Memories of Rudolf Steiner by Ludwig Graf Polzer-Hoditz. Chapter 12

           

MEMORIES OF RUDOLF STEINER

by Ludwig Graf Polzer-Hoditz

Chapter 12

After the days in Vienna, at the end of May to the beginning of June, 1918, Dr. and Frau Dr. Steiner paid us a visit at Tannbach, on June 7th. Graf Lerchenfeld also arrived on the same day. We were very happy and thankful to have Dr. Steiner with us and these days were among the most important and enjoyable of our anthroposophical life. When Rudolf Steiner arrived he told us that only a fortunate coincidence had enabled him to be with us on the day arranged. At that time it was not at all easy to leave Vienna. All the trains were overcrowded, as only a very limited civilian passenger traffic was maintained. To make sure of being taken it was necessary to get tickets beforehand at a travel bureau. When Dr. and Frau Dr. Steiner arrived there to get their tickets it was so crowded that they were not even allowed to go in. They were on the point of leaving when they met Willy Burmester, who recognized Dr. Steiner and who, having some connection with the bureau, was able to procure the tickets. Rudolf Steiner related these circumstances with a certain emphasis, to make us realize that destiny itself had favoured his visit to us. During the three days which passed only too quickly, we were anxious to show our dear guests as much of the surrounding country as possible. So the next day we went to the Waldaist, a romantic little mountain-stream which winds its course through many a granite gorge. On account of the sandy gravel-bed, especially at calm spots, its water has a golden radiance. Rudolf Steiner said that the little river had flowed in this region even in the time of Atlantis and might contain slight traces of gold.

Soon after we came to Tannbach in 1906, we had had our springs examined for traces of radioactivity by Professor Bamberger of the Technical High School of Vienna, because there had once been a little Spa here. Professor Bamberger had been appointed officially by the Academy of Science to examine Austrian springs for radioactivity. He found a certain quantity in ours and wrote a paper which was published by the Academy of Science and issued as a special pamphlet. We asked Rudolf Steiner to come with us to the strongest spring and to taste the water. He said that it had a very metallic taste owing to radioactivity. In the course of conversation Rudolf Steiner said that radioactivity had only been present in the earth since the time of Golgotha.

June the 9th was a Sunday. Dr. and Frau Dr. Steiner attended Mass with us at Gutau. After our return Dr. Steiner gave us an address, in which he told us how the people of Middle Europe had been receptive to spiritual influences at the beginning of the seventeenth century, how the spiritual world had wanted to approach human souls, but that the Thirty Years' War had prevented this influence from reaching larger numbers of people. At the end of his address he spoke of the "Chymical Marriage of Christian Rosenkreutz," saying that it had been written inspirationally by Valentin Andrae in his early youth and that later in his life he had become a good, conventional pastor, having no understanding whatever of this important work. In conclusion, Rudolf Steiner compared the Spirit descending on mankind to the ‘snow which covers the bare surface of the earth in winter with its purity.'

Besides Graf Lerchenfeld, my wife, and myself, my two sons were also present, although they were then only sixteen and seventeen years old. We felt that this address was in keeping with the situation in the world just then. There was similarity, for the catastrophe which started with the great war retarded the approach of the spiritual world to the souls of men, especially to those in Middle Europe, in spite of Rudolf Steiner’s work and life of sacrifice. We realized that only a small group of people would now be able to carry the impulse into the future.

In the afternoon of the same day we went for a walk to a small mill in a place called "Klause." We walked through a wood and were accompanied by a very lively, almost blind, over-bred police dog. He began to bark furiously at a rotting tree-trunk and we thought that on account of his blindness he had mistaken the tree for a man. When we passed the same tree on our way back, the dog again barked fiercely. Rudolf Steiner did not remark on this. It was not until years later that our attention was drawn to a lecture where he refers to this incident, without mentioning names, saying that only he and the dog saw the elemental being who was sitting on the tree and was very interested in us. He said in this lecture that that part of the country had not yet been entirely deprived of its nature-forces by civilization and that for this reason the elemental beings had not been driven away.

During those days we also discussed the world-situation. Hertling was then German Chancellor and Rudolf Steiner remarked on his likeness to Cardinal Mazarin. Rudolf Steiner talked to my wife about the healing power of plants and I remember that he spoke particularly about Chelidonium majus, which grew there abundantly, as being a help in glandular troubles.

The war — no end was then anticipated — seemed in June and July, 1918, to endanger Switzerland and especially the Goetheanum near Basle. A French invasion was feared. I recall a talk I had with Rudolf Steiner while we were walking from Tannbach to Gutau, when he mentioned this danger. I offered to go to Dornach, if he wished it, and to stay there even in the case of such an invasion. But Rudolf Steiner declined the offer with the words: “That would not be easy for you, and besides you have work to do in Austria.” On this walk he said, gazing over the country, that these parts would become German one day. There was no National Socialism then and even Rudolf Steiner did not anticipate the complete and continued failure of Middle Europe.

On the morning of June 11th, Dr. and Frau Dr. Steiner, my wife, and I left for Prague. Lerchenfeld returned to Koefering. While going by car to the station at Kefermarkt we met our friend Graf Siegmund Sedlnitzky, who was then Chief Inspector of the district of Freistadt. He was an official of the good, honest, Austrian type, who considered it his duty to protect the population of his district against the devilry in the war-centres, one who did not want official advancement at the expense of the people, by servile submission to the Central Government. We stopped and were glad to introduce him to Rudolf Steiner.

At Prague Station we were met by a number of local Anthroposophists, in spite of our train being three hours late. We all stayed at the Hotel “Zum blauen Stern.”

A most interesting and delightful time followed, which we shall never forget. We were generally either Klima’s or Professor Hauffen’s guests for lunch. All Frau Klima’s arrangements helped to make Rudolf Steiner’s visit a particularly interesting and pleasant one, apart altogether from the lectures. Klima himself put a car at his disposal — no easy matter in those days of war. The meals, in spite of the shortage of food, did not make one conscious of any lack. Rudolf Steiner visited with us all the most important historical places in Prague and in these days I learnt to view the place of my birth and the history of the country with quite new eyes, feeling strongly the approach of destiny. This awakening was a slow process, but I soon found connections in the memories of my pre-anthroposophical life, even back to my childhood, which strengthened my perception. This inner realization of destiny became especially vivid after Rudolf Steiner’s death, when, in looking back at what we had experienced in common, many a connection became clear between earthly events and inspirations. It was only then that I understood my present life and the work that, owing to my connection with Rudolf Steiner, was to be my lot in the present and future. While Rudolf Steiner was alive, all the knowledge and illumination that came to me through him were too overpowering to enable me to receive more and to ask further questions. I felt that I must just try to listen gratefully. After his death I learnt to understand a great deal through outside events which previously had merely astonished me, although I felt the truth with a kind of intuitive faith.

When we entered the Council Chamber of the old part of Castle Hradschin, where the Governor had thrown himself out of the window — the event which was followed by the Thirty Years' War — Rudolf Steiner looked with such deep contemplation over Prague that we stood in silence behind him. We felt that his seership was gazing into the background of events long since past. But our tour through Prague had many cheerful moments too. Rudolf Steiner could be very merry and amusing, and these days were not characterized by pessimism or gloom, for we had already learnt to rise above the present and historical tragedy, to let ourselves be filled with the spiritual forces of resurrection. Rudolf Steiner always radiated an inner strength of soul to those who came in contact with him.

When we visited the monastery of Strachow and came to its wonderful library, I said to Rudolf Steiner that it always depressed me to go through such a room; it gave me a definite inferiority complex to realize that I knew so little of what had been produced by the thought, experience, and industry of people of former generations. Rudolf Steiner replied: “Why? You have a great deal of it within yourself, without knowing it in detail.” He meant that the educated and also many of the simple people of today are, in their life of soul and spirit, what they are because of the spiritual achievements of their predecessors. Therefore it is not necessary to read all these things again. A true education of the soul should lead further, for it is not possible for every individual again to go through all that was once thought or written.

The monk who took us through the library and wanted to explain things was astonished at Rudolf Steiner’s remarks; it was obvious that he felt, here was a man to whom one could not tell anything, but from whom one could learn a great deal. When we were shown some books in specially locked cases, books that are in the Index, Rudolf Steiner said cheerfully : “Perhaps in the future my books will be there too.” This of course was meant as a joke, but there was seriousness in it as well.

In those days Prague had a very revolutionary atmosphere. The streets were not safe, and one day my wife had a very unpleasant experience. A man suddenly began to abuse and follow her, calling out that she had come from the House Waldstein and ought to be arrested. In the crowd, however, she was able to get away from the man, whom she still could hear shouting in the distance. She had not been to the House Waldstein at all. When Rudolf Steiner heard of this incident he took it very seriously.

Frau Klima asked Rudolf Steiner whether he could possibly come with us on an excursion to Castle Karlstein. At the time he could not promise this, but after his last lecture, on June 16th, he agreed to come and so on June 17th, a beautiful, sunny day, we all took the train to Karlstein. Our visit with Rudolf Steiner to this castle, built by Charles IV, was a red-letter event for us. When we were walking up to the chapel of the Golden Cross by the steep, narrow staircase, the walls of which are decorated with frescoes, representing on the right side the story of St. Ludmilla and on the left the story of St. Wenceslas, my wife drew Rudolf Steiner’s attention to a picture showing Wenceslas sitting on his throne in the robe of his cult. Rudolf Steiner simply said: “The Chymical Marriage of Christian Rosenkreutz.” When we arrived at the Chapel of the Golden Cross, very much the same happened as in the Council Chamber at Hradschin. Rudolf Steiner stood absolutely still, sunk in deep contemplation before the altar, and we, feeling the sanctity of the moment, stood silently in the background. Of the Chapel of the Golden Cross he said that it represented a conscious imitation of the Graalsburg. Rudolf Steiner spoke very little in the rooms of the castle. But once outside it, and on this excursion especially, we were all very cheerful. Frau Klima had brought provisions and we had a meal in the courtyard. On the way to the station we stopped at the Beraun. In summertime the Klimas simply could not bring themselves to pass a river without bathing in it! Dr. and Frau Dr. Steiner sat with us by the riverside, while the Klimas and their fourteen-year-old daughter bathed. Rudolf Steiner was very amused at this and joked about it. He was always able to meet any situation with natural kindliness.

A few days before I had hurt the first finger of my right hand. It became septic and showed signs of incipient blood-poisoning. When Rudolf Steiner saw the finger at Karlstein, he said that the dressings must come off at once and did this himself. He also treated it at the hotel that night. I was very grateful to him, and the finger, which looked very red and was causing inflamed blood-vessels all up the arm, soon healed.

Rudolf Steiner and his wife left the next day for Berlin and we also left Prague.

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Source: https://rsarchive.org/OtherAuthors/Polzer-HoditzLudwig/MemoriesOfRudolfSteiner/Chapter_XII.html

The Count in 1937

Ludwig Graf Polzer-Hoditz played a central part in the development of the anthroposophical movement from 1911 to 1925. He was a personal friend of Rudolf Steiner and one of his closest helpers. As such, these memoirs present a first-hand impression of Rudolf Steiner in daily life.

In 1913, Rudolf Steiner called him to Dornach so that he could be present at the laying of the foundation stone of the first Goetheanum. In 1917, Graf Polzer-Hoditz, whose brother Arthur was the Prime Minister and a personal friend of Kaiser Karl of Austria, belonged to a small circle to whom Rudolf Steiner gave the first indications regarding the Threefold Social Order.

As a member of Austrian aristocracy, Graf Polzer-Hoditz was very influential in cultural and political circles of the times, thereby enabling him to work for social reform during and after World War I. The Count was present at the burning of the first Goetheanum in 1922-23 and was also given special responsibility for the then newly-founded School of Spiritual Science in 1924. He vividly relates his memories of his travels with Rudolf Steiner and those who participated in the early anthroposophical movement.