Herbert Witzenmann

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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 Jasper's 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.^{[citation needed]}

In 1963 Witzenmann was "co-opted" as a member by the Executive Committee of the General Anthroposophical Society. Several years later Witzenmann was de facto fired, because he refused to accept a new policy advocated by the majority of this Committee regarding the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung. His door key literally no longer fit the lock to his office at the Goetheanum after being changed after he walked out of an annual General Assembly meeting of the Anthroposophical Society in protest.^{[citation needed]} 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. His work (along with that of Georg Kühlewind, Friedemann Schwarzkopf, and Massimo Scaligero) is believed by some to be among the most significant in furthering Rudolf Steiner's work in The Philosophy of Freedom, and had considerable influence on Jonael Schickler.^{[citation needed]}

v t e 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 Alan Chadwick 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

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

Cultural influences	Waldorf education Anthroposophical 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

Persondata
Name	Witzenmann, Herbert
Alternative names
Short description	German philosopher
Date of birth	16 February 1905
Place of birth
Date of death	24 September 1988
Place of death

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