Helmut von Kügelgen

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Helmut von Kügelgen (born December 1 . Jul / December 14, 1916 greg. In Reval ; † 25. February 1998 in Stuttgart ) was a German anthroposophic educator , the development of Waldorf education was influenced after 1945 prevail.

Live and act

Helmut von Kügelgen was the third of his parents' four children. He came from the humanist influenced Baltic German family Kügelgen that in the 1802 Empire nobility had been raised. The father, Paul Siegwart von Kügelgen, was a correspondent , editor and publisher of the St. Petersburger Zeitung, at the time the oldest German-language newspaper published abroad. His brother was the well-known journalist Bernt von Kügelgen . As a result of the October Revolution, the family had to leave home. Their escape route led via Finland to Berlin. From 1930 to 1932 the impoverished family lived in Bucharest, then again in Berlin. Kügelgen studied journalism in the latter city and in Königsberg. He completed his studies in 1939 with a doctorate. The topic of his dissertation was Die Presse der Russdeutschen in North and South America . Immediately afterwards he was drafted as war correspondent for the Wehrmacht.

In Berlin, Kügelgen became known through his encounter with the Waßermann family with anthroposophy . In 1942, while on leave from the front, he married the former Waldorf student and natural scientist Gisela Waßermann. The marriage had six children, five daughters and a son who died early. After a short captivity, he decided to become a teacher. Kügelgen completed his training at the Waldorf teacher training seminar in Stuttgart. After just eight weeks he took on the responsibility of a third class at the Free Waldorf School in Stuttgart Uhlandshöhe, which he led up to eighth grade.

Kügelgen was responsible for the anthroposophical journal Erziehungskunst from 1948 to 1970, then until 1982 in personal union with Manfred Leist . In addition, he played a key role in setting up the Freie Geistesleben publishing house .

In 1967 Kügelgen was elected to the board of the Association of Free Waldorf Schools . Two years later he was one of the founders of the Association of Waldorf Kindergartens. V. and campaigned for the establishment of Waldorf kindergartens:

“The children of all social classes and races, of all denominations and educational requirements are accepted in the Waldorf kindergarten - if their parents are only willing to work together. [...] The Waldorf kindergarten is perhaps primarily characterized by the experienced and recognized conviction that man learns to be human only from man: that the small child needs an educator who lives with him, who also connects spiritually and spiritually with the child's being, who himself remains a growing and changing man into old age [...] The science of man, which Rudolf Steiner based Waldorf education on, takes man into account as a spiritual, spiritual and physical being. "

- Helmut von Kügelgen : Plan and practice of the Waldorf kindergarten . Stuttgart 1980

On his initiative, the state-recognized free technical school for social education ( Waldorf kindergarten seminar ) was set up in Stuttgart in 1975 , which still trains educators in the sense of anthroposophy. He headed this training facility for many years. In addition, he was extremely active in Waldorf education both nationally and internationally, especially in North and South America, in spoken and written form.

Some schools and kindergartens in Germany are named after him. A foundation also bears his name.

Fonts (selection)

  • Plan and practice of the Waldorf kindergarten, Stuttgart 1973
  • Plan and practice of the Waldorf kindergarten, Stuttgart 1980
  • From elementary eurythmy in the first seventh year. In: Waldorf Education 1975 / H. 6, pp. 29-32
  • On the year of the child 1979. In: Waldorf Education 1979 / H. 7/8, pp. 361-363
  • From the human knowledge of the age of education. In: Waldorf Education 1979 / H. 7/8, pp. 363-369
  • From the Waldorf kindergarten. In: Kindergarten today 1982 / H. 3 u. 4, pp. 74-82 and 122-126
  • From the Waldorf kindergarten, Stuttgart o. J.

literature

  • Manfred Berger : “We need kindergartens!”. The history of Waldorf reform pedagogy. In: PraxisKita. Issue 55, March 2019, pp. 6–9.
  • Manfred Berger: Who is who of Waldorf kindergarten education. In: PraxisKita. Issue 55, March 2019, pp. 10–11.
  • Manfred Berger: “We need kindergartens! We need kindergartens! ”. A contribution to the history of the Waldorf kindergarten. In: Praxishandbuch Elementarpädagogik. Edition 8, 12/2018, pp. 1–22.
  • Monika Lay (Ed.): To be a future. Helmut von Kügelgen. A fighter for childhood. Stuttgart 2016.
  • Carola L. Gottzmann , Petra Hörner: Lexicon of the German-language literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg . Volume 2. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-019338-1 , pp. 786-787.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ivar von Kügelgen: Brief description of the history of the Kogelke / Kügelgen family. In: von-kuegelgen.eu. Retrieved August 14, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b Helmut von Kügelgen. In: biographien.kulturimpuls.org. Research Center for Culture Impulse, accessed on July 7, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Kügelgen 1980, p. 9 f
  4. ↑ http://www.waldorfkindergartenseminar.de
  5. ↑ http://www.fwsf.de
  6. ↑ http://www.waldorfkindergarten-oberursel.de
  7. ↑ http://www.waldorfkindergarten.de/helmuth-von-kuegelgen-stiftung.html
personal data
SURNAME Kügelgen, Helmut von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German anthroposophical pedagogue
DATE OF BIRTH December 14, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Reval
DATE OF DEATH February 25, 1998
Place of death Stuttgart