Memories of Rudolf Steiner
by Ludwig Graf Polzer-Hoditz
Chapter VIII
The war dragged on and difficulty after difficulty arose in the countries behind the fighting line. The people, entirely unaccustomed to such strenuous times, grew heavy-hearted when there seemed so few prospects of the war ending. It could be read in their faces. The growing anxieties of producers, especially in agriculture, and the frequent failures of military administrations, made people desperate. As time went on, great military organizations drew vast profits and threw the taxation on to the small-scale producers. It became clear that when the wholesalers were given authority the people were subjected to the most terrible oppression, and in this way greater and more serious corruption was bred.
We all spent Easter 1915 at Dornach. In May, Dr. Steiner came to Austria again. He gave two public lectures in Vienna entitled: “Transcendental Knowledge and its value to the soul of man: our fateful times viewed in the light of Spiritual Science.” He also gave two addresses to members. The same public lecture was to be given at Linz. The police there demanded a verbatim copy of the lecture beforehand. I therefore had a typewritten copy made of the shorthand notes which had been taken by a professional stenographer. Rudolf Steiner corrected the typescript personally, and the revised original is still in my possession. I accompanied him from Vienna to Prague before he went to Linz. The days in Prague were much the same as those in Vienna. The public lecture in Prague took place on May 17th. The next day was especially important to me as he gave his address to the members in the lecture-room of our home, Pfarrplatz 12. In this lecture he spoke about the Goetheanum and the sculptured group which was to stand in an important position in the finished building. This group was to portray the Representative of Humanity between the opposing Powers of Lucifer and Ahriman. He also spoke of the victory of Constantine over Constantius Chlorus and the underlying currents, of the Christ Impulse and how it is revealed in historical events, for example, in the victory of France over England through the inspiration of Joan of Arc. A picture was given of the significance of West, East, and Middle Europe, and the lecture concluded with a reference to the Rosy Cross which we should accept as our symbol in the right sense. I was then alone in Linz as my wife and children were working at Dornach.
After these days in Austria I went to Dornach, meeting Dr. and Frau Dr. Steiner at Innsbruck, and we continued our journey together. In view of present conditions it is interesting to note that under the then prevailing circumstances (May 1915) I was still able to travel without a passport into neutral Swiss territory. It was on this journey that I experienced the first difficulty, for passports had just been made obligatory, without my knowledge. I was stopped at the frontier, and Rudolf Steiner advised me to make myself known to the railway authorities as an officer. I was allowed to pass. Although from that time onwards difficulties increased I was always able to get over them by some means or other.
From Whitsun 1915 to the middle of 1916 we did not go to Dornach. Besides devoting myself to my military duties I also did anthroposophical work in Prague and Linz, and attended to the needs of the farm.
I must now mention some of the friends within the movement with whom my acquaintance deepened in those last years and who played an important part. Herr Julius von Rainer, a lecturer in Austria, was owner of the farm Mageregg in Kärnten, near Klagenfurt. He started a bakery in connection with his mill, and broke with all: modern customs prevailing in the milling industry. The ideas he evolved in this direction were entirely in line with the principles of Spiritual Science, and the bakery was excellently managed. Herr von Rainer was an admirer of Hammerling and founded the “Homo contra Homunculus Union” in Vienna. The practical management of the union, which also included a vegetarian restaurant, was entrusted to Herr and Frau Breitenstein. When the union was no longer self-supporting; Herr Breitenstein became a devoted and faithful member of the Committee of the Vienna Group of the anthroposophical movement, and later on of the Austrian National Society. Unfortunately, Herr von Rainer was a fanatic and so radical in his views that he ruined himself financially and soon withdrew from the movement. Herr Emil Hamburger was his faithful assistant. at the time. I. met him once when I visited Herr von Rainer at Mageregg. Later, in September 1918, Herr Hamburger came to us in Tannbach and was a much loved member of our household until September 1921. We have always remained good friends. Anthroposophical medicine became his special branch. He started his actual medical studies late in life.
When I was in Prague I often went to see Professor Adolf Hauffen. He was professor for Germanic languages at the university, and his wife, Klotilde Hauffen, was president of the anthroposophical "Bozano" Group during these years. At the beginning Dr. Steiner gave many members’ lectures in their house, where he also sometimes stayed. I also enjoyed the friendship of some of the Czech members, for instance, of Herr Ludek Prikryl, with whom I corresponded on many anthroposophical matters, and of Mrs. Ida Freund who was a very active member there. While in Dornach we met Herr Karl Stockmeyer, who became an artist after completing his military service. We were great friends and he stayed with us at Tannbach and Linz and painted us all. When Rudolf Steiner saw his portrait of my wife during his visit to Tannbach, he thought it very good. At the outbreak of hostilities Herr Stockmeyer joined up as captain in the artillery and, in spite of his age, went through the whole of the war.
I retired again in April 1916, as I realized that I was more needed within the anthroposophical movement and also because I disliked service behind the line. One realized even then that Europe was in a state of sheer confusion and that powers and purposes quite different from what was believed by the leaders were being served. The approach of barbarism was impending, for this was no ordinary war. Demonic influences were increasing in all spheres, and one veritably experienced hell.
It was at this time that Rudolf Steiner began to speak in far more concrete terms about the currents underlying the catastrophe.
So far, life in the anthroposophical movement had been a grateful, joyous receiving of what the souls of men yearn for, even those in whom the great longing remains in the subconsciousness. For the individual it was a question of struggle and sacrifice from now onwards. The individuality of Rudolf Steiner stood out in greater and greater splendour behind the tragedy of humanity as men sank deeper and deeper into materialism and agnosticism. Wherever people were willing to listen to him, wherever their pride did not shut them off from him, wherever they really tried to make progress, it was apparent why such a great teacher had come. Someone had to bring light into this dark world of illusions, lies, and hypocrisy. Millions were being ruined and it was not to be expected that anything useful and valuable could emerge from the prevailing mode of thinking and the war-psychosis — both of which have persisted to this day. No other opinion was possible than that the evolution of the world was calling out to the leaders of men to become conscious of the spiritual world, even if only to the extent of recognizing Rudolf Steiner as a spiritual leader. But the contrary happened. A war against the Spirit began, a war which became more and more general, was officially supported and encouraged by State and Church, and clothed in all kinds of seemingly moral and high-sounding phrases.
After certain formalities at Innsbruck we were able, in June 1916, to cross the frontier into Switzerland. We felt like coming out of prison when we reached Buchs. We had not breathed as freely for a long time. Although we knew we had to return to prison, we wanted to take back with us inner strength to fight for a renewal of the spiritual life.
In Dornach we all started work at once on the wood carvings, my wife on a window of the south porch, which she completed. I was only able to do preparatory work which was ultimately finished by others. My sons also worked industriously on the casings of the heating apparatus in the white Eurhythmy room. After two months I took my sons back to school at Linz, my wife remaining at Dornach to finish some work. While we were there my sons and I went for many excursions into the mountains. Rudolf Steiner did not come until the end of July, when he gave lectures every day. Various artistic performances also took place. Before my departure I had a private talk with Rudolf Steiner which I remember to have been of great significance. Fräulein Stinde, a member of the Johannisbau Verein and a most faithful worker, had died. Rudolf Steiner deplored that he had really so few workers and that he could not quite see how her place was to be filled. “If you will not take her place, I really do not know who could, but you may be needed more in Austria,” he said to me. I could not, at the time, help agreeing with the last words.
At the end of 1916 I wrote my first pamphlet entitled, "Reflections during the time of War" (Betrachtungen während der Zeit des Krieges), to which Rudolf Steiner referred in a lecture at Dornach, January 8, 1917, in the following words:
.. . I am led to this matter to-day, my dear friends, because there is already a tendency to strike a different note at the centre than at the periphery. And if our anthroposophical cause is taking a share in this different note, we may speak of it among ourselves. To-day I received a pamphlet entitled ‘Reflections during the time of War,’ written by our friend Ludwig von Polzer who has often worked here. Whether one agrees or not with every detail of what is said, it is very interesting that Polzer does not busy himself with abusing and assailing others, but takes his own Austrian countrymen severely to task, with the intention, above all, of reaching their ears. Naturally his karma has made him an Austrian, but he takes his own people severely to task. We do not read: We are innocent, we have never done this or that, we are white angels and all the others are black devils—but (quoting from pamphlet): ‘Why do men hate and mangle one another? Is it really the political difference of opinion which makes so much suffering necessary? The belligerent parties think they know what it is all about but nobody knows in reality, ... a decadent culture is fighting its last battle. The central states, fighting for the germs of a new culture, do not know it yet; they are fighting for something they cannot grasp and are themselves saturated by the sentiment for which their own soldiers are giving their blood on the battlefield. What is degenerate and antiquated has to be exterminated, therefore we see it flashing up for the last time. Do we not meet it among ourselves, too, at every step, this attitude of the Entente, which is the bearer of the old, decadent culture? Has it not impregnated us too—walking up and down the streets in the fashions, embodied in architecture, grinning at us from advertisements, pursuing its orgies in business life, puffing itself up in the craze for organization and bureaucracy and fooling itself in its presumptuous, hypocritical humanism? The press tries to outbid its mate, the Entente, in its love for truth. There we have the Entente, raging and raving in our own country, pretending to work for the brave soldiers and civilians, many of whom have lost their lives in the process. This horrible flash in the pan — we hope it is for the last time before its ending — is not truly German.’ (End of quotation from pamphlet.)
(Rudolf Steiner): “Everything of which he has to complain in his own country he says is not German in the true sense. And so on, in the same strain. He is really speaking to his own nation’s conscience. It is well that these things should be connected with our aims here. We need not necessarily agree word for word with all that this pamphlet says, for the very best thing of all is for us to work independently, each of us preserving our own individuality and accepting nothing as a dogma or on authority... .”
At the time I was still rather optimistic, believing that the prevailing powers of darkness would be more easily overcome, that the war would teach men something, would bring them back to their senses. But I was soon to realize that the opposite was the case, that the powers of death, hatred, and fear had only used the war to remove the last obstacles which stood in their way before the war. And so a semblance of peace was made, but the war continued by other means.
The lecture in which Rudolf Steiner mentioned my pamphlet was one of a series he gave in response to a request of some of the workers at the Goetheanum. In his lectures, from December 4th to the end of January 1917, he gave an historical survey of the real causes of the war behind the outer events. One realized how difficult it was even for certain members to listen to facts without prejudice. This was also a proof of how wrong outside people were in their assumption that those within the movement accepted everything on Rudolf Steiner’s authority. He himself said again and again that the more carefully and fundamentally his statements were examined, the more assured would be the progress of Spiritual Science. Everything that is said by a true spiritual investigator can be grasped by healthy human intelligence if the necessary efforts are’ made, for human intelligence is not limited but develops according to spiritual law if a man does not erect his own obstacles of fear, hatred, or laziness. But these lectures also proved that some people did not want to hear; the truth hurt them and they went away. Rudolf Steiner said to me at the time that in spite of his sincere attempt at impartial neutrality he could not continue this theme, although it was very necessary that even a small group of people of all nationalities should have a deeper insight into the needs of evolution and realize what was happening in the world at the moment. He added that of course there were many other subjects to speak about. To read some of the warnings given with so much emphasis in these lectures is to feel a profound sense of shame.
At the time when I published this pamphlet I already realized that the enemy of Middle European spirituality had a strong position in our own political ranks, and that in spite of her great sacrifices on the battlefields Middle Europe could not be victorious while she, a small minority against the whole world, was fighting with the same weapons and using the same forms of thinking as her opponents. For in reality it was only a war against the spiritual potentialities of Middle Europe, prepared with great genius long before the actual outbreak of hostilities. There was fear of these germs of spiritual faculties which, especially in the mixed races of Austria, had for a long time been striving for fulfilment. Therefore Middle Europe had to be brought to economic ruin. I saw in Rudolf Steiner the only man able to point the way by which an effective spiritual defence could have been introduced.