Rudolf Steiner

In 1899, Rudolf Steiner married Anna Eunicke but the marriage later ended in separation. Anna died in 1911.

Subsequently, Steiner met Marie von Sivers, an actress from the Baltic region and also an anthroposophy devotee. They got married in 1914.

Towards the end of his life, Steiner suffered from an unknown stomach ailment. Although some believed that he had been poisoned, he never encouraged such thoughts. He died on March 30, 1925, at Dornach, Switzerland.

Rudolf Steiner was born on 27 February 1861, in Donji Kraljevec, then under Austro-Hungarian Empire, but now a part of northern Croatia. However, many biographers are of the opinion that he was actually born on 25 and baptized on 27.

His father, Johann Steiner was originally a gamekeeper in the service of Count Hoyos in Geras while his mother, Franziska Blie, was a housemaid in the Count’s household. As the Count refused to give them permission to marry, Johann left his job to become a telegraph operator with the Southern Austrian Railway.

It was while Johann was posted at Kraljevec that Rudolf, the eldest of the couple’s three children, was born. Around one and half years after this birth, the family moved to Mödling, near Vienna, and then after another six months to Pottschach. Here Johann was posted as the stationmaster.

The station, located in the foothills of the eastern Austrian Alps in Lower Austria, offered a wonderful view and little Rudolf grew up appreciating beauties of nature. It was also here that his two siblings, a sister and a brother, were born.

When he came of age, Rudolf was sent to the village school. But he never liked the schoolmaster and made up his mind that he had nothing to learn from him. Later, his father too had an altercation with the master and thereafter, he withdrew Rudolf from school.

In 1882, while Rudolf Steiner was still a student at Technische Hochschule, he was appointed as the natural science editor of a new edition of Goethe’s works for Deutsche National Literatur on the recommendation of his teacher Karl Julius Schröer. It was a great honor because he did not yet have any academic qualification.

He spent the 1880s working on a complete edition of Goethe's writings and was able to throw new light into Goethe’s scientific works. ‘The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe’s World Conception’, published in 1886, is one of his important contributions in this field.

Later in 1890, Steiner moved to Wiemar, where he was employed at the Schiller-Goethe Archives. Concurrently, he started working for his doctoral degree, receiving it in 1891 from the University of Rostock. His dissertation was ‘Wahrheit und Wissenschaft’ (Truth and Science), later published as a book.

Side by side, he began to study the works of ancient philosophers and slowly began to formulate his own philosophy. He came to the conclusion that experience is located in the mind and everything, including the mental process, can be reduced to matter and its interactions.

In 1894, he published his thoughts as ‘Philosophie der Freiheit’ (Philosophy of Freedom). Later he also wrote and published ‘Friedrich Nietzsche, Fighter for Freedom’ and ‘Goethe's Conception of the World.’ The last mentioned book completed his works on Goethe.

In 1897, Rudolf Steiner moved to Berlin, where he continued to earn his living as the editor of several magazines. Sometime now, he became a part owner of the literary journal ‘Magazin für Literatur’ as well as its chief editor.

Hoping to find a readership sympathetic to his philosophy, he began to contribute regularly in the magazine. Unfortunately, his endeavor failed to achieve the desired result. When the subscription began to fall, he left the magazine and took to lecturing.

He started teaching at the Arbeiterbildungsschule (School for the Education of Workers) twice a week. He must have enjoyed working here because it allowed him to discuss progressive ideas like universal education and freedom in the perspective of the working class.

Some time now, he was drawn to the philosophy of the Theosophical Society and started attending its sessions. Continuing with his writing, he also published ‘Riddles of Philosophy’ and ‘Mysticism at the Dawn of Modern Age’ in 1901 and ‘Christianity as Mystical Fact’ in 1902.