The Rudolf Steiner Archive

This year's General Assembly of the Goethe Society on May 8, 1891 was a particularly solemn one, as it took place in the middle of the festive week dedicated to the commemoration of that momentous moment in German art when the Weimar Court Theatre was opened under Goethe's direction one hundred years ago. The connection between the two celebrations also found special expression in the fact that Prof. Suphan, the director of the Goethe Archive, was able to report on an important discovery of documents relating to Goethe's management of the theater. The meeting was extremely well attended. Their Royal Highnesses, the Grand Duke, the Grand Duchess, the Hereditary Grand Duke and the Hereditary Grand Duchess as well as the Princesses Auguste and Olga of Saxe-Weimar honored the meeting with their visit. The following foreign guests were present: Minister von Goßler, Privy Councillor von Loeper, Wildenbruch, Bodenstedt, Spielhagen, Julius Wolff, W. Freiherr von Biedermann, Privy Councillor Freiherr von Bezecny, Lud. Aug. von Frankl, Erich Schmidt, Jul. Rodenberg and many others. The meeting was chaired by Privy Councillor von Loeper, who welcomed the society and expressed his regret that President von Simson was unable to attend due to health reasons. Privy Councillor Dr. Ruland then presented the annual report, which showed that the number of members on December 31, 1890 was 2988; the Society's assets on that day amounted to 37,289 marks, of which 21,396 marks served as a reserve fund. As a Christmas gift for the members of the Goethe Society, a publication on Goethe's relationship to the Weimar theater was promised on the basis of the above-mentioned discovery of files by Dr. C. A. H. Burkhardt and Dr. Julius Wahle. Prof. Dr. Valentin from Frankfurt a.M. gave the keynote speech "On the classical Walpurgis Night". The lecturer endeavored to refute those views that want to see contradictions everywhere in Goethe's "Faust" and deficiencies in its unified composition. Despite some gaps and unevenness in the progression of the plot, "Faust" is a consistent, unified poem. It is the counterpart to Wilhelm Meister. But while in the latter work the poet allows his hero to find the goal of his striving in the real world, he places such a powerful urge for human perfection in Faust's soul that it becomes impossible to grant it satisfaction in this finite world. Faust's striving is for something infinite and eternal. But one that not only represents the sum of all that is finite, but goes into the depths of all being. Mephistopheles cannot understand the latter. He only knows the former infinity. Therefore he leads Faust from pleasure to pleasure. But what Faust seeks, he cannot grant him. This is why the role of Mephistopheles changes in the course of the play. From Faust's guide, which he was in the first part, he becomes in the second part the henchman who procures the external means for Faust's higher purposes, the latter of which he no longer even suspects. He gives Faust the key to the Mothers' apartments, but remains completely unaware of his fate in this spirit realm. In Mephistopheles' "Nothing", Faust finds the symbol of all beauty, Helena, and brings her to the upper world, but initially only as a dream image, as a shadow. She needs to be embodied, to exist in the flesh. This can only be achieved if a germ of humanity is produced from the forces of nature that is capable of cloaking the shadow of beauty with real life. This is the homunculus. It becomes Faust's guide into classical antiquity, where it dissolves in order to continue to act as the force that forms Helena's body from the elements of nature around her spirit. Thus Faust is in possession of this only one of the women; but he still cannot be satisfied, for no finite thing, whether it is in the past or the present, can satisfy him. Only when he wants to banish all magic from his path through life, when he renounces all finite, selfish pleasure and lives only in the anticipation of a happiness that he has created but no longer enjoys, does he reach that supreme moment when he wants to say: "Linger on, you are so beautiful". Faust's soul is lost to Mephistopheles, who believed he could hold on to it in his final enjoyment.

This keynote speech was followed by Prof. Suphan's presentation of the files he had found. These represent a large part of the old theater archive. They were found in a barely accessible corner of the part of the palace known in Weimar as the "Bastille" and were donated to the Goethe and Schiller Archive by His Royal Highness the Grand Duke on December 24, 1890. There are seventy-eight volumes and fascicles. One part consists of the so-called DirektionsAkten, i.e. those documents from the management of the Court Theater Commission set up in 1797. This commission consisted of Goethe, von Luck and Kirms, later Goethe, Kirms and Rat Kruse. The second part consists of the files of the branch theaters where the members of the Weimar theater performed during the summer season. 35 of the volumes in this section relate to the Lauchstadt theater and are from the years 1791 to 1814. This series contains the documents relating to the famous Leipzig guest performance of 1807. Three volumes concern the theater in Halle since 1811, seven Erfurt (1791-95 and 1815), ten Rudolstadt (1794-1805), one Jena, three Naumburg. Goethe dictated and reviewed a large number of these plays. A manuscript of the prelude "Was wir bringen" (from the hand of the scribe Geist) is among the files, as well as 44 letters from Goethe to Kirms and 34 to other people. In addition to purely business matters, the former also deal with matters of literary and artistic interest. The collection also includes letters from Schiller, such as one in which he expresses his approval of the Wallenstein performance in Lauchstädt. Karl August's relationship to the theater is evident from many of the documents. Of particular importance are those sheets that show the care with which Goethe managed the theater and how nothing was too small for him to concern himself with it.¹

After these announcements, Prof. Suphan gave a special report on the Goethe Archive and the Goethe Library. With regard to the former, it was emphasized that Goethe's natural science estate had also recently been viewed and processed for the edition. The work of Prof. Bardeleben from Jena and the writer of these lines has progressed so far that readers of the Weimar Goethe edition will probably be able to see a larger part of the discovered estate in the course of this year. It will make a significant contribution to finally making Goethe's pioneering work in the scientific field clear to even the greatest doubters. Goethe tackled morphology in such a way that he has not yet been caught up with by specialist science; in the field of osteology, there are works on the skull of mammals and the shape of animals, which introduce a method into anatomy that was only recognized as the correct one decades later by Merkel and others.

The library was augmented by purchases of valuable items, particularly of older literature, and by numerous donations. The Grand Duke donated 106 letters by Wieland to the archive, which was significantly enriched by the acquisition of Otto Ludwig's manuscript estate, which is being edited by Erich Schmidt.

Geheimrat Hofrat Ruland now presented the report on the Goethe National Museum. The museum is continuing to organize its collections, in particular Goethe's library.

The General Assembly was followed by a communal lunch, during which Minister Groß made toasts to the Emperor, Privy Councillor von Loeper to the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, Erich Schmidt to the Weimar Theater and Minister von Gossler to the Goethe Society. Ludw. Aug. von Frankl brought a festive greeting from Vienna. The festival concluded with a performance of Paul Heyse's new play "Die schlimmen Brüder" in the court theater.

• 1. The aforementioned publication of the Goethe-Gesellschaft, which will be sent to members as this year's Christmas gift, is to be entitled: "Documents on the History of Goethe's Theater Management 1791 to 1817", by C. A. H. Burkhardt and J. Wahle.

It is always of particular interest to hear important people, whose sphere of life and work is far removed from the field of theoretical world observation, speak about the great mysteries of our existence and about the ultimate causes of world development. And even a man like Moltke, who was repeatedly in a position to see the course of fate for entire states determined by his personality. The significance of such a relationship can only be recognized by those who understand what great, deeply penetrating experiences mean for our whole being, how they suddenly spread a different hue over a large number of our ideas. How many people are suddenly changed in their whole character by an experience of overwhelming impact! And worthless are the doctrinaire circles of thought of those people into whose course of life blows of fate, high joys and deep disappointments have never intervened.

What might have been going on in the mind of Chief of Staff Moltke in the hours before the important decisive battles with Austria and later with France! At such moments, the spirit of the world evidently pokes something very special into a person's ear; words that are difficult to understand for people with everyday worldly experience.

The German reading world now has a printed version of Moltke's thoughts on the world context and human destiny.

Let us try to clarify the main features of his world view. Moltke is convinced of the universal lawfulness of the entire universe. He also believes that the laws which bring about the smallest and greatest events here on our earth are valid in every part of the universe. What happens on Sirius is no less essentially subject to the same reasons as the phenomena that take place before our eyes every day. And Moltke imagines all human activity to be enclosed within the circle of this lawfulness. But our reason must also have this world lawfulness within itself; for only on this condition can it find reasonableness everywhere in the world outside. For Moltke, the concordance of reason and reality is a postulate of his views.

In the end, our philosophizing commander sees the entire harmony of the world as an outflow of the divine spirit, which has also arranged for the world and human reason to be in harmony.

Although these views correspond exactly with the mathematical-mechanical world view prevailing in the circles of contemporary natural scientists - Du Bois-Reymond must be delighted with this alliance - the idea nevertheless seems correct that the reason for their emergence must be sought in Moltke's profession as an army commander.

The commander's decisions are, in the strictest sense of the word, the result of considerations based on mathematical and dynamic premises. Just as for the mathematician and mechanic there is only one calculation result from given calculation approaches, so also for the commander only a very specific action can appear as the necessary consequence of given facts. He carries this out with a necessity similar to that with which a stone falls to the ground. The activity of the human spirit appears here completely integrated into the mathematical-mechanical world event, as a mere continuation of it. And man emerges as the executor of eternal, iron world laws.

What must necessarily suffer from such a view, however, is the feeling for individuality and for the personal freedom of man. Without question, the individual must take a back seat in military leadership: Firstly, in relation to the laws of military knowledge and secondly, in relation to the organization of a multi-limbed body. Anyone who draws a conclusion about the general nature of all being from such an area must be one-sided in his convictions. The psychologist, however, knows that every person who has a certain occupation makes the latter the center of his assessment of the world. Everyone has the need to constantly draw on concrete examples from his experience to supplement the general views that fill his mind. These are not merely to confirm the general, but to make it all the more evident to him. It is now natural for the general to regard as general those laws for which he finds examples within his world of experience. But these are precisely the mathematical-mechanical ones.

What is decidedly neglected in such a conclusion, however, is the world of freedom. Within Moltke's views there is just as little room for the latter as there is within the mechanical world view of the current theory of nature. In the former, the one-sided focus on external events and the mathematical side of nature's existence causes the latter to become involved in military life and activity. Moltke views the universe as a great body of troops, the contemporary teachers of nature as a many-limbed machine. The former generalizes the laws of the art of war, the latter the rules of mechanics. In both ways the result is a one-sidedness in the fullest sense of the word, which is psychologically understandable, but which cannot exist in the forum of an all-round view of the world and of life. How necessary it is to measure each thing by its own standard and not to bring in experiences from another area is one of the highest insights of the human spirit. Many people will understand it theoretically, will find it comprehensible, but there is still a long way to go before we reach the innermost essence of our psychic organism. Before you get there, you have to have many experiences. Experiences which, however, do not take place on the scene of great world events, but in the depths of our inner being. A philosopher is not someone who knows the sum of the existing philosophical teachings and has perhaps added a few new ones, but only someone who has gone through the difficult struggles of the soul, through which truths are not learned, nor conceived, but experienced. Now what can least of all be learned and conceived, but what must be experienced, is the principle that every thing is to be considered according to its inherent individuality. This latter consideration is the necessary counterpart to Moltke's view that a lawfulness runs through all world beings. Within this one lawfulness, however, countless types of laws are possible, which need to be carefully considered in particular.

As interesting as the views of the great commander are for the psychologist, they show how strict immersion in a sphere allows the basic characteristics of the latter to be recognized as the leitmotifs of an entire human life, and that no other activity can lead to an all-round satisfying grasp of life than a life of the thinker that is not particularly committed to details and is equally warm and equally cool to everything.

For decades, our educated people were in love with a brittle beauty. She had serious features, a somewhat pale complexion, dark hair, was without fullness; and only rarely was there anything like passion to be seen in her face. No one could really warm to her presence. Nor did people always like to be with her. Only at the big markets, where public opinion was offered for sale, did people appear proudly at her side. If you wanted to spend a leisurely hour, if you lived only for yourself and your immediate surroundings and didn't need to add that tone to your words that made them seem suggestive to the crowd, then you got rid of your companion. But they also acted grandly and duly boasted of their chaste relationship.

The woman is called "loyalty to principle".

We have left behind us a time that has driven the worship of "principle" to the point of disgust. Original feelings and individual judgment counted for nothing; life was to be lived by a few principles that were repeatedly put forward and by which everything was judged. People counted for little, the principles they swore by counted for everything. People didn't care about the individual, but they did care about whether they were liberal or conservative, national or cosmopolitan, materialistic or idealistic.

There are signs that things are getting better. There are still plenty of latecomers to be seen, latecomers who are still singing the old song. But you can see how the understanding of the individual is on the increase. Nothing can prove this more clearly than the success of Maximilian Harden's two "Apostata" volumes. They contain the essays that Harden has published in recent years in various German journals on contemporary events and contemporaries. People were always looking for these articles in the places where they could hope to find them. People were curious to know what Harden had to say about an event, because they appreciated the writer's unique personality. And you never felt disappointed, because Harden knew something to say that no one else would have thought of. And another thing: Harden is not satisfied with simply stating his opinion. He knows that although food is nourishing without the addition of spices, it tastes better with them. Harden is distinguished enough to present his opinions only in such a guise that not only the content but also the cover is of interest. We like it better when someone stimulates us than when he wants to convince us. I don't like them who write thin and thick books to convince the people around them. I find that kind of thing simply tactless. It always presupposes stupid readers who are supposed to be instructed. Most of our fellow writers don't want to talk to us about their subject matter, they want us to be instructed by them. It is only because this attitude is unfortunately so widespread that so much is written which the Graces do not even want to look at with a contemptuous sideways glance. We like reading Harden so much because he has not a trace of such an attitude. Reading his writings makes you feel like a human being. And that's not something you're used to with authors. He doesn't impose his convictions on anyone, but he expresses his opinion; and that will interest others, even if they don't share it. Indeed, it will be much more useful to him than the one he can immediately subscribe to in full. This will usually only be the case with the most trivial things. The unconscious respect that Harden has for his reader characterizes him as the type of a distinguished writer. As such, however, there is another thing that is peculiar to him. This is the boldness of his judgment and the self-confident way in which he presents himself to the world. Harden's judgment is never tinged with that leaden timidity which dares to express itself only "modestly" or "with reservation" or "intemperately", but is firm, sharp, unreserved. The mind of a right person does not react indeterminately, vaguely, unclearly to anything that comes to him, but fiercely, sharply. He who does not put this vehemence and sharpness into the expression of his views does not deserve that his fellow men should be interested in him. He remains uninteresting to us. For he lacks that high sense of truth which is the characteristic of a noble man. He who is true always speaks more or less paradoxically. Nor can we demand of any of our sayings that they be absolutely true, for the whole truth will probably only come to light by considering an infinite number of one-sidednesses in their context. He who is afraid to say something paradoxical, and therefore weakens the points of his statements as much as possible, will produce nothing but more or less bland, banal talk. Harden's assertions are now as pointed as possible. In any case, he does not use a file to blunt the sharp points, but probably a very sharp instrument to sharpen what you can still run your finger over without cutting yourself. We are dealing with a writer who we often agree with enthusiastically, and who often annoys us beyond measure. But writers are also the most miserable creatures that we should never get angry with. The only exception, of course, is when you are merely annoyed by their stupidity.

The article that opens the second collection of the "Apostata" shows how fine Harden's opinion is. It is about Harden's visit to Prince Bismarck, which took place a few weeks ago. We get a picture of the overwhelming individuality of this monumental personality that we could not wish for better. This is the true art of characterization: to apply precisely those lines in a picture that best reflect the individuality portrayed. And Harden is a master of this. Incidentally, other passages in his "Apostata" volumes also show how he knows how to appreciate the great chancellor. Harden knows that man acts according to individual principles and the Philistine according to principles. And his hatred of all philistinism is not slight. Eugen Richter comes off badly. Worst of all in the final article of the second volume: "Ententeich". How could Harden, the idolizer of the individual, hate anyone who wants to erect a tyranny of abstract principles in the place of human tyranny? That Richter could never understand that everything useful must come from the will of the personality, and that one can never come to grips with reality with general principles, made him the enemy of the greatest statesman, whom he should otherwise have regarded as the greatest happiness to stand opposite as a political comrade-in-arms. Bismatck, on the other hand, could justifiably only look with resentment at a man who had no feeling for reality, but who repeatedly and repeatedly came out with "liberal principles".

Harden's understanding of the individual also makes him a subtle psychologist. All those who rebel and claim to want to look at everything psychologically could learn a lot from Harden. Just read his article on Guy de Maupassant. Our youngest Germans also want to write psychological essays, but they don't really work because they are full of dogmas and arbitrary assumptions. And the real cannot be dictated, it can only be observed. No one can judge an artist if he approaches the latter with artistic demands. Only those who are under the impression of full reality, without prejudice, are able to see purely. But very few people can think of anything when they look at an individual piece of reality without prejudice. They have a recipe in their pocket, and their judgment consists in saying whether reality agrees with their recipe or not. But that is not Harden's way. His way of looking at things is without a recipe, entirely subjective, from case to case. Of course, the recipe people have it easier. They don't always have to make a new effort to come to a judgment.

Rarely will a judgment as subjective as Harden's coincide with the state or social norm. What everyone says should not actually be written down. But it is not always entirely safe to defy the "norm", and the accusations of all kinds that have rained down on Harden's innocent head over the past year have officially testified to the fact that something is stirring that could cause too much excitement among the general public.

Where everyone was complaining about the shamefulness of a woman, Harden was looking for deeper social forces; and what he contributed to the Prager-Schweitzer trial should be recommended to the attention of wider circles for the assessment of similar incidents.

I do not ask a writer whether he has "right" or "wrong" principles. For I know how little there is in such "rightness" or "wrongness"; but I ask whether he is a whole man, a right man, who, even if he errs, must still be heeded. What many can tell me, I do not listen to, for I can usually tell myself; but what only a few can tell me, that is what I ask for. Many are happy when they only hear or read what is quite clear to them. Others say to such things: lost time. The latter will reach for Harden's "Apostata" volumes.

We can no longer go on as we have done up to now. Morality, which has been trampled deep into the dust, must be revived! So thought a number of well-meaning people, and they founded an "Association for Ethical Culture". The news has just gone out from Berlin that this new institution for the salvation of mankind has come into being, and the invitation to join. And among the founders we find many a name that belongs to a personality we admire. The purpose of the association should be to emphasize the general humanity of all religious and moral characteristics of the individual religions and cultures and to make this the carrier of its world view and way of life. This is to be achieved through literary (lectures, discussions and the publication of writings) and practical (acts of charity and efforts to improve the situation of the suffering population) association activities. In view of the first part of the program, a discussion of this association probably belongs in this section of a literary journal.

The basic error at the root of this is the belief in a general human morality. As little as "man in general" is possible, but only a conceptual fiction, so little can we speak of ethics in general. Every people, every age, indeed every individual has their own morality. The thinker can then seek out what all these moral views have in common, he can search for the driving forces that are equally effective in all of them. But the result obtained in this way has only theoretical value. It is infinitely important for the realization of man's ethical nature, his moral essence; it can never be made the basis for the conduct of life. And there can be nothing more satisfying than that this is not possible. Otherwise, the individual expression of national and human natures, of ages and individuals would be replaced by the template-like actions of moral puppets, which would always be strung up on the strings of the general human moral doctrine.

Nowhere more than in moral life can the principle apply: Live and let live! The respective morality of a person or an age is the unconscious result of his view of the world and life. According to a certain way of thinking and feeling, action acquires an individual character; and there can never be any thought of a separate cultivation of the latter. Today, an elite of educated people is working on a reorganization of our view of life, both in terms of science as well as religion and art. Everyone is doing their bit. What comes out of this will determine our actions. The cultivation of knowledge, truth and artistic views can be the content of common endeavors. It will then automatically lead to a common ethic in many areas. If everyone openly presents what he knows, if he puts on the public agenda what he has achieved; in short, if he expresses himself in every direction: then he will be more to the whole than if he approaches it with the pretension of being able to tell it how it should behave. Many of our contemporaries have finally had enough of all the talk about what we should and should not do. They want insight into the workings of the world. If they have this, then they also know how to behave in the world they recognize. And anyone who does not have this insight and yet approaches them with good teachings for our actions is considered a moral philosopher. Our task within humanity results simply from our realization of the nature of that part of it to which we belong. For those who recognize the truth of these propositions, aspirations such as those underlying the "Association for Ethical Culture" are considered unfashionable and backward.

We have other things to do than think about how we should behave. Our whole life is in a period of transition because our old views are no longer adequate for modern consciousness, and because the materialism that the natural sciences want to put in its place is only a view for flatheads. We may soon be at the point where someone speaks the redeeming word that solves the riddle of the world from the side from which mankind of the present has posed it. We are again suffering from the great questions of knowledge and the highest problems of art. The old has become rotten. And when the great solution is found, in which many people will be able to believe for some time, when the new gospel is there, then, as always in this case, the new custom will also arise of its own accord as a necessary consequence. New world views bring forth new moral teachings all by themselves. The Messiah of truth is always also the Messiah of morality. We have no use for popular educators who have a lot for our hearts but nothing for our heads. The heart follows the head if the latter only has a certain direction.

If efforts such as those of the "Association for Ethical Culture" have long been the order of the day in America, we Germans have no reason to imitate them. Among peoples with predominantly practical, materialistic tendencies, a certain slackness has set in with regard to questions of knowledge. They do not have the lively interest in questions of knowledge and truth that is still native to us in Germany. It is therefore convenient for them to be able to make themselves comfortable on the resting bed of a general human moral doctrine. The stereotypical morality does not hinder them in what they think about. They do not know the torments of the thinker, not those of the artist. At least not those who belong to the societies for ethical culture. But whoever, like the German, has ideal life in him, whoever wants to advance spiritually, the path must be free and open for him, not obstructed by moral rules and popular education measures. To repeat an often-used expression, everyone must be able to be happy in his own way. Therefore, no modern thinker can join the association in question or approve of its tendencies. I have no doubt that the word "tolerance", which the association has written on its banner, will exert its talmigold-like effect on broad sections of society. It will certainly achieve just as much as the other, no less abused, words: Liberalism and humanity. Goethe said that he wanted nothing to do with liberal ideas; only attitudes and feelings could be liberal. A sworn liberal, when I once quoted the great poet's view to him, was soon finished with his judgment: it was just one of the many weaknesses that Goethe had in himself. To me, however, it seems like one of the many views that Goethe has in common with all people who are energetically active in the intellectual field: the ruthless advocacy of what is recognized and understood as true, which is at the same time combined with the highest respect for the individuality of others. Only those who are something themselves can also recognize the other, who likewise means something. The average person, who wants to be everything and therefore nothing, demands the same kind of nothingness alongside his own. Those who live according to the template themselves also want to shape others according to it. That is why all people who have something to say are also interested in others. But those who really have nothing to say speak of tolerance and liberalism. But by this they mean nothing more than that a general home should be created for everything that is insignificant and shallow. But they should not count on those who have tasks in the world. For them it is hurtful if they are expected to bend under the yoke of any generality, be it that of a general standard of art or that of a general morality. They want to be free, to have free movement of their individuality. The rejection of any norm is the main characteristic of modern consciousness. Kant's principle: Live in such a way that the maxim of your actions can become universal, has been dismissed. It must be replaced by: Live in the way that best corresponds to your inner being; live yourself fully, completely. It is precisely when each individual gives to the whole what no one else can give, but only he, that he does the most for it. Kant's principle, however, demands the performance of what all can do equally. However, the right person is not interested in this. The "Society for Ethical Culture" has a poor understanding of our times. Their program proves that.

Why did Friedrich Nietzsche think himself mad about the big questions of human morality? It would have been much easier to listen to the philosophy professor from America Felix Adler on the "morality common to all good people" and proclaim what he heard to the German people as a doctrine of salvation. This is what an elite of German educated people did and founded a "Society for Ethical Culture", whose purpose is to make this "commonality" the mainstay of the lives of educated people. I note from the outset that the founders of the society include men whom I hold in high esteem. But the foundation itself stems from a backward view of life. Official philosophers, who today still regurgitate the old Kant concept—cripple, Nietzsche calls him—stand firmly on the standpoint of believing that there is such a thing as a morality “common to all good men”; modern thinking, which grasps its time and looks a little into the future, is beyond that. “Act in such a way that the principles of your actions can apply to all people”; that is the core sentence of Kant's moral doctrine. And this little saying rings in our ears in every key from the confessions of those who call themselves freethinkers, liberals, apostles of humanity etc. But today there is also a circle of people who know that this sentence is the death of all individual life, and that all cultural progress is based on living out individuality. What is special in every human being must emerge from him and become part of the development process. If one disregards this special something that everyone has for himself, then all that remains is a very banal "general" that cannot advance humanity by a single step. A few rules of expediency for mutual intercourse, that is all that can emerge as something “common to all good people”. But the ethical life of man in the true sense of the word only begins where these laws based on utility end. And this life can only come from the center of the personality and will never be the result of implanted doctrines. There is no such thing as general human ethics. Modern feeling must reply to the Kantian proposition with the exact opposite: Act as, according to your particular individuality, only you can act; then you will contribute most to the whole, for you will accomplish what another cannot. This is how all the people of whom history tells us have acted. That is why there are as many different moral concepts as there have been and are peoples, ages, indeed basically as many as there are individuals. And if this natural law were to be replaced by that which is considered correct by moral philosophers who think in the Kantian sense: a bland uniformity of all human action would be the necessary consequence. Such "general" moral principles have often been established; but no human being has ever organized his life according to them. And the realization that this is a business for idle minds should be the hallmark of all modern thinking.

I can well imagine the objections to these sentences. “That's pure anarchy!” “If everyone just lives their own life, then there is no question of working together!” If I had not really heard such objections, I would find it superfluous to even touch on them in a few words. We are talking here about the ethical life of man, as already mentioned. That which is below his level is not subject to moral standards; it is subject only to judgment according to its expediency and inexpediency. It is the task of social bodies to decide what is right; ethics has nothing to do with it. The state may watch over the usefulness or harmfulness of human actions and ensure that they are as expedient as possible; the ethical value of my actions is something that I as an individual have to settle with myself. There may be rules of expediency of action, and their observance may also be enforced by force; there are no rules of moral action. Anarchism is not to be rejected because it is immoral, but because it is inexpedient. In the realm of actual morality, only the principle can apply: live and let live. It is not surprising that the idea of "ethical societies" has found favor in America, where, in an eminently material cultural life, all thinking that goes beyond concern for the common necessities of life is lost. In Germany, however, where there is still a sense for the higher tasks of humanity, this should not be imitated. Where one thinks only of making physical life as comfortable as possible, one may look for the comfortable means of information of moral principles, because there is a lack of moral impulses. In a cultural area, however, where a true spiritual life prevails, the respective moral way of life can only be the result of the prevailing world view. My attitude in life will depend on how I view both nature and the human world. Custom is always a necessary consequence of the knowledge of an age, people or human being. That is why great individuals who proclaim new truths to their age will always give their way of life a new character. A messiah of a new truth is always also the herald of a new morality. A moralist who only has to give rules of conduct without knowing anything special about nature or people will never be heard. Therefore, there can be nothing more perverse than the measure adopted by the constituent assembly of the "ethical society" to try to influence the improvement of ethical life through the dissemination of moral writings. It is quite understandable to me that German writings have been completely ignored and that only translations of American books are being considered. In Germany one would not find much that is useful for this purpose. Books on ethics are only written here by school philosophers who are stuck in the unfashionable Kantian doctrine. But they write a school language that is completely incomprehensible to the circles on which the "ethical society" relies. Philosophers outside the school, however, do not establish moral principles. Here the moral-individualistic way of thinking has already become deeply ingrained. American books of this kind mostly contain trivialities that only sentimental old girls or immature schoolboys can be expected to read. The real German, learned or unlearned, philistine will buy some of them, and will have many praiseworthy things to say about them; he will not read them. Men of some knowledge, who have not been completely degraded in their thinking by our sad school philosophy, know that the majority of these books contain only wisdoms which, a hundred years ago, only made those of us who have moved on yawn.

But it is lamentable to hear that these dreary moral maxims are to be inculcated into the education of young people. Mr. von Gizycki has spoken the harshest words about the pedagogically reprehensible influence of purely confessional education. Hardly any modern thinker will argue with him about this. But what the denominations do with their moral principles is what the "ethical society" wants to imitate with general human principles. There and here, however, nothing is achieved but the killing of the individual and the subjugation of life through lifeless, rigid laws. The priests of religion are to be replaced by the priests of general human morality. But things are even worse with the latter than with the former. The denominational moral doctrines are the results of certain world views, which after all constitute the legitimate cultural content of mankind; the general human moral doctrine is a sum of commonplaces; they are scraps gathered from all possible moral views, which do not stand out from the background of a great contemporary view. Anyone who considers such things to be viable or even suitable for reforming the ethical content of our culture is giving a poor testimony to their psychological insight.

We are facing a reshaping of our entire worldview. All the pains that a generation struggling with the highest questions has to go through are weighing on us. We feel the agony of questioning; the happiness of solving the great riddle is to be brought to us by a Messiah whom we await daily. Our time of suffering will perhaps be long, for we have become demanding; and we will not allow ourselves to be fobbed off so soon. But this much is certain: whatever he will proclaim to us, the reformer: with the new knowledge will also come the new morality. Then we will also know how to organize our new life. To present the educated now with old cultural remnants as the eternal moral good of mankind is to blunt them to the perception of the ferment of the times and make them unsuitable for cooperation in the tasks of the near future.

Among the statutes of the “Society for Ethical Culture” are also some that will have a favorable effect. The initiation of a more lively discussion of religious issues, the striving to improve the living conditions of the poorer sections of the population are all things that deserve recognition. But all this has nothing to do with the basic tendencies of society, which want to push back all conceptions of ethical life to a level that has been overcome by modern consciousness. The spread of these basic ideas could only hinder the development of truly modern views.

In the Sunday supplement of the National-Zeitung of May 15, 1892, a kind of official program of the Society appeared, no doubt from the pen of one of its more outstanding founders. It reads: "The assertion that there is no general human morality is an insult which humanity cannot accept without suffering a loss of healthy self-esteem and belief in its destiny." And a few lines further on, the principle of "ethical culture" is presented as: "moral education ... solely from the conditions of existence and basic laws of human nature...". This is to look at the matter somewhat too superficially. Every educational period has its own view of the conditions of existence and basic laws of nature; its ethics are based on this view. This is as changeable as the other. Indeed, one should not approach attempts at a moral cure without knowing the powerful words from Nietzsche's "Genealogy of Morals", which proclaim the development of ethical truths loud and clear, even if we have no sense of abstract thinking. However, a mass prescription from the haze of the great moral pharmacy must be vigorously rejected by those preparing a better future.

The word "modern" is on everyone's lips today. Every moment a "new thing" is discovered in this or that area of human creativity, or at least a promising attempt at it is noticed. Most of these discoveries, however, do not lead the discerning person pursuing the matter to something really new, but simply to the lack of historical education of the discoverers. If those who currently influence public opinion through speech and writing had the same degree of knowledge and discernment as they do hubris and boldness in their claims, ninety-eight times out of a hundred they would use terms that have something to do with the matter itself where the words "new" and "modern" now have to stand in.

I don't want to join in the wild cries of the uneducated and immature standard-bearers of "modernity" when I speak here of a "new" morality in contrast to the old. But I am convinced that our time imperatively demands that we accelerate the change in views and ways of life that has been taking place very slowly for a long time. Some branches of culture are already imbued with the spirit that expresses itself in this demand; a clear awareness of the main characteristics of the change is not often to be found.

I find a simple expression for the basic trait of a truly future-worthy striving in the following sentence: Today we seek to replace all otherworldly and extra-worldly driving forces with those that lie within the world. In the past, transcendental powers were sought to explain the phenomena of existence. Revelation, mystical vision or metaphysical speculation were supposed to lead to knowledge of higher beings. At present, we strive to find the means to explain the world in the world itself.

It is only ever necessary to interpret these propositions in the right way, and one will find that they indicate the characteristic feature of a spiritual revolution that is in full swing. Science is increasingly turning away from the metaphysical approach and seeking its explanatory principles within the realm of reality. Art strives to offer in its creations only that which is derived from nature and renounces the embodiment of supernatural ideas. However, in science as in art, this endeavor is associated with the danger of going astray. Some of our contemporaries have not escaped this danger. Instead of pursuing the traces of the spirit, which they once erroneously sought outside reality, they have now lost sight of everything ideal; and we must see how science is content with a mindless observation and recording of facts, art often with mere imitation of nature.

However, these are excesses that must be overcome by what is healthy in the whole direction. The significance of the movement lies in the rejection of that world view which regarded spirit and nature as two completely separate entities, and in the recognition of the proposition that both are only two sides, two manifestations of one entity. Replacing the two-world theory with the unified worldview is the signature of the new age.

The area where this view seems to encounter the most serious prejudices is that of human action. While some natural scientists are already wholeheartedly committed to it, and some aesthetes and art critics are more or less imbued with it, ethicists want nothing to do with it. Here, the belief in norms that are supposed to govern life like an otherworldly power still prevails, in laws that are not created within human nature, but that are given to our actions as a ready-made guideline. If one goes far enough, one admits that we do not owe these laws to the revelation of a supernatural power, but that they are innate to our soul. They are then not called divine commandments, but categorical imperatives. In any case, the human personality is conceived as consisting of two independent entities: the sensual nature with a sum of instincts and passions, and the spiritual principle that penetrates to the realization of moral ideas, through which the sensual element is to be controlled and restrained. This basic ethical view has found its harshest expression in Kant's philosophy. Just think of the well-known apostrophe to duty! "Duty! thou sublime great name, who dost not grasp in thyself anything popular that leads to ingratiation, but dost demand submission", who dost "merely set up a law that finds its way into the mind of its own accord and yet acquires reverence for itself against its will, before which all inclinations fall silent, even if they secretly work against it". In these words lies an autonomization of the moral commandments into a special power to which everything individual in man simply has to submit. Even if this power announces itself within the human personality, it has its origin outside. The commandments of this power are the moral ideals that can be codified as a system of duties. The followers of this school of thought regard those who base their actions on these ideals as good people. This doctrine can be called the ethics of motives. It has many followers among German philosophers. We encounter it in a very diluted form in the work of the Americans Coit and Salter. Coit says ("The Ethical Movement in Religion", translated by G. von Gizycki, p.7): "Every duty is to be done with the fervor of enthusiasm, with the feeling of its absolute and supreme value"; and Salter ("The Religion of Morals", translated by G. von Gizycki, p. 79): "A moral act must have been done out of principle". In addition to this ethic, there is another that takes into account not so much the motives as the results of our actions. Its followers ask about the greater or lesser benefit that an action brings and accordingly describe it as better or worse. They either look at the benefit for the individual or for the social whole. Accordingly, a distinction is made between individualistic and socialistic utilitarians. If the former refrain from establishing general principles, the observance of which should make the individual happy, they present themselves as one-sided representatives of individualistic ethics. They must be called one-sided because their own benefit is by no means the only goal of the active human individuality. It can also be in their nature to act selflessly. But when these individualistic or socialistic utilitarians derive norms to be followed from the nature of the individual or a group, they make the same mistake as the advocates of the concept of duty: they overlook the fact that all general rules and laws immediately prove to be a worthless phantom when man finds himself within living reality. Laws are abstractions, but actions always take place under very specific concrete conditions. Weighing up the various possibilities and choosing the most practical one in a given case is what we should do when it comes to action. An individual personality is always faced with a very specific situation and will make a decision according to the circumstances. In this case, a selfish action will be the right one, in another a selfless one; sometimes the interests of the individual will have to be taken into account, sometimes those of the whole. Those who unilaterally pay homage to egoism are just as wrong as those who praise compassion. For what is more important than the perception of one's own good or the good of others is the consideration of whether one or the other is more important under the given circumstances. When acting, it is not primarily a matter of feelings, not of selfish, not of selfless ones, but of the right judgment about what is to be done. It can happen that someone sees an action as right and carries it out while suppressing the strongest impulses of his compassion. But since there is no absolutely right judgment, but all truth is only conditionally valid, depending on the point of view of the person who pronounces it, a person's judgment about what to do in a particular case is also conditioned by his particular relationship to the world. In exactly the same situation, two people will act differently because, depending on their character, experience and education, they have different concepts of what their task is in a given case.

Anyone who understands that the judgment of a specific case is the decisive factor in an action can only advocate an individualistic view of ethics. Only the right view in a given situation and no fixed norm helps to form such a judgment. General laws can only be derived from the facts, but facts are only created through the action of man. These are the prerequisites of abstract rules.

If we derive certain general characteristics of individuals, peoples and ages from the common and lawful nature of human action, we obtain ethics, not as a science of moral norms, but as a natural doctrine of morality. The laws derived from this relate to individual human action in exactly the same way as the laws of nature relate to a particular phenomenon in nature.

To present ethics as a normative science is to completely misjudge the nature of a science. Natural science sees its progress in the fact that it has overcome the view that general norms, types, are realized in individual phenomena according to the principle of expediency. It investigates the real foundations of phenomena. Only when ethics has reached the point where it asks not about general moral ideals, but about the real facts of action that lie in the concrete individuality of man, only then can it be regarded as a science on a par with natural science.

In the history of German literary research, Grand Duchess Sophie of Saxony, who died on March 23, 1897, deserves a place of honour. Goethe's last grandson appointed her heiress to his grandfather's entire manuscript estate. He could not have entrusted the valuable treasures to anyone better than her. In April 1885, Goethe's papers passed into her possession. From then on, she regarded the administration of the legacy as a sacred and dear duty. She wanted to make it as fruitful as possible for science. She carefully discussed with men whom she considered to be good Goethe experts, Herman Grimm, Wilhelm Scherer, Gustav von Loeper and Erich Schmidt, how the property entrusted to her should be used for literary-historical research. She founded the "Goethe Archive" and appointed Erich Schmidt as its director. She believed that she could best serve the knowledge of Goethe and his time by publishing a Goethe edition that met all the scholarly requirements of the time. She invited a large number of scholars to collaborate on this edition. It was her heart's desire to see the completion of this monumental work. Unfortunately, it did not come true. Only half of the planned number of volumes have been published to date. The Grand Duchess took the most active part in the work of her archive. The current director of this institution, Bernhard Suphan, could only ever speak in terms of the greatest enthusiasm when he spoke of this interest. She went into all the details of the work.

Goethe's estate acted like a magnet on the papers left behind by other German poets and writers. In May 1889, Schiller's descendants made a gift of their ancestor's manuscripts to the Grand Duchess. The "Goethe Archive" thus expanded to become the "Goethe and Schiller Archive".

The plan emerged to gradually develop this into a German literary archive. Much has already been done to realize this plan. The estates of Otto Ludwig, Friedrich Hebbel, Eduard Mörike and others are already in the Goethe and Schiller Archive. In order to complete her creation, the Grand Duchess decided to build her own house to house the treasures. On June 28, 1896, the magnificent building on the Ilm, near the Residenzschloss, was officially opened. Anyone who was present at the ceremonial opening of this literary archive could observe the seriousness and love with which the Grand Duchess spoke of her creation. You could see how happy she felt to be able to serve science.

The Grand Duchess Sophie had a clear eye and a sure sense of what was great and important. She possessed a sharp power of judgment that allowed her to make the right decisions on the most difficult issues. Her indomitable energy and rare prudence enabled her to devote her attention to even the smallest details connected with her work. What she did for the cultivation of art, for the education of the youth in Weimar, for the material welfare of her country, cannot be overlooked today. It was in her nature to set herself beautiful tasks and to carry them out with a strong will. She is greatly revered in Weimar. She is held in high esteem by the members of the Goethe Society, the Shakespeare Society and the Schiller Foundation, who were able to see at their meetings in Weimar how great the interest this woman took in intellectual endeavors was and how great the understanding she had for cultural tasks. Her wish was that everyone should spend pleasant days in Weimar when they visited this place in order to revive the memory of great times of the past. It has often been said in recent times that people in Weimar live from the past. That is true. But this life of great memories is best understood. And it is hardly to be regretted that there is such a place where people gather from time to time who otherwise live only in the present. It is nice to see the past come alive in front of you from time to time, as if in a dream. The fact that Weimar is such a place today, which many people like to visit again and again to celebrate the great dead, and that they take good impressions home with them from their visits, is something to which the late Grand Duchess contributed a great deal.

The Würzburg professor of theology Dr. Herman Schell published a book entitled "Catholicism as a principle of progress" (Würzburg 1897). This title struck me as a protest against ideas to which I had become accustomed many years before. I remember that in my youth a sentence uttered by the famous Cardinal Rauscher in the Austrian Herrenhaus made a lasting impression on me. He said: "The Church knows no progress". This sentence always seemed to me to be inspired by a truly religious spirit. And it still seems so to me today. If I were a devout Catholic, I would probably take every opportunity to prove and defend this sentence. I would then say, like the Church Father Tertullian, that man no longer needs to be inquisitive after divine truth has been revealed to him through Jesus Christ. I would swear by the words of St. Thomas Aquinas that the doctrine of salvation is contained in Holy Scripture, and that reason can do nothing but use its powers to find human evidence for these eternal truths of Scripture. I would consider the freedom of thought to be a paradoxical idea, for I could hardly associate any meaning with the idea of free thought if I had to assume that reason must ultimately end up in revelation. I must confess that a believing Catholic who does things differently initially appears to me as a problem, as a big question mark. Professor Herman Schell was also such a question mark for me at first. While I was reading his book, the problem took on a more definite form. It became a psychological task. I found that in the professor's mind ideas were in perfect harmony which I had hitherto assumed to be a complete contradiction. Thus our author says: "Freedom of thought is really an ideal in so far as it means freedom from all prejudices, and remains an ideal as long as the greatest danger to judgment and to progress is the bias of prejudice. Freedom of thought means nothing other than the endeavor to break and keep out all those influences on thought which have no right to truth, because they are not facts or not actually founded, because they are only imaginations, habits of thought, false and superficial interpretations of sensory impressions or other communications, such as historical documents or religious source writings." The professor knows quite well what conclusions must be drawn from this sentence of his when it comes to different modern world views. He proves to materialism, to monism, that they are based on judgments that the mind does not examine because it has become accustomed to them, because it has become biased by living in them. "Materialism has no sense for the factual world of inner experience and the spirit; only the tangible is considered a fact. Monism does not want to accept any cause of the world that is distinct from the world and a supramundane personality: that is its dogma."

But I would now like to ask the Catholic professor what he would say if it turned out in the forum of free thought that any of the basic Christian dogmas had to be dropped? It seems to me, recalling the contents of the book, that the author has no sense of such a possibility. It is as if he were of the opinion that thought cannot arrive at anything other than the Christian truths of salvation. He wants to promote knowledge, but he is convinced that this promotion cannot consist in abandoning the essential doctrines of the Church, "beginning with the personality of the Creator and the personal immortality of the soul and ending with the historical revelation of God". If thought is to be truly free, it must also have the opportunity to penetrate to a world view which derives the order of things from powers other than a personal God, and which knows nothing of personal immortality and historical revelation. Whoever presents these doctrines of faith from the outset as goals to which thinking must come, speaks as a Catholic; but he cannot possibly make himself the defender of free thinking. This can only be its own guideline and set its own goal. For even if it is hindered by the recognition of the facts from an arbitrary flight into the fantastic, the interpretation, the explanation of the facts still depends on it. Thought is the ultimate determining factor. For Christian theology, however, it must be important to interpret the phenomena of the world in such a way that the interpretation agrees with the content of revelation. As our author also says: "The ideal that guides theological research is the conviction that the equation between correctly understood revelation and correctly interpreted reality can be established." Free thinking sails out into the unknown when it sets out in search of the truth. It does not know where the boat will drift. It only feels within itself the strength and courage to arrive at a satisfying view on its own. Catholic theology knows exactly what the realization is that thinking must arrive at. Schell knows this, because he says: "The ideal of theological science is to trace faith back to demonstrable facts and to convincing principles and reasons for proof."

The question now arises for me: How is it possible that a logically trained person like Herman Schell can unite the two assertions: thinking must be free, and: this free thinking must provide the proof that the Catholic belief in revelation is unconditionally true? This question seems to me to be a psychological one. I would like to solve it in the following way. The modern theologian is educated in the belief in divine revelation. His upbringing makes it impossible for him to doubt the truth of revelation. But alongside the divine truth of salvation, he also learns about modern science with its fruitful research methods. He gains respect for this fruitfulness. At the same time, he feels weak in the face of the achievements of the modern spirit. Only strong minds will presume to fight against this feeling; and they will also succeed in suppressing it. They will remain faithful to the true faith, to the true sentiments of their fathers, namely the Fathers of the Church, and will speak out courageously: The Church knows no progress. The others will unite black and white and, like Schell, say: "Catholicism means the covenant of peace between reason and faith, between research and revelation, without degrading and humiliating the Logos: For Christianity is the religion of the Spirit and the Logos! The true spirit of religion and holiness is only that spirit which proceeds from the word of truth." This is how those who feel a sense of shame - perhaps dormant in their unconscious - when they are seen as an opponent of progress speak.

The word "progress" has a suggestive effect on today's educated people, be they theologians, scholars, politicians, etc. How rare are the people who are proud to think "anti-progressively". Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the opponents of progress: "Progress is merely a modern idea, that is, a false idea. The European of today remains in his values deeply inferior to the European of the Renaissance; further development is by no means with any necessity increase, intensification, intensification." These sentences are found in one of the most anti-Christian books that has ever been written. But they are in a book written by a truly independent spirit. The book "Catholicism as a Principle of Progress", however, was devised by a mind that is dependent on two sides: on the spirit of true Catholicism and on a false shame that prevents it from denying the claims of anti-Catholic science. It must be described as Catholic in the true sense of the word when the author says: "Catholic is a name that does not merely designate the central church and conservative Christianity in its firmly organized world existence from time-honoured tradition, but a name that expresses a high principle, a God-given task: To realize the kingdom of God in spirit and in truth among all peoples, and indeed through all peoples and national characters, and thus to carry out Christianity in the Church really whole and full,genuine and true. " UnCatholic, however, and only out of reverence for anti-Catholic science, it is said: "The concept of God of arbitrary omnipotence, which manifests its supreme ruling power precisely in the most frequent possible breaking of the laws of nature and the mad chaos of uncontrollable forces, has no basis in reason and cannot be scientifically proven. Only God as the omnipotent realization of the perfect spiritual life, as the eternal omnipotence of infinite wisdom and holiness itself, can be proven to be an indispensable truth in the face of unbelief and makes all superstition unacceptable from the ground up." This sentence strikes me as if it had been spoken by a Haeckelian, not a professor of Catholic theology in Würzburg. A God as the realization of the perfect spiritual life, as the epitome of wisdom and holiness, is something quite different from the personal God of the Catholic, who can, however, break through the laws of nature. This is what the Gospels teach. And a completely anti-Catholic spirit speaks from the words: "Is there any need for a separate principle that everything concerning faith and the goal of life must be mediated by the personal reason and freedom of a reasonable man, by his serious examination of conscience? That is self-evident!" Yes, it is self-evident. But for an unchristian way of thinking. Anyone who takes these words seriously must refuse to bind his thinking with doctrines of faith that are fixed from the outset. But in doing so, he ceases to think catholic.

For the modern thinker, minds like Professor Schell only have a psychological interest. You can learn from them how the most contradictory ideas can live side by side in one head. The example given is particularly instructive because it is typical of a large number of modern theologians and because it shows how little logical training is able to combat the power of human emotions. The mind of the Catholic theologian is certainly trained logically. But what good is all logic if contradictory feelings and emotions develop their power from two sides. Logical thinking then becomes sophistry, which deludes the thinker into believing that things that are eternally hostile to each other can live side by side in the deepest peace.

Not a few intelligent people will find every word spoken about the strange meeting that took place a few days ago in Basel under the name “Zionist Congress” superfluous. The fact that a number of Europe-weary Jews came together to propagate the idea of establishing a new Palestinian empire and to bring about the emigration of Jews to this new “promised land” appears to these clever people to be the mad imagination of a pathologically excited fantasy. They are soothed by this judgment. They do not discuss the matter any further. But I believe that these clever people are ten years behind the times in their assessment. And ten years is a small eternity in our time, when events flow so quickly. Ten years ago, one could justifiably consider a Jew to be half-mad if he had the idea of moving his fellow Jews to Palestine. Today he can only be considered oversensitive and vain; in another ten years things may be quite different. In the case of Mr. Herzl and Mr. Nordau, the current leaders of the Zionist movement, however, I believe I perceive more conceitedness than heightened sensitivity towards the anti-Semitic current. The banal phrases that Herzl put forward in his brochure “The Jewish State” (M. Breitensteins Buchhandlung, Leipzig and Vienna 1896) and the verbal fluff with which the sensationalist Nordau regaled his audience in Basel certainly did not spring from the deepest depths of troubled souls. But they do come from intelligent minds who know what has the strongest effect on those Jews who have a sensitive heart and a highly developed sense of self-respect. These latter members of the Jewish people will, I suspect, form the following of Mr. Herzl and Mr. Nordau. And the number of these members is certainly not small.

What use is it when it is emphasized so often that the Jews who feel this way are in serious error? They turn a blind eye to the great strides that Jewish emancipation has made in recent decades and only see that they are still excluded from so many positions and deprived of so many rights; and what is more, they hear that they are being vilified by anti-Semites in the most vicious ways. They act this way because their wounded feelings cloud their reason. They are incapable of realizing the impotence of anti-Semitism; they see only its dangers and its revolting excesses. He who says to them: see how hopeless the machinations of the Jew-haters are, how all their enterprises end in disgrace, he is looked at doubtfully. They only hear those, like Theodor Herzl, tell them:

“Anti-Semitism is growing among the population daily, hourly, and must continue to grow because the causes persist and cannot be eliminated. ... Our prosperity seems to contain something provocative because for many centuries the world was accustomed to seeing us as the most contemptible of the poor. In this, out of ignorance or narrow-mindedness, people do not realize that our prosperity weakens us as Jews and erases our distinctive features. Only pressure presses us back against the old tribe, only the hatred of our surroundings makes us strangers again. Thus we are and remain, whether we want it or not, an historical group with a recognizable identity. We are a nation — the enemy makes us one against our will, as has always been the case in history.”

It is possible that in a short time such inclinations will become impossible. There may come a time when the emotional sphere of Jewish personalities is so irritated that any understanding with non-Jews becomes impossible. And the so-called Jewish question depends on the pulling of intimate strings from Jew to non-Jew, on the development of emotional inclinations, on a thousand unspeakable things, but not on rational arguments and programs. It would be best if there were as little talk as possible in this matter. Only the mutual effects of individuals should be emphasized. It makes no difference whether someone is Jewish or Germanic: if I find him nice, I like him; if he is disgusting, I avoid him. It's so simple that you almost sound stupid if you say it. But how stupid you have to be to say the opposite!

I think the anti-Semites are harmless people. The best of them are like children, they want to have something to blame for an evil they are suffering from. When a child drops a plate, he looks for someone or something he has knocked that is to blame for the accident. They don't look for the cause, the blame, in themselves. That's what the anti-Semites do. Many people are struggling. They look for something to blame. Circumstances have brought it about that many currently see this something in Judaism.

Far worse than the anti-Semites are the heartless leaders of the Europe-weary Jews, Messrs. Herzl and Nordau. They have turned an unpleasant child's game into a world-historical movement; they have exchanged harmless banter for a terrible cannon fire. They are seducers, tempters of their people. They sacrifice the understanding which all reasonable people should desire, to their conceitedness, which craves programs, because — where actions are lacking, a program appears at just the right time.

As harmless as anti-Semitism is in itself, it becomes dangerous when the Jews see it in the light in which Herzl and Nordau put it.

And they understand the language of the Tempter, these gentlemen: “People will pray in the temples for the success of the work. And in the churches too! It is the solution to an old oppression from which everyone suffered. But first there must be light in their minds. The thought must fly out into the last miserable nests where our people live. They will wake up from their dull brooding. For a new content is coming into all our lives. Everyone need only think of himself, and the movement will become a mighty one. And what glory awaits the selfless fighters for the cause! That is why I believe that a generation of wonderful Jews will grow out of the earth. The Maccabees will rise again.” Thus Mr. Theodor Herzl in his writing “The Jewish State”.

I fear that a time will come when the Jews will no longer believe anything we non-Jews tell them about anti-Semitism, and will instead parrot to their Jewish seducers. And like so many beguiled people, the sensitive Jews will translate the empty phrases of these seducers into the language of their hearts. The seduced will suffer; but the seducers will triumph over the successes that their vanity has achieved.

In Basel, the question was basically decided: What should be done to make the solution to the Jewish question as impossible as possible? Whether Mr. Herzl and Mr. Nordau really believe that the Palestinian empire can be established, I am not in a position to decide. In honor of their intelligence, I hypothetically assume that they do not believe in it. If I am right in this assumption of mine, then one must reproach these leaders for raising more obstacles which are likely to lead to more confrontation between Jews and non-Jews than the anti-Semitic rabble-rousers.

The Zionist movement is an enemy of Judaism. The Jews would do best if they took a good look at the people who are painting spectres for them.

Report on the 13th General Assembly of the German Goethe Society

On October 8, the members of the German Goethe Society gathered in Weimar for the thirteenth time to celebrate their beloved Goethe Festival. For the first time, they had to celebrate this festival without seeing the personality in their midst to whom the Goethe community owes an immeasurable debt of gratitude: The Grand Duchess Sophie of Saxony. On March 23 of this year, this woman, whose name is forever linked to German literary studies through the founding of the Goethe and Schiller Archive, passed away.

Her presence gave the festival a special glow in past years; the memory of her, the mourning for her, gave it its character this time. Goethe Day was therefore to be celebrated in connection with a memorial service for the deceased woman. The two societies that owe their prosperity to the deceased, the Goethe Society and the Shakespeare Society, decided to do so. And the management of the Goethe and Schiller Archives, the Schiller Foundation and the Grand Ducal Court Theatre joined forces with the aforementioned societies to organize a celebration in memory of their caretaker and protector. Kuno Fischer was called upon to dedicate a memorial speech to the memory of the deceased. He is bound to the Weimar court by ties of friendship. The loyalty and devotion to the Princely House that his relationship with it inspired in him were expressed in his memorial speech on October 8. His view of life and the world, his attitude and feelings enabled him to understand the Grand Duchess's way of thinking like few others. The deceased was a princess in the most genuine sense of the word, a personality who set herself great tasks because she had a high conception of her princely profession and because this task gave her a rare energy. There is greatness in this conception; and Kuno Fischer had taken on the task of describing the nature of this greatness. The speaker wanted to make clear how much of this power, which was her own, was due to her descent from the determined and energetic Orange family. This energy is expressed in the motto of the House of Orange: "Je maintiendrai". The Grand Duchess Sophie also made it her own and translated it into the German words: "Rule over oneself is the prerequisite for any activity and for the serious, conscientious execution of duties assumed." From studying the history of the house, the Princess developed a mastery over herself and a strong sense of duty. The speaker sought to clarify the extent to which the fortunes of this house are particularly suited to creating such an awareness by means of a historical account. He clearly explained what a misguided upbringing and a favorable school of life had contributed to raising this woman to the heights of her views. He described the Dutch nature of her character. He deduced her love for German literature from the fact that she found the deeds of the heroes so close to her celebrated in this literature. Schiller and Goethe made Dutch greatness the reproach of their poetry and works. In German literature, the Grand Duchess found her home again. The history of her fatherland confronted her in German art.

The musical part of this celebration has already been mentioned. It has also been mentioned there that the court theater offered an atmospheric performance of Gluck's opera "Orpheus and Eurydice" on the evening of the same day. We will only add that the performance was highly successful under Bernhard Stavenhagen's excellent direction. Miss Hofmann (Orpheus) and Mrs. Stavenhagen (Eurydice) made a strong impression on the guests.

October 9 was dedicated to the actual Goethe meeting. The participants of this meeting will take home a lasting memory. The director of the Goethe and Schiller Archive, Professor Suphan, shared the part of Grand Duchess Sophie's will in which she secured the future of Goethe's estate for all time. Kuno Fischer's words could not have found a stronger affirmation than they have received through this will. The care of Goethe's estate, which was given to her as a gift by the last grandson of Goethe, was a matter close to this woman's heart and a great duty during her lifetime. She made material sacrifices and devoted a great deal of time and effort to it. She cared for her like a mother. Her beautiful words speak for themselves. The will reads: "I, Sophie of Saxony, Royal Princess of the Netherlands, hereby certify the following: By accepting the legacy of Baron Walter von Goethe, I have also assumed responsibility for the reverent preservation of the treasures from Goethe's estate for all time. I bear the same responsibility towards the legacy of Schiller, as well as all the manuscripts of other outstanding German poets acquired by donation and purchase. At the same time, it gives me particular pleasure not only to have seen to the completion of the Goethe edition and the Goethe biography, but also to have ensured that the treasures in my possession are made usefully accessible and that Weimar is preserved so that it will continue to be the intellectual center of Germany. I have therefore ordered that a family entailed estate be established for the preservation of these treasures, which shall be inalienable. In notarizing this family fideicommissum, I ask my lord husband to give the sovereign's confirmation in the form of a statutory provision." The Goethe and Schiller Archive will be the property of the respective head of the Grand Ducal House. The latter is obliged to ensure the preservation and management of the treasure accordingly.

The chairman, Dr. Ruland, concluded his report on the Goethe National Museum with this important announcement by Suphan. He drew attention to a picture newly acquired by this museum and exhibited in the June Room of the Goethe House. The personality depicted and the painter are unknown. It dates from the end of the last century or the beginning of this century. Anyone who has looked at the picture will have to agree with Ruland's opinion that it depicts Frau Rat in old age. Her and Goethe's features are unmistakable. The picture was formerly owned by William Candidus in Cronberg. Ruland also mentioned another addition to the museum. The Countess Vaudreuil, the wife of the French envoy, was on friendly terms with the Goethe family during her stay in Weimar. Goethe's hand drawings were found in her estate. Her descendants have added these to the Weimar treasures.

In the afternoon, the guests gathered for the usual lunch. The old heads of the Goethe community and the young strikers, who despite naturalism and "modernism" look up to Goethe with admiration, sat side by side. Julius Rodenberg, Karl Frenzel, Marie von Bunsen and Lina Schneider, Freiligrath's daughter, were present. The Minister of Education under the second Auersperg Ministry, Dr. von Stremayr, and Professor Oncken from Giessen were in our midst. One of the "youngest", Otto Erich Hartleben, who has repeatedly appeared in Weimar on this occasion, was also present this time. The festive toasts had a serious character this time. The impression of the loss suffered was felt. Ruland toasted the Grand Ducal House; Stremayr brought greetings from German-Austria. His kind words, which came from a good German-Austrian heart, had a beneficial effect. One could hear from his toast that the German spirit and German sentiments are still alive in Austria. Oncken proposed a toast to the ladies.

The Goethe and Schiller Archive, which opens its rooms to visitors during the Goethe Days, exhibited manuscripts by Freiligrath and Gustav Freytag, among other papers from the classical and post-classical periods.

As they do every year, Goethe's guests gathered in the evening hours at the Weimar Artists' Association. The atmospheric rooms, which the Grand Duke made available to the artists of Weimar for their cozy get-together, are gladly visited by the members of the Goethe Society. A free and unfettered life prevailed there until the early hours of the morning. And artists such as Burmester and Stavenhagen, then the excellent singers Heinrich Zeller and Gmür delighted the guests with many an artistic gift, which was often received with greater enthusiasm than the official performances. What was difficult to find during the course of the day: informal enjoyment, mutual open-heartedness, was enjoyed here for many hours.

The celebration concluded with a performance in the Grand Ducal Court Theater of Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale" with Miss Richard as Hermione and Karl Weiser as Leontes.