Herbert Witzenmann (16 February 1905,

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the ...

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

– 24 September 1988,

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

) was a German

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and anthroposophist.

Career

Witzenmann received his decisive study and work impulses through personal conversations with

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (; 27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century ...

. In the 1930s Witzenmann studied with

Karl Jaspers Karl Theodor Jaspers (; ; 23 February 1883 – 26 February 1969) was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry, and philosophy. His 1913 work ''General Psychopathology'' influenced many ...

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 the phosphorus bombings of Pforzheim by U.S. airplanes in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After studies in mechanical engineering, Witzenmann was employed by the family firm in Pforzheim for many years. 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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Witzenmann, Herbert 1905 births 1988 deaths People from Pforzheim People from the Grand Duchy of Baden Anthroposophists 20th-century German philosophers German male writers