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Ernst Weissert
Ernst Weissert, born 20 July 1905 in Mannheim Germany and died 2 January 1981 in Stuttgart was a teacher, general secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in Germany and co-founder and director of the Bund der Freien Waldorfschulen (Federation of free Waldorf schools), the Hague Circle and the Friends of Waldorf Education.
Ernst Weissert was born in Mannheim and was strongly influenced by its architecture, theatre and the art prevailing there. His father was a teacher at the Mannheim Hilfsschule (Mannheim special school) as well as tutor to wealthy Jewish families. Ernst went to the local state school and later the Karl-Friedrich-Gymnasium. At the age of 13, he lived through the end of World War I and the accompanying revolution, which led him to join the liberal party. In 1919/20, he began to take part in the events of the left wingers and the so-called “Wandervögel” (Birds of Passage) where he forged friendships with young people that would become decisive for his future as they were seeking a life of truth and spiritually aware community. He began to act in theatre, first as an extra at the national theatre, then in principal roles in productions of his high school, and was preparing himself for life as an actor.
He met Rudolf Steiner, attending his lectures in Mannheim already at the age of 17 and, upon matriculating, he visited the second Teachers Conference of the Waldorf School in Stuttgart, where he encountered the educational impulse of Rudolf Steiner. Spontaneously, he decided upon a profession as a teacher. In 1924 he became a member of the Anthroposophical Society and of the pedagogical working group in Tübingen, in which students prepared themselves to teach at the Waldorf School. In the same year he took part in the three-week-long Drama Course and the Karma lectures of Rudolf Steiner in Dornach.
In 1926 Ernst Weissert pursued studies in Philology, and Archaeology in Heidelberg, but interrupted these to accompany a German family to Athens as personal tutor. There he got to know the director of the German Archaeological Institute, Ernst Buschor, a decisive meeting for his life. After this period, in which he immersed himself in everything Greek, above all in classical sculpture, he returned home to the Archaeological Institute in Heidelberg. In 1928 he met and married there a woman of German and Greek origin and soon fathered his first son. In 1930, he completed his studies and separated from his wife.
Soon after this he moved to Berlin. There he got to know his second wife, Elisabeth Caspari, and over the years had nine sons and three daughters with her. At Easter 1931, he began to teach at the Rudolf Steiner School in Berlin – initially Greek, Latin, French and Gymnastics, later as a Class teacher. The political situation for Elisabeth and Ernst Weissert was becoming difficult, as Elisabeth came from a noted Jewish family. In summer of 1937, when all teachers at private schools were required to take an oath of allegiance to Hitler, the College of Teachers of the Rudolf Steiner School decided of themselves to close the school. Ernst Weissert gave 85 of the children, amongst them 30 Jewish children, an orientation course for their new situation and thereafter began to work as a private tutor. On charges of “continuing to practice a forbidden pedagogy”, he was arrested by the Gestapo, but was released after a few weeks. In 1943 his wife and children were evacuated and in 1944 he himself moved to Tübingen until he received his call-up orders, which he was able to change to service in the Medical Corps in Ulm.
Immediately after the War, Weissert took over the public school in Weilheim with 82 children, and after Easter 1946 joined the Waldorf school in Stuttgart-Uhlandshöhe as high school teacher for the subjects German, History and History of Art. For 19 years he lived with his family in one of the modest prefabricated buildings on the school grounds that had been donated by the United States Armed Forces, continuing to teach at the school until 1968.
He actively participated in the rebuilding of the Anthroposophical Society in Germany from 1946 onwards, being elected onto its executive in 1959 and acting as one of its General Secretaries from 1961 to 1978.
This German federation of schools had been hurriedly organised in 1933 to act as negotiating partner for the nine Waldorf schools in their dealings with the German authorities in Berlin at the time. It was now reconstituted by Ernst Weissert and Erich Schwebsch, who took on the leadership until his death in 1953. After this, the leadership was taken on by Ernst Weissert, and from 1969 onwards, he worked for the Federation on a full-time basis. At that time, there were 29 member schools. When the 1970s brought with them the rapid increase in new schools all over the world, he called on the School's movement to “leave behind us everything that is dated and wakefully grasp what is of the future.”
Ernst Weissert
Ernst Weissert, born 20 July 1905 in Mannheim Germany and died 2 January 1981 in Stuttgart was a teacher, general secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in Germany and co-founder and director of the Bund der Freien Waldorfschulen (Federation of free Waldorf schools), the Hague Circle and the Friends of Waldorf Education.
Ernst Weissert was born in Mannheim and was strongly influenced by its architecture, theatre and the art prevailing there. His father was a teacher at the Mannheim Hilfsschule (Mannheim special school) as well as tutor to wealthy Jewish families. Ernst went to the local state school and later the Karl-Friedrich-Gymnasium. At the age of 13, he lived through the end of World War I and the accompanying revolution, which led him to join the liberal party. In 1919/20, he began to take part in the events of the left wingers and the so-called “Wandervögel” (Birds of Passage) where he forged friendships with young people that would become decisive for his future as they were seeking a life of truth and spiritually aware community. He began to act in theatre, first as an extra at the national theatre, then in principal roles in productions of his high school, and was preparing himself for life as an actor.
He met Rudolf Steiner, attending his lectures in Mannheim already at the age of 17 and, upon matriculating, he visited the second Teachers Conference of the Waldorf School in Stuttgart, where he encountered the educational impulse of Rudolf Steiner. Spontaneously, he decided upon a profession as a teacher. In 1924 he became a member of the Anthroposophical Society and of the pedagogical working group in Tübingen, in which students prepared themselves to teach at the Waldorf School. In the same year he took part in the three-week-long Drama Course and the Karma lectures of Rudolf Steiner in Dornach.
In 1926 Ernst Weissert pursued studies in Philology, and Archaeology in Heidelberg, but interrupted these to accompany a German family to Athens as personal tutor. There he got to know the director of the German Archaeological Institute, Ernst Buschor, a decisive meeting for his life. After this period, in which he immersed himself in everything Greek, above all in classical sculpture, he returned home to the Archaeological Institute in Heidelberg. In 1928 he met and married there a woman of German and Greek origin and soon fathered his first son. In 1930, he completed his studies and separated from his wife.
Soon after this he moved to Berlin. There he got to know his second wife, Elisabeth Caspari, and over the years had nine sons and three daughters with her. At Easter 1931, he began to teach at the Rudolf Steiner School in Berlin – initially Greek, Latin, French and Gymnastics, later as a Class teacher. The political situation for Elisabeth and Ernst Weissert was becoming difficult, as Elisabeth came from a noted Jewish family. In summer of 1937, when all teachers at private schools were required to take an oath of allegiance to Hitler, the College of Teachers of the Rudolf Steiner School decided of themselves to close the school. Ernst Weissert gave 85 of the children, amongst them 30 Jewish children, an orientation course for their new situation and thereafter began to work as a private tutor. On charges of “continuing to practice a forbidden pedagogy”, he was arrested by the Gestapo, but was released after a few weeks. In 1943 his wife and children were evacuated and in 1944 he himself moved to Tübingen until he received his call-up orders, which he was able to change to service in the Medical Corps in Ulm.
Immediately after the War, Weissert took over the public school in Weilheim with 82 children, and after Easter 1946 joined the Waldorf school in Stuttgart-Uhlandshöhe as high school teacher for the subjects German, History and History of Art. For 19 years he lived with his family in one of the modest prefabricated buildings on the school grounds that had been donated by the United States Armed Forces, continuing to teach at the school until 1968.
He actively participated in the rebuilding of the Anthroposophical Society in Germany from 1946 onwards, being elected onto its executive in 1959 and acting as one of its General Secretaries from 1961 to 1978.
This German federation of schools had been hurriedly organised in 1933 to act as negotiating partner for the nine Waldorf schools in their dealings with the German authorities in Berlin at the time. It was now reconstituted by Ernst Weissert and Erich Schwebsch, who took on the leadership until his death in 1953. After this, the leadership was taken on by Ernst Weissert, and from 1969 onwards, he worked for the Federation on a full-time basis. At that time, there were 29 member schools. When the 1970s brought with them the rapid increase in new schools all over the world, he called on the School's movement to “leave behind us everything that is dated and wakefully grasp what is of the future.”