At the ceremony marking the completion of the German Gesamtausgabe (GA) [Collected Works (CW)] of Rudolf Steiner, the 453 volumes were laid out on the Goetheanum stage. The speeches and reminiscences expressed deep gratitude and offered a gentle reminder.
Cornelius Bohlen, chairman of the Nachlassverwaltung [Estate Administration], spoke first and named the Gesamtausgabe [Collected Works] as the largest in the world. In the 100 years since Steiner’s death, not a single year has passed without a new publication of his work. Even Goethe’s Weimar Edition (comprised of 143 volumes) and Voltaire’s Œuvres complètes (currently 205 volumes) taken together do not yet equal the number of Steiner editions. Bohlen then announced that he would summarize this work in a single sentence (laughter throughout the hall) from a letter by Rudolf Steiner of 1902: “I want to build upon the force that sets students of the spirit on the track of development.” Citing a letter of 1905, he added that Steiner was well aware that the development of spiritual science harbored a danger—for all theosophists and anthroposophists—of seduction into the worst kind of materialism. Spiritual science that is not properly assimilated leads to error and dogmatism. He concluded by saying that the Estate Administration established by Marie Steiner and the Goetheanum, with its Independent School of Spiritual Science, would today collaborate freely and independently. “What could be more beautiful?” he asked.
Transcribe, Edit, Digitize!
Next to speak was Harald Liehr, program director for literature and cultural studies at Schwabe Verlag [publishing house], which also publishes anthroposophical books. Liehr noted that Schwabe Verlag was founded in 1488 and is, today, the world’s oldest publishing house still in operation. As an “external sympathizer watching from the sidelines,” he described the Collected Works as a “universe of scholarship and philological accuracy that is unparalleled in the global literary community.” “Cui bono? Who benefits from this?” he asked, answering that the mountain of texts can now be traversed, climbed, and surveyed along surefooted paths. The enthusiasts, the exegetes, the critics, and also the detractors of Steiner must all confront the texts, study them, and, at the very least, take note of them. “In addition to ensuring the preservation of Rudolf Steiner’s texts, making them available in formats that can be cross-checked and therefore suitable for academic discussion, this edition provides a solid foundation for new forms of engagement with Steiner’s œuvre that have yet to be imagined.” According to Liehr, what has now been accomplished at such a rapid pace is an “important intermediate stage” for the work of the Rudolf Steiner Archive (Dornach) and Verlag (Basel) and must continue. He had to disappoint all those hoping that enough had now been done in the way of philological diligence and the clearing of Finnish forests for all the age-resistant paper used in printing. The work does not stop. Transcription, editing, and digitization must and will continue. The point is not to “bury Steiner’s thoughts under even higher mountains of books, but to keep pace with the research and reception needs of current and future generations.” He concluded with the “motto of all editorial philologists”—“thus far and beyond”—and he thanked the Rudolf Steiner Archive, proclaiming, “May you remain, may we all remain, devoted to Rudolf Steiner’s books and to all the others as well.”
Engage with the Volumes
Justus Wittich saw it as a stroke of destiny that the dates set independently by the Rudolf Steiner Estate Administration for the completion of the Collected Works and by the Goetheanum for this year’s General Assembly had accidentally coincided. The fact that anthroposophy has been able to unfold transparently in the public sphere is largely due to the ethos of Marie Steiner and the Rudolf Steiner Estate Administration she established, which is dedicated to making every word of Steiner’s openly accessible. Regarding the past conflict between the Estate Administration and the Goetheanum, Wittich said that former leaders of the Anthroposophical Society had adopted a more “esoteric stance that, in fact, did not correspond to the needs of reality.” Then, more succinctly, he said, “We as the Anthroposophical Society could never have accomplished this [publication] work [alone] because it requires the objectivity of an independent institution, such as the Archive is.” That being said, Wittich noted, the Goetheanum does share the responsibility for the Archive’s future, and it is up to each individual to personally engage with the volumes.
In the Heart, Instead of on 100,000 Pages
Three generations of directors of the Archive took the floor with Stefan Hasler as moderator. Angelika Schmitt outlined one of their ongoing projects: “In addition to the 100,000 pages of the Collected Works, there are 84,000 pages of notebooks in digital form.” Philip Kovce emphasized that each of these 100,000 pages is linked to archival materials buried away in the recesses of the archive: “Free access to the Collected Works includes their whole backstory.” Access to this archival material entails the prospect of broadening the focus of the Collected Works, presenting and communicating Steiner’s non-textual legacy. The predecessor to the two current co-directors of the archive was David Marc Hoffmann. “Our task as an archive,” as he put it, “is a historical-philological one, not an anthroposophical one.” Then he pointed to the problem of anthroposophical books. Steiner’s books can be “fatally misread” by assuming that anthroposophy is found inside the books. “According to my reading, anthroposophy is not found in the volumes of the Collected Works, but”—now quoting from Steiner’s first leading thought—“‘it is a path of knowledge that wants to lead the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the universe. It takes place within the human being as a need of the heart and feelings,’ and not on the 100,000 printed pages. There is an immense temptation with these editions because we think they contain the ultimate wisdom. But this should actually take place within me, as a need of the heart and life of feelings.” David Hoffmann didn’t shy away from sharing what makes archival work difficult: the “hardliners,” or those who are suspicious of the work done by the archive. On the other side, though, was the wide circle of goodwill that had brought him inwardly to his knees. He named the biggest donor institutions over the years: the Humanus-Stiftung in Basel, the Software AG Foundation (SAGST), the Damus-Donata Foundation, and the Union of Waldorf Schools in Germany [Bund der Freien Waldorfschulen]. The latter had transferred one euro per student annually for years.
Everything That’s Important to Us!
Prior to 2011, Walter Kugler headed the Archive. He shared how he discovered Steiner’s chalkboard drawings one day. He was working on the publication of the “Butterfly Cycle” (CW 230) and didn’t understand the dotted line drawings in the book. Then he stumbled across the chalkboard drawings hidden in tubes in a small basement room. A short time later, he showed them to two artists. Both exclaimed, “Everything that’s important to us and where we want to go is right there. These must be exhibited!”
As a coda to this GA symphony, Peter Selg painted a portrait of Helene Finckh, the GA’s main stenographer. The place where she worked for many years, a wooden hut behind the Goetheanum, is now a museum.
Translation Joshua Kelberman
Image Ceremony marking the completion of the Rudolf Steiner Gesamtausgabe [Collected Works] during the 2026 General Assembly. From left: Stefan Hasler, David Marc Hoffmann, Philip Kovce, and Angelika Schmitt. Photo: Xue Li.
