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September 21, 2005
Belated Response to Dan Dugan
I was delighted to see that Dan claimed (well, sort of) to have identified the mystery quote. This "quote" is described in an article written by Peter Staudenmaier. Oddly, the actual text that Staudenmaier was supposedly drawing on in his article has never been identified, either by anthroposophists, nor by any of the faithful waldorf critics. The offer has been boosted up to $100, as Linda has decided to put in another $50. Both of us feel that our money is very safe. Please see: The Big Lie from PLANS and And There it Sits for the previous installments in this exciting non-event about the non-existent Steiner quote (one of the most quoted non-quotes ever).
Dan wrote (on Sept. 1), quoting from the article by Peter Staudenmaier (which is published on the PLANS web-site):
In June, 1910, Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy, began a speaking tour of Norway with a lecture to a large and attentive audience in Oslo. The lecture series was titled "The Mission of National Souls in Relation to Nordic-Germanic Mythology." In the Oslo lectures Steiner presented his theory of "national souls" (Volksseelen in German, Steiner's native tongue) and paid particular attention to the mysterious wonders of the "Nordic spirit." The "national souls" of Northern and Central Europe belonged, Steiner explained, to the "germanic-nordic" peoples, the world's most spiritually advanced ethnic group, which was in turn the vanguard of the highest of five historical "root races." This superior fifth root race, Steiner told his Oslo audience, was naturally the "Aryan" race. [1]I'm sure you understand that the [1] refers to a footnote. The note is:
[1] See Rudolf Steiner, Die Mission einzelner
Volksseelen im Zusammenhang mit der
germanisch-nordischen Mythologie, Dornach,
Switzerland 1994. These lectures are available
in English under the title The Mission of the
Individual Folk Souls in Relation to Teutonic
Mythology, London 1970. The "Nordic spirit" of
Scandinavia continues to fascinate European
anthroposophists; see, for example, Hans Mändl,
Vom Geist des Nordens, Stuttgart 1966.I have the book before me. I highly recommend
that you, or anyone who claims that Steiner
wasn't a racist, read this lecture series before
going on any further. Have you read it?
My response:
Dan, the question is not whether Steiner was or was not a racist. The question is whether PLANS publishes lies. If the lecture series you cited includes the material in question you should be able to offer up confirmation of the quote, claim the $100, and smear mud all over anthroposophy and anthroposophists. What is stopping you? The utter non-existence of this quote, perhaps?
I'll even offer some helpful hints.
Mr. Staudenmaier provides some brief quotes that should be able to guide you to the right material (if it exists). Look for the following words or phrases:
"national souls" "germanic-nordic" "root races" "Aryan" (Note: Real scholars rarely use single word quotes, and they do provide notes that link the reader not to an entire lecture series but to the page on which a quote occurs.)
Quote the paragraphs in which these words or phrases show up. If this lecture series contains the points in question: you have won the bet! I'll even stretch the point and allow you to pick and choose passages from several different lectures, as though Staudenmaier's summary covers the entire lecture series.
Just a reminder. If it turns out that Peter made a teensy little mistake and just happened to footnote the wrong lecture series--my bet was easy and open. I asked that the passage merely occur in a lecture given in Norway. This gives you at least one more lecture to search for the mysterious quote.
You do know that the "quote" in question was a fabrication. So why is this article still up on PLANS web-site? Why do you publish lies?
Another peculiarity. The footnote says that the title of the lecture series is: The Mission of the Individual Folk Souls in Relation to Teutonic Mythology. Staudenmaier gives the title as: "The Mission of National Souls in Relation to Nordic-Germanic Mythology." How did the word "folk" become "national"? Did someone have an agenda? The word volk in German has a very similar meaning to the word folk in English. German has a word for national, just as we have in English. We don't say: national tales instead of folk tales. Neither do the Germans. We don't say national arts instead of folk arts. Neither do the Germans.
I can think of some reasons for the odd translation of volk into national. None of them reflect well on Staudenmaier or PLANS.
Just had an amusing thought: the material in question was never offered up by Rudolf Steiner at any time. It was written by Peter Staudenmaier and published by PLANS. So if anyone is spreading racism...
Posted by Deborah at September 21, 2005 8:35 PM