Rudolf Steiner Born

Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner, 27 (or 25) February 1861 Kraljevec Croatia, eldest son of a railway employee. He had a deaf brother and an increasing blind sister. A loner with a lot of questions and an assurance for finding his own way through to answers.

Although .. “This does not accord, I must confess, with my own inclinations” Rudolf Steiner wrote of his life up to the turn of the century: 

“… … As a very young child I showed a marked individuality. From the time that I could feed myself, I had to be carefully watched. For I had formed the conviction that a soup-bowl or a coffee cup was meant to be used only once; and so, every time that I was not watched, as soon as I had finished eating something I would throw the bowl or the cup under the table and smash it to pieces. Then, when my mother appeared, I would call out to her : “Mother, I’ve finished!”

This could not have been a mere propensity for destroying things, since I handled my toys with the greatest care, and kept them in good condition for a long time. Among these toys those that had the strongest attraction for me were the kind which even now I consider especially good. These were picture-books with figures that could be made to move by pulling strings attached to them at the bottom. One associated little stories with these figures, to whom one gave a part of their life by pulling the strings. Many a time have I sat by the hour poring over the picture-books with my sister. Besides, I learned from them by myself the first steps in reading.

My father was concerned that I should learn early to read and write…..