The Rudolf Steiner Archive

19. The Path to the Salvation of the German People

[ 1 ] In 1858, Herman Grimm wrote an essay entitled "Schiller and Goethe". It begins with the following sentences: "The true history of Germany is the history of spiritual movements among the people. Only where the enthusiasm for a great idea aroused the nation and brought the frozen forces into flow do deeds happen that are great and shining." And further on in the essay you can read: ... . the names of the German emperors and kings are not milestones for the progress of the people."

[ 2 ] The revival of the state of mind from which soldies is written seems alone suited to shed light on the time of distress that has come upon the German people. That something of this state of mind can still rise in the work and labor of the present can only be the hope of those who find it necessary for the German people to turn to saving thoughts now. Anyone who says today that we must first wait and see what relations with the peoples of the West and East will result from the world situation that has arisen before we can think of a fertile ground for a new social culture has no idea of the necessities of the times. What has been said in these pages about the idea of the threefold structure of the social organism has emerged from such a view. The writer of these lines believes that in his previous essays he has sufficiently answered those who repeatedly raise the objection that we must first think of what results from our present relationship to other peoples before we can turn our attention to social ideas such as those represented by the threefold structure. This objection is based on an error that could become the bitterest doom of the German people. For Germany has emerged from the world catastrophe in such a way that it must first create the basis for a future relationship with other peoples. The form that economic life would take if it wanted to develop, detached from the political-legal and spiritual sphere, could be integrated into the world economy. That the integration of such an economic life into the world economy is in the interest of other peoples has been attempted to be shown in these essays. A free intellectual life cannot be regarded by any other people as a basis for hostility. And a political legal life, which is based on the equality of responsible people, could only regard another German people as a hostile element if it wanted to mock itself.

[ 3 ] Only an idea such as that of the threefold structure would have to present itself to the world as the driving force of the will in public affairs. The moment this idea shows itself on the road to action, it can become the revelation of the German essence, with which the rest of the world will confront itself as having a firm foundation. In the face of today's circumstances, in the face of disbelief in the practical effectiveness of vital ideas, one might ask: Where is the German essence? From the best spirits of its past, the German people can hear ideas such as those written down by Herman Grimm sixty years ago. With these ideas, these spirits intended to express the deepest will of their people. Should the descendants of these spirits have no ears to hear the meaning of these ideas?

[ 4 ] These descendants are in a situation in which it is truly not enough to merely remember the ideas of their ancestors, but in which it is rather necessary to develop these ideas in a new way adapted to the present. Does the German want to lose himself by denying his own nature through disbelief in ideas? For the best part of this being can only consist in the belief in the effectiveness of ideas. And the world must expect a revelation of the German essence when it presents itself before it in its authenticity.

[ 5 ] A sufficient number of people within the German people, who penetrate the ancestral heritage of faith in the world of ideas with the powers of the soul, must become the salvation of this people. No salvation will blossom for the Germans from any confrontation with the outside world that is carried out under the sign of disbelief in the practical effectiveness of ideas. For in every such confrontation the participation of the German essence is missing.

[ 6 ] All objections based on the view that now is not the time to devote oneself to ideas should be silenced. For we can only speak of a time that contains the seeds of a real possibility of life for the German people when the power of ideas has been recognized by a sufficiently large number of people. Faith in ideas must not be organized according to what happens elsewhere; but in everything that happens through Germans, this faith in ideas must be the driving force. What will happen under its influence can be awaited with confidence in it; to wait idly by pushing it aside, to let disaster take its course in seemingly practical busyness: all this is a sin against the German's own nature, a sin against the spirit of the world hour, a sin against the demand for genuine self-reflection.

[ 7 ] Is the prevalence of this sin not clear enough? Are the sad effects of this sin not yet there? Does the distress not resound in tones that make this sin understandable? Is there no longer the strength in the German people to recognize the sin against the spirit of their own being as sin? These questions can leave scars on the souls of those who observe the public life of the German people. The pain should lead to an awakening. Were the spirits of Germany's past, with their belief in ideas, dreamers? Such questions can only be solved by real life. And what can the answer be? Yes, they were dreamers when their descendants dreamed their ideas; but they were shining spirits of reality when these descendants take up the power of their ideas in their vividly awake will.