Anthroposophy Comes to Ann Arbor Michigan

A Report by the Great Lakes Branch of the Anthroposophical Society in America

By Dwight Ebaugh

Today, Ann Arbor, Michigan, is the focal point of a sizable anthroposophical community that includes a K-12 Waldorf School, a community-supported anthroposophical medical practice, a communitysupported biodynamic agricultural group, the Great Lakes Branch of the Anthroposophical Society in America, and the Rudolf Steiner House, the national headquarters of the Anthroposophical Society in America. How did this come to be? How did anthroposophy come to Ann Arbor, Michigan?

All of today’s evidence of anthroposophy in the Ann Arbor region can be traced to February 1947 and the arrival in Ann Arbor of Ernst Katz and his wife, Katherine, from the Netherlands. In Ernst’s own words:

When, shortly after World War II, the mail brought to me in Holland, on my 33rd birthday [July 23, 1946], an invitation to join the faculty of the University of Michigan, the little Katz family was soon on its way to Ann Arbor. There was at that time only one member of the Anthroposophical Society [in the State of Michigan and he was] in Detroit, a warm hearted German tool-and-diemaker by the name of A. L. Olszewski. We befriended him, but unfortunately he died suddenly after a short time and so we were anthroposophically entirely isolated. Though we had enjoyed years of a very rich anthroposophical life in Holland before the war, we had learned during the war to stand on our own feet, so to speak, when this support falls away. Thus, in a way, the following years were a wonderful time for us, because we could study and work inwardly without much disturbance. We made it a principle not to speak about anthroposophy unless we perceived a question or at least an openness to matters anthroposophical.

For years nothing of the sort was forthcoming. So we kept silence, though this was not always easy. One day [in 1952] one of my physics students came to my office and said: May I ask you a question? I expected a question about his research, but instead he continued: As you probably know, we students sometimes gossip about our professors, and so we have come to the conclusion that you are different from the other professors, in that you seem to have something that we cannot quite place; it is not physics, and it is not religion either, and yet it is clearly there. Kindly tell us what it is. This question formed the beginning of all anthroposophical work in Ann Arbor. Ernst used the word ‘karma’ to explain his coming to America and specifically to explain his coming to Ann Arbor, Michigan. He writes: Already early on in my life, circumstances pointed to a karmic connection with America.

Of many such ‘chance’ events, I want to describe only one example. Students were seated at two-person desks in my high school in The Hague. For several years my desk partner was an American boy, the only American student in that school, whose parents worked in the Netherlands for an American firm. We became friends and frequently spent time together in his or my house. Chance? ... [Later in my graduate studies] In Utrecht, theoretical natural science was taught by Professor H. Kramers. In 1936 he moved to Leiden. This move created a vacancy in Utrecht that was subsequently filled through the appointment of George Uhlenbeck, a Dutch citizen, who was Professor of Physics in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Although Professor Uhlenbeck had a good life in Ann Arbor, he could not refuse this honor and came to Utrecht to teach theoretical natural science. It did not take long for me to feel a great sense of respect for him. He organized a weekly colloquium for more advanced students and assistants during which the latest developments in natural science were discussed. At that time the work of Enrico Fermi and his co-workers in Rome was very much in the news. However, that was the time of Mussolini in Italy; consequently Fermi and his co-workers could publish their findings only in Italian. None of those attending the colloquium understood Italian. I decided to quickly learn just enough Italian to be able to read Fermi and to report his findings to the colloquium. How could I learn this language so quickly? I did not have enough money to take lessons in Italian. Instead, I listened to the world news on the Dutch radio and then switched to the Italian station reporting the same news. Soon I was able to read Fermi and other Italian scientists, and report their findings to the colloquium. I am describing these events to illustrate how quickly a positive relationship was established between me and Professor Uhlenbeck. We were very sad when in 1939 Uhlenbeck announced that there was too much rain and too little sunshine in the Netherlands and that he was returning to Ann Arbor (where people were pleased to welcome him back). Thus, it is not by chance, but through karma, that I also found my way to Ann Arbor after the war.

After the end of World War II, Ernst received an invitation from the Physics Department at the University of Michigan to join the faculty in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The decision by Ernst and Katherine to leave the Netherlands was not easy. Ernst writes: We faced a very difficult decision. We had many friends in the Netherlands. I had a job I enjoyed. Our son was able to go to the Waldorf School in Zeist. We also knew that the state of public education in the United States left much to be desired. In the Netherlands we felt inwardly nourished by the life of many anthroposophical activities, especially in Zeist, whereas in Michigan we would face an anthroposophical wasteland, more like a desert. Our thinking went back and forth on this. Finally we decided to try it for three years. It took several months to obtain visas and on February 10, 1947 we landed in New York and a few days later in Ann Arbor, where I immediately started working with the students, and was given a full work schedule. I asked Professor Uhlenbeck: What is different here from teaching in the Netherlands? He responded,“There is only one small difference you have to know about. In Europe one teaches that g (acceleration due to gravity) equals 9.81 meters/sec², but in America that g equals 32 feet/sec².”

In 1974, the newsletter of the Anthroposophical Society in America published Ernst Katz’s report, The Anthroposophical Study Circle of Ann Arbor Comes of Age. In that report, Ernst recounts the unfolding of anthroposophy in Ann Arbor after one of his students posed the question, “. . . you seem to have something that we cannot quite place; it is not physics, and it is not religion either, and yet it is clearly there. Kindly tell us what it is? ” Ernst wrote in 1974:

The student [who posed the fateful question] was a member of a fraternity, and when I had answered his question he said: You must speak to my fraternity about this. And so, in the fall of 1952, I gave the first lecture in Michigan on Rudolf Steiner. ... The first lecture tour organized by the Society in America, with Paul Allen, followed soon. On April 10, 1953 ... a n organizational meeting was held at our apartment, with 15 people present, and it was decided that we would study Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment . This was the start of the Anthroposophical Study Circle of Ann Arbor, which has met regularly ever since, without being ever in any way a formally organized entity. In these 21 years [1952 - 1974] many things have been undertaken, of which I will report only some of the highlights. We were fortunate to have a stream of anthroposophical speakers and artists. At present [1974], a typical meeting of the Study Circle begins at 8pm with 30 to 40 people coming from a radius of up to 65 miles. Newcomers are welcomed and introduced. In addition to these study meetings the Study Circle is involved in a number of other activities. Foremost among these are the celebrations of the four festivals of the year, for which Mrs. Katherine Katz is responsible. They have become high points of the year, as festivals are meant to be, and offer to 50 to 80 persons a well-balanced program of spiritual science, art, and social activities. ... The Study Circle also engages in art activities. ... The Study Circle has frequently arranged public events, often with the cooperation of the University of Michigan. We mention a few outstanding ones. In 1957, the first eurythmy performance in Ann Arbor, also the first in Michigan. In 1961, I built a centennial exhibition in the main hall of the General Library of the University of Michigan, which was seen by about 20,000 persons. One of its consequences was the first Ph.D. thesis written in America with Rudolf Steiner as its topic. In 1964, a small number of persons from Detroit and Ann Arbor, including myself, founded the Detroit Waldorf School. A good deal of effort of many persons of the Study Circle went in those years into getting this school - and the beginnings of the Waldorf Teacher Training Course - established. In 1969, a student at the University of Michigan asked if one could not have a regular anthroposophical student group. So I became responsible for the founding of the Anthroposophical Student Association, the only recognized student organization of this kind in the country. ... For several years now the Association’s able president has been Arthur Zajonc, a graduate student in physics [who later served as General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America]. ... Also in 1969, I offered at the University of Michigan for the first time a non-credit course on Goethe’s Color Studies. ... In 1970, a local member expressed a need for the lessons of the First Class of the School of Spiritual Science. Mrs. Andress of Toronto came and read in Ann Arbor. We are grateful for the fine and dignified way in which she performed this task. She then requested the Vorstand to charge me with this responsibility, and so it came about that the lessons of the First Class have since been held in Ann Arbor regularly. This led in 1971 to the first conference of Class readers in North America, held in Ann Arbor with Dr. M. P. van Deventer from Arlesheim representing the Vorstand. Also in 1971 the opportunity presented itself to offer credit courses at the University of Michigan about Rudolf Steiner’s work. ... Three courses have since been developed and have been offered in rotation ... A total of over 200 students have received through these courses a more or less systematic exposure to Rudolf Steiner’s work and his contributions to mankind. ... Naturally, a sustained activity such as that of the Study Circle has effects that reach beyond the boundaries of Ann Arbor. From the beginning we felt that the Great Lakes Area was a natural-spiritual unity. And so, at various times and by various persons connected with the Study Circle, initiatives have been undertaken elsewhere, and efforts have been made to assist and to fructify anthroposophical impulses in other places. We mention in this connection: Ada, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dearborn, Detroit, Lansing, Milwaukee, Toledo, Toronto, and Waukeshaw. Conversely, fructifying impulses have come from several of these places to Ann Arbor. And at times radiations from Ann Arbor extended as far as the West and East coasts, and Europe. . . . a great new initiative was taken in 1973. The Rudolf Steiner Institute of the Great Lakes Area was founded. It is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to establish and operate a public cultural center, where contributions will be made to the enhancement of the quality of human life through anthroposophy. In practical terms we hope to acquire a property near the University of Michigan, to be named the ‘Rudolf Steiner House.’

From our current vantage point in 2024, we know that The Rudolf Steiner Institute of the Great Lakes Area did acquire a property near the University of Michigan and it was named the Rudolf Steiner House. The acquisition occurred in 1974. The property was and is located at 1923 Geddes Avenue in Ann Arbor, a short walk from the university campus. Not only is the street address serendipitously 1923 (the year of the Christmas Conference), but the building was also constructed in 1923! As reported on the Anthroposophical Society’s website in 2017:

The beautiful building which is our home was built as the Acacia Fraternity in 1923 for the sons of Masons attending the University of Michigan. A message is engraved on the corner of the building which says (in Greek),

FOR THE GOOD OF HUMANKIND

Ernst Katz retired from the University of Michigan in 1980 at the age of 67. However, he remained in Ann Arbor for 29 years working to support the anthroposophical movement, the Rudolf Steiner Institute of the Great Lakes Area, the Anthroposophical Society in America, the Great Lakes Branch, the Rudolf Steiner School of Ann Arbor, and numerous other anthroposophical initiatives. In 1997, the Rudolf Steiner Institute of the Great Lakes Area donated the Rudolf Steiner House to the Anthroposophical Society in America and shortly thereafter the Anthroposophical Society moved its headquarters from Chicago to Ann Arbor. Ernst crossed the threshold in 2009 at the age of 96.

The Great Lakes Branch was formally established in the 1980s and remains today at the center of the local Ann Arbor anthroposophical community. The relationship of the Great Lakes Branch to the Anthroposophical Society in America is similar to the relationship between the Swiss national society and the Goetheanum. This report was assembled by the Great Lakes Branch from three primary sources (in addition to the collective memories of Branch members). The three primary sources are: The Anthroposophical Study Circle of Ann Arbor Comes of Age, a report by Dr. Ernst Katz published in 1974 in the Newsletter of the Anthroposophical Society in America; How I Survived the War, Ernst Katz, June 27, 2009, edited and translated by Agnes Schneeberg; and Katherine Katz - A Short Biography by Ernst Katz, July 1998, written shortly after Katherine’s death on St. John’s Day, June 24, 1998.