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Transcription of the February 28, 2000 "Report from Mainz" broadcast, (German Television)
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Paul
Spiegel Reinforces Investigation By ARD's "REPORT Mainz" Broadcast Association of Free Waldorf Schools Defeated in Crucial Points in Legal Battle with "Report Mainz" |
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Moderator: Barbara Siebert and Eric Fiedler report. Report: Waldorf schools in Germany. Twelve
years without pressure, no grades, no ranking. Plenty of time for music
and art. Mother of a former Waldorf student: Mother of a former Waldorf student: Sybille Jacobs speaks openly before our cameras. She woke up much too late, she says, and did not remove her children from a Waldorf school until the mid-1990s. For some years she has headed an association for parents of former Waldorf students. Sybille Jacobs of "Initiative
zur Anthroposophie-Kritik, Augsburg (Initiative for Criticism of Anthroposophy): Recent fifth-grade history workbooks
from different Waldorf schools. We discover teaching about human development
unknown in the history lessons of public schools. The Aryans, Waldorf
curriculum declares, left the sinking continent of Atlantic to found
many high cultures. Terms like "Aryan," "sacrificial
fire" (Opferfeuer) and "Aryan wanderings" are used without
comment. Klaus Prange, educational
specialist at the University of Tübingen: Some books describe the characteristics of entire peoples, teaching that Russians are undisciplined and unpunctual, the French superficial and so-called "bush men" have forward-curving spines and large posteriors. Hildegard Ernst trains history teachers for public schools. We present her with the Waldorf teaching materials. Hildegard Ernst, historian
at the University of Mainz: In the opinion of some parents, these attitudes can also be found in daily school life, with dreadful consequences. Mother of a former Waldorf student: Samuel Althof, "Aktion
Kinder des Holocaust" in Basel: Racism and anti-Semitism in Waldorf
education? 1919. Rudolf Steiner founds a school
for the children of the Waldorf-Astoria Cigarette Factory. Hence the
name Waldorf. Steiner developed a new pedagogy for the school. Its basis
to the present day is anthroposophy. Reincarnation and karma play central
roles. Although many of Steiner's contemporaries held similar views, only his teachings remain the basis of an educational system today. Critics thus see the danger that this content might be taught in Waldorf schools today. The Waldorf movement trains its own teachers. Steiners works stand at the center of this training. The Bund der Freien Waldorfschulen (Association of Free Waldorf Schools ) admits that many Waldorf teachers teach such concepts as so-called "Aryan wanderings" and stereotypes about peoples. Walter Hiller, Bund der Freien
Waldorfschulen, Stuttgart: A teacher's personal ambitions? Norbert Biermann, former Waldorf
teacher: In the near future, Heiner Ullrich
will begin the first empirical study of Waldorf schools. He wants to
observe Waldorf education in practice. But even now he is calling for
more plurality in the training of Waldorf teachers. A reduced focus
on Steiner could mean, he says, Moderator Bernhard Nellessen's closing
remarks: Moderation Report Camera Editor
Association of Free Waldorf Schools Defeated in Crucial Points in Legal Battle with "Report Mainz" On February 28, 2000, the ARD news program of Südwestfunk (South West Broadcasting or SWR), "Report Mainz," broadcast a program segment with the title "Waldorf Schools: Disappointed Parents Report." The film presented a critical appraisal of the curriculum in some Waldorf schools. Parents of Waldorf students reported they perceived teaching at Waldorf schools to have "a racist character." Beyond that, the segment showed workbooks from the history classes of individual Waldorf schools containing stereotypical descriptions of various peoples as well as terms like "Aryans," "Aryan wanderings" and "Aryan sacrificial fire." Experts criticized this content. Additionally, Samuel Althof, spokesperson for the Swiss group "Aktion Kinder des Holocaust," reported that Jewish children were subjected to anti-Semitic discrimination in many Waldorf schools. The segment elicited vehement reactions
on the part of followers and official representatives of Waldorf schools.
Immediately following the broadcast, the Association of Free Waldorf
Schools took legal action against SWR, demanding the opportunity to
present several rebuttals. The association also demanded that SWR refrain
from making the following statements: For the most part, the Frankfurt Regional Court ruled against the peculiar demands made by representatives of the Free Waldorf Schools. In its ruling of 3/23/2000, the Frankfurt court rejected a petition by the Association of Free Waldorf Schools to issue a temporary injunction against SWR on points a) and c). The court found that the program segment had not claimed "untrue facts" about Waldorf schools. Following are excerpts from the Frankfurt ruling: "Petitioner's opponent (SWR) did not claim that 'racism and anti-Semitism are part of Waldorf pedagogy.' Rather, SWR interviewed several mothers of former Waldorf students and the spokesperson for a Swiss group, 'Aktion Kinder des Holocaust,' during its report and then posed the question '(Is there) racism and anti-Semitism in Waldorf pedagogy?' The question was formulated in a neutral and factual manner and does not suggest that it is a purely rhetorical question to which petitioner's opponent already has the answer." The court declared further that it saw no reason why "the statement by Mr. Samuel Althof should not be true." Additionally, the court stated specifically that it did not appear completely unlikely "that individual teachers in individual schools made statements like those reported by Mr. Althof. Since Mr. Althof's statements do not imply that the incidents he reports are daily occurrences, they cannot be objected to." In the view of SWR Editor-in-chief and "Report" moderator Bernhard Nellessen, the court's ruling has given the "Report" investigation retroactive confirmation. SWR has been temporarily prohibited solely from disseminating the statement contained in point b). SWR plans to appeal this ruling, however, because it has in its possession statements by representatives of Jewish organizations that prove the accuracy of the statement attacked by the Waldorf school association. The court was prevented from considering this documentation during the petition process of the Association of Free Waldorf Schools.
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