Herbert Witzenmann

Herbert Witzenmann (16 February 1905, Pforzheim, Baden – 24 September 1988, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg) was a German philosopher and anthroposophist.

Career

Witzenmann received his decisive study and work impulses through personal conversations with Rudolf Steiner. In the 1930s Witzenmann studied with Karl Jaspers in Heidelberg. His thesis On the Concept of Work According to Nietzsche and Hegel could, however, no longer be accepted because of Jaspers' forced exile under the National Socialists. Evidence for Jasper's acceptance of Witzenmann's promotion candidacy has not been presented. According to Witzenmann his dissertation manuscript was destroyed by fire due to phosphor bombings of Pforzheim by U.S. airplanes in World War II.

After studies in mechanical engineering, Witzenmann was employed by the family firm in Pforzheim for many years. Witzenmann expressed his regret that he had refused to attend lunch held at his family home by his father for Adolf Hitler, who sought financial support for his political ambitions. Witzenmann had refused to attend out of protest against Hitler. In retrospect, Witzenmann regretted not having met Hitler because of the latter's later most destructive historical role.

In 1963 Witzenmann was "co-opted" as a member by the Executive Committee of the General Anthroposophical Society. Several years later Witzenmann was suspended because he refused to accept a new policy advocated by the majority i.e. all other members of this Committee regarding the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung. His door key literally no longer fit the lock to his office as member of the Executive Committee of the Anthroposophical Society. Presumably by order of his four other colleagues, after he walked out of an annual General Assembly meeting of the Anthroposophical Society in protest. At this meeting Witzenmann did not sit in front with his Executive Committee colleagues, but at the rear of the auditorium. In 1973 he founded the "Seminar for the free Striving of Youth, Art and Social Order" in Dornach, Switzerland.

His work has been published by the Gideon Spicker Verlag, Verlag Freies Geistesleben, and Rudolf Steiner Press. Very little has been translated into English because those persons in control of the copyrights discouraged translation (note above reference to U.S. airplanes by one of these persons) and refused to allow translation published. His work is believed by some to be among the most significant in furthering Rudolf Steiner's work in The Philosophy of Freedom.

References

Klaus Hartmann, Herbert Witzenmann 1905–1988. Teil I: 1905–1961, Spicker, Dornach 2010, ISBN 978-3-85704-198-3.

Anthroposophy

Founding board members of the General Anthroposophical Society	Rudolf Steiner Albert Steffen Marie Steiner-von Sivers Ita Wegman Elisabeth Vreede Guenther Wachsmuth Edith Maryon

Anthroposophists	Henri Bortoft Georg Kühlewind Jesaiah Ben-Aharon Dennis Klocek Ehrenfried Pfeiffer Theodor Schwenk Emil Bock Bernard Lievegoed Sergei O. Prokofieff Peter Selg Jens Bjørneboe Aasmund Brynildsen Daniel Nicol Dunlop John Fentress Gardner Walter Burley Griffin Karl König Robert A. McDermott Arthur Zajonc Douglas M. Sloan Pietro Archiati Marjorie Spock Christopher Bamford Henry Barnes Walter Johannes Stein Ernst Lehrs E. A. Karl Stockmeyer Herbert Witzenmann Massimo Scaligero Ross Rentea Rudolf Hauschka Oskar Schmiedel Hermann Poppelbaum Alfred Meebold Wilhelm Rath Herbert Hahn Francis Edmunds Thomas Weihs Cecil Harwood Daphne Olivier Marguerite Lundgren Valborg Werbeck-Svärdström Wilhelm Ernst Barkhoff John Davy Jakob Streit Alfred Rexroth Ernst Weissert Michael Henry Wilson Margaret Cross Fried Geuter Arnold Freeman Rudi Lissau Margaret Bennell Edith Rigby Bertram Keightley Arild Rosenkrantz Eileen Hutchins Eleanor Merry Paul Nordoff Clive Robbins Violetta Plincke Hans Schauder George Adams Kaufmann Liane Collot d'Herbois Egil Tynæs Else Klink Carlo Pietzner Marta Fuchs Johannes Tautz Julian Sleigh Botho Sigwart zu Eulenburg

Notable supporters	Saul Bellow Owen Barfield Andrej Belyj Joseph Beuys Wassily Kandinsky Selma Lagerlöf Albert Schweitzer Andrei Tarkovsky Bruno Walter Ibrahim Abouleish Nicanor Perlas Jacques Lusseyran Millicent Mackenzie Margaret McMillan

Cultural influences	Waldorf education Anthroposophic medicine Biodynamic agriculture Camphill Movement Eurythmy Threefold social order Anthroposophical architecture The Christian Community

Institutions, publications	General Anthroposophical Society Anthroposophical Society in America Goetheanum GLS bank Demeter International SEKEM Harduf Triodos Bank RSF Social Finance Associação Comunitária Monte Azul

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 109982519 LCCN: n83199780 GND: 118634429

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