will end up with other conclusions. For with all the supersensible parts it has - it is also a philosophy of the body and of being. Man, says Steiner, has a material body, an etheric body,  and an astral body. To live successfully is to bring these bodies together.

Greater influence than many suspect

Which brings us to vaccination. The injection that protects one from disease injects the body with the poison of civilization. It artificially accelerates what would otherwise take time. It prevents the body from growing on its own and mobilizing its natural forces. Which, again, are beliefs that tie into a long history of skepticism about orthodox medicine that has so far helped rather than hurt Anthroposophists in middle-class milieus.

Especially because the Anthroposophical attitude that diseases help children in their development, that they strengthen the child's body and thus also the child's soul against the dangers of modern life, against allergies and diseases of civilization — all this meets with approval from many parents, especially those who are even a bit eco-minded. On the one side they see the delicate creature, and in opposition they see the dangers of a world in which harmony has long ceased to exist between the original forces of nature and those created by man.

[2/12/22   https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/waldorfschule-und-impfgegner-in-steiners-sekte-a-8242889d-190f-479f-bf6d-a22ccab54013   Translated largely through the use of DeepL Translator.]

February 2, 2022

From an English-language newspaper, Exberliner, published in Germany:

How Germany’s favourite cult took over

everything from schools to supermarkets

Waldorf schools have a hippy image,

but are they in fact Germany's

equivalent to Scientology?

by Nathaniel Flakin

There are over 250 Waldorf schools in Germany. The private institutions give off a hippy image: students stage elaborate theatre productions and learn to dance their names in a practice called Eurythmy. In the press, they are described as  “progressive” or “left-leaning.”

But as you look closer, the vibe gets stranger and stranger. It’s more than just that the buildings have rounded edges and all the toys are all made of wood. Students are educated according to their “seven-year life cycles” and judged according to their “four temperaments” (do you feel more “phlegmatic” or “sanguine”?).

As one former teacher reported to Süddeutsche Zeitung, when teachers were discussing why a particular student was jumpy, it was decided they must have experienced trauma between their previous life and this one.

Waldorf Schools are run according to the teachings of Rudolf Steiner. To understand Steiner, imagine a German version of L. Ron Hubbard. Both men spread esoteric ideas at times when science was all the rage, so they claimed they explored the spiritual realm according to scientific principles. Both considered themselves experts on every imaginable topic, from music to botany to how to wash your car.  Their constant lectures — 5,965, in Steiner’s case — were preserved as the ultimate wisdom on everything.

Both Steiner and Hubbard have been frequently accused of racism. But while Hubbard embodied an American ideal of the 1950s, with rugged individuals pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and whatnot, Steiner was a product of imperial Germany with its ethno-nationalist pulse. So while Hubbard based his teachings on the Marcab Confederacy in distant galaxies, Steiner was more interested in Atlantis beneath the waves.

Steiner’s Anthroposophy is every bit as complex and weird as Hubbard’s Scientology — the former calls itself “the science of knowledge,” while the latter is “the wisdom of the human being.” To any outside observer, both seem like ravings of delusional narcissists.

Scientology, while it gets lots of coverage in the tabloids, is limited to a few Hollywood actors and the downtown of Clearwater, Florida. Steiner’s followers are less well-known, but far more powerful. Supermarkets sell fruit from Demeter, which is presented as organic, but in fact follows the principles of Steiner’s “biodynamic agriculture.” Besides avoiding pesticides, this calls for a cow horn to be buried in the field to harness astral and ethereal energy. The cosmetics manufacturer Weleda uses water prepared in Steinerian rituals. Retailers like dm-drogerie and Alnatura are run by anthroposophists. Otto Schilly, Germany’s Interior Minister from 1998 to 2005, even belongs to the cult.

To make an analogy with the United States: Can you imagine if Scientologists owned Walgreens, ran hundreds of schools, and even had a seat on the cabinet?

And as I wrote a few weeks ago, the Covid-19 pandemic is forcing Germany to reckon with a large esoteric minority that prefers hocus pocus to science. The anthroposophists naturally have eccentric views on medicine. Similar to homeopathy, Steiner-inspired alternative healing enjoys a special carve out in German law. They are allowed to sell their “medicines” without any evidence of effectiveness.

It’s no wonder that they are skeptical about vaccines. As a former Waldorf student explains in an autobiographical essay in Der Spiegel, Steiner believed that illness was like karma, punishing people for bad deeds in previous lives. Diseases would thus help children grow (through their “seven-year life cycles,” of course), and vaccines would therefore stunt their development.

Like with any cult leader, of course, Steiner’s messages about vaccination are confusing and contradictory, and his followers draw different conclusions. What is clear, though, are the numbers. Wikipedia describes Waldorf schools as “epidemic hotspots,” with high rates of both measles and Covid-19 due to low vaccination rates (the New York Times called them a “bastion of anti-vaccine fervor.”). State authorities have had to intervene due to the number of students with doctor’s notes for mask exceptions — seven times more than at public schools.

There are even anthroposophist hospitals supported by public money. As The Guardian has reported, some of these are treating Covid-19 with ginger chest compressions and sugar pills infused with meteoric dust. Shockingly, sedated ICU patients have been transferred into these hospitals and treated with snake oil without being able to give consent.

Of course not everything at Waldorf schools is bad. An emphasis on theater and gardening will be great for some kids. But should we let cults run schools? As the former teacher quoted above explained, many parents and even some teachers will have no idea about Steiner. But it’s the most dedicated followers of Steiner who set the tone.

I believe strongly in freedom of religion. And I wouldn’t say that the Steiner Cult can hold a candle to the Catholic Church in terms of destructiveness. But religious freedom means that people should be able to follow their beliefs on their own time and on their own dime. No cult deserves special privileges or public funding. Above all, education and health care need a scientific basis and democratic control.

No one would want Scientology running schools in Germany. So why give other cults that right?

[2/13/22   https://www.exberliner.com/politics/waldorf-school-germany-scientology-anti-vaccine/]

March 22, 2022

From the German/English journal Fair Oberver:

German Far-Right Conspiracy Theorists 

Step Up Attempts to Undermine Schools

Why do Germany's independent schools 

seem to attract far-right ideas?

By Kiran Bowry

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, independent schools in Germany, particularly the Waldorf (also known as Steiner) schools attracted far-right conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers. Over the past two years, reported incidents of COVID-19 skepticism coupled with far-right conspiracy theories at Waldorf schools appear to be on the increase. Some COVID-19 deniers even attempted to establish their own schools in order to withdraw their children from government influence. Which far-right groups have been the driving force behind these developments, and what have the authorities done about it?

Gravitational Pull to the Right

As of February 2020, across Germany, approximately 90,000 pupils attended the 254 state-recognized Waldorf schools, whose curricula originate in an anthroposophical worldview. According to the Anthroposophical Society, the Waldorf pedagogy system, which was developed by the Austrian spiritualist Rudolf Steiner in the early 20th century, encourages “ways of recognizing and exploring the supersensible-spiritual world that exists in the sensory-material world. This ‘spiritual science’ sees itself as a new approach to a deeper and more comprehensive knowledge of nature and man.” [1]

The concept behind Waldorf schools is a “developmentally appropriate, experiential, and academically-rigorous approach to education.” [2] Compared to the pressure to perform in state-run schools, the goal is to strengthen individual responsibility as well as creative, practical and social skills. Another difference lies in self-administration by parents and teachers instead of a “hierarchically organized external control of the state schools.” [3]

Through close personal ties with teachers, parents can actively influence everyday school life according to their beliefs with fewer interventions of internal school control bodies compared to state schools. Hence, the self-administration model makes independent schools susceptible to infiltration by far-right actors and conspiracy theorists. According to Ansgar Martins, a religious studies scholar at Frankfurt University, this structural weakness is compounded by the “pronounced anthroposophical inclination toward conspiracy theories” of Waldorf schools that stems from Steiner’s original teachings. [4]

Steiner held a developmental, esoteric and essentially racist view of humanity that saw the world divided into superior and inferior races, exemplified by countless discriminatory statements against Jewish and especially black people: “How can a Negro or an utterly barbaric savage become civilized? … The Negro race does not belong in Europe, and it is of course nonsense that it now plays such a large role in Europe.” [5]

These remarks are joined by Steiner’s pseudoscientific conception of the physical and intellectual superiority of the white race, reminiscent of the Nazi-era Volkstum concept according to which humanity reached its developmental endpoint in the white race: “If the blue-eyed and blond-haired people were to die out, people would become increasingly stupid unless they developed a kind of cleverness which is independent of blondness. … The white race is the future race, is the spirit-creating race.”

According to Germany’s Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, these statements “are to be regarded as particularly serious, since they are by no means random products or racist stereotypes caused by the spirit of the times. Rather, they are to be seen as manifestations of a specifically Steinerian esoteric racial science.” In the Stuttgart Declaration of 2007, the Association of Independent Waldorf Schools condemned “any racist or nationalist appropriation of their pedagogy.” [6] Nevertheless, this declaration did little to prevent attracting far-right conspiracy theorists even before the pandemic.

Far-Right Infiltration

In 2013, the managing director of a Waldorf school in the German town of Rendsburg was dismissed because of connections to the far-right Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Reich) movement. [7] He attracted attention by distributing leaflets in the school spouting that “the Federal Republic of Germany … is not a state, but the managing legal advisor of a state simulation [is]. There is no de jure and de facto state of the Federal Republic of Germany.” 

The Reichsbürger is a heterogeneous movement that, referring to the historical German Reich, rejects the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany and its legal system, thus denying legitimacy to democratically elected representatives. A small proportion of the Reichsbürger movement is made up of right-wing extremists, but the anti-state and conspiracy theory tenets of the entire scene facilitate a connection to anti-Semitic narratives that are central to the far-right domain.

At another Waldorf school in the German town of Minden, a teacher taught unchecked for 20 years before his connections to ethno-nationalist right-wing extremist groups became known. Even before Wolf-Dieter Schröppe became a teacher, he maintained contacts with veteran Nazis, including the war criminal Erich Priebke — the man responsible for the massacre of 335 people as a captain in the SS and sentenced to life in prison. It took more than four months before the school terminated Schröppe’s employment contract, partly because some colleagues spoke out in his support.

In 2015, these incidents prompted the Association of Independent Waldorf Schools to publish a brochure conceding that the anthroposophy-based Waldorf pedagogy has a “great attraction” for the right-wing extremist conspiracy theorists, specifically for the Reichsbürger.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, Waldorf anthroposophy again garnered attention. To this day, Steiner’s worldview translates into a greater vaccine skepticism in Germany as a whole and in Waldorf schools in particular due to public acceptance and influence of anthroposophy. Underlying Steiner’s philosophy is the dangerous belief that diseases serve a karmic purpose by stimulating child development and making amends for mistakes in past lives. [8]

Hence, over the last decades, vaccine skepticism has manifested itself in lower vaccination rates in Waldorf schools, resulting in regular measles outbreaks. In this respect, an incident at a school in the city of Freiburg came as no surprise when 117 COVID-19 cases were recorded and more than 50 forged medical certificates were discovered exempting students and teachers from wearing a mask.

At a Waldorf school in the Bavarian town of Landsberg, a father who is both a doctor and a homeopath issued certificates to families of other students to circumvent mandatory mask-wearing, denouncing people who choose to do so as “mask hypochondriacs.” At a demonstration against COVID-19 measures, he showed the indictable Hitler salute that resulted in criminal charges.

The Bavarian Ministry of Education confirms these incidents are not isolated cases. Mask exemption certificates were seven times more likely to be issued at Bavarian Waldorf schools than at state schools. Nevertheless, many Waldorf parents show resolve against COVID-19 deniers and far-right activities. According to the mobile counseling service against right-wing extremism in Bavaria, Waldorf parents “disproportionately often” reported similar incidents at schools during the pandemic. [9]

COVID-19 Denier Schools

To evade resistance at state but also independent schools and shield children from COVID-19 measures, some parents and teachers went a step further, founding their own learning initiatives and so-called supplementary schools. [10] Insights into the network groups behind those supplementary schools reveal political affinities not only with the Reichsbürger but with another the far-right esoteric movement.

In Rosenheim, Bavaria, an elementary and middle school teacher founded a Querdenker (Lateral Thinkers) school to reflect the movement’s pandemic skepticism. More than 50 pupils were taught here by parents and educators, including herbalists, music teachers and shamans. On advertising leaflets, the school falsely claimed to be located on Russian territory so that German law would not be applicable.

The school principal was active in networks spreading far-right esoteric ideas of the Anastasia movement, a decentralized conspiracy group of far-right esotericists and settlers, based on the protagonist of the “Anastasia” fantasy novel series by Russian author Vladimir Megre. According to sociologist Matthias Quent, the novels “transport cultural racism and anti-Semitism. These are ideological patterns that we also know from National Socialism. According to them, modern society is doomed, and people must retreat to the native soil or family estates.”

Connections to the Anastasia movement also existed in the newly founded Bauernhofschule (farm school) in the state of Hesse, which was registered as a supplementary school. Hesse’s school law enables parents to establish schools with scant bureaucratic hurdles as long as they supplement, not replace state curricula. According to the German state of Hesse’s public broadcaster, HR, Telegram chat transcripts revealed that the school operators proclaimed to teach children how to keep animals, grow vegetables and live in harmony with nature. Nevertheless, the chat was inundated with extremist, anti-Semitic views from the Reichsbürger and Anastasia movements.

Even Holocaust denial — a criminal offense in Germany — received indifferent or approving reactions in the chats. [11] The ideological connections of the Bauernhofschule reach as far as the fringes of the QAnon movement, as Martin Laker’s membership in the group suggests. Laker is an active member of the Anastasia movement and runs his own online platform where he spreads QAnon myths.

Underestimating the Problem

Germany’s political establishment has been slow in reacting to the growing problem. While the authorities are taking action against the newly founded supplementary schools, including enforced closures due to a lack of permits, there is still no sign yet of German politicians taking the danger posed by far-right anthroposophists seriously enough.

In January 2021, the Green Party’s national parliamentary group issued a request asking what connections between right-wing extremist opponents of the COVID-19 measures and anthroposophical groups are known to the German government and how it assesses “the potential danger in this regard, given the fact that anthroposophy in Germany maintains a far-reaching network of companies, foundations, and public institutions.” The answer: “The Federal Government has no knowledge of this.” 

This rection is particularly disappointing considering the fight against right-wing extremism has gained political traction in recent years due to record high numbers of politically motivated crimes by right-wing extremists. In 2020, the government published a substantial catalog of measures accompanied by a 100-page final report on combating right-wing extremism and racism the following year. According to the report, programs to prevent extremism in state schools are to be promoted more vigorously but fail to mention the right-wing extremist slant of anthroposophical groups and independent schools.

It remains to be seen whether the new government under the leadership of Angela Merkel’s successor Olaf Scholz will turn its eye to this blind spot. There seems to be no lack of will on the part of Scholz’s fellow party member and the new minister of the interior, Nancy Faeser, who announced at her first public appearance in the new role that “A particular concern of mine will be to combat the greatest threat currently facing our free democratic basic order, right-wing extremism.” 

The threat posed by far-right conspiracy theories and fake news might have only entered the public consciousness with the triumph of social media platforms. But conspiracy theories don’t germinate in a vacuum. Instead, often far-reaching causes are behind their emergence. In Germany, the societal impact of widespread anthroposophic views, promoted in state-approved institutions like the Waldorf schools, is one of the many causes that deserve increased critical, not at least political, attention.

[3/22/22   https://www.fairobserver.com/region/europe/kiran-bowry-germany-far-right-conspiracy-movement-waldorf-steiner-schools-covid-19-education-news-13661/]

Waldorf Watch Footnotes:

[1] See, e.g., "Steiner's 'Science'". Through the use of clairvoyance, Steiner taught, we can learn to attain objective knowledge of the spirit realm that indwells the physical realm. [For Steiner's instructions on attaining the needed clairvoyant abilities, see "Knowing the Worlds".]

[2] Such descriptions, originating within the Anthroposophical movement, must be viewed with skepticism — they are often essentially misleading public relations effirts. The "academic rigor" of Waldorf education, for instance, is often illusory. [See "Academic Standards at Waldorf".]

[3] Some Waldorf schools have more or less conventional organizational structures, but others operate as cooperative efforts in which the teachers themselves administer the schools' functions. [See, e.g., the Appendix to "Faculty Meetings, Part 2".]

[4] See, e.g., "Double Trouble".

[5] See "Steiner's Racism" and "RS on Jews".

[6] Again, we should remember that the Waldorf movement often engages in disingenuous public relations. [See, e.g., "PR".] It is certainly possible that most Waldorf teachers today genuinely deplore racism. However, Steiner's racist teachings remain embedded in Anthroposophy, which underlies Waldorf education. [See "Embedded Racism".]

[7] Ties between Anthroposophy and the extreme right (Fascism) have long been a subject of heated dispute. [See "Sympathizers".]

[8] See "Steiner's Quackery".

[9] Many parents who send their children to Waldorf schools are unaware of — and personally oppose — the far-right views of at least some Waldorf faculty members.

[10] In these instances, parents and teachers presumably share far-right beliefs or, at least, countercultural and antiscientific beliefs, often including conspiracy theories.

[11] Holocaust denial has been frequently found in at least some sectors of the Anthroposophical community. [See, e.g., "Our Experience".]