Max Benzinger

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Max Benzinger (born January 1, 1877 ; † February 2, 1949 in Stuttgart ) was a German anthroposophist, representative of social threefolding and, on April 22, 1919, co-founder and senior member of the "Bund für Dreigliederung des Sozialorganismus" initiated by Rudolf Steiner .

Live and act

Benzinger, who came from a modest economic background, was an orphan at an early age. He learned the trade of a locksmith and passed the master craftsman examination. In his spare time he was engaged in herbal medicine. At the turn of the 20th century he came into contact with naturopathic circles in Munich , which later led to his becoming a naturopath .

He joined the Theosophical Society , later the Anthroposophical Society , and became a student of Rudolf Steiner. When he worked in the sanatorium of the anthroposophic physician Felix Peipers, Benzinger took special care of the sick poet Christian Morgenstern , which led to a friendship between the two men. Morgenstern believed that "an artist may not be lost in this man."

Benzinger was significantly involved in the construction of the first Goetheanum in Dornach . He made a wooden model of the planned building and made a copper dodecahedron , which served as the cornerstone of the building.

When the “Bund for Threefolding of the Social Organism” was launched in Stuttgart in April 1919, Benzinger, Emil Molt and Emil Leinhas, belonged to its management committee.

Max Benzinger's diary is an important source for research into Rudolf Steiner's work. The cultural scientist Günther Däss dedicated a study to Benzinger on the Duinese elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke .

Works

  • From an eyewitness to the laying of the foundation stone. In: Erka Beltle, Kurt Vierl (Ed.): Memories of Rudolf Steiner . Free Spiritual Life Publishing House, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-7725-1979-2 , pp. 148ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the life dates and the career cf. Albert Schmelzer: Max Benzinger. Biography of the research center Kulturimpuls
  2. ↑ Christian Morgenstern to Michael Bauer on August 11, 1913, quoted from Hella Wiesberger: Christian Morgensterns life encounter with Rudolf Steiner. In: Contributions to the Rudolf Steiner Complete Edition. No. 33 (1971), p. 22.
  3. ↑ See Peter Selg: The Destiny of the Michael Community: Foundation Stone for the Future . Steiner Books, Great Barrington MA 2014, ISBN 978-1-62148-068-6 .
  4. ^ Helmut Zander : Anthroposophy in Germany: theosophical world view and social practice 1884–1945. Volume 1, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-55452-4 , p. 1100.
  5. ↑ Günther Däss: Intuition and faithfulness to reality in Rilke's Duineser Elegies . Haarlem University Press, 1970.
personal data
SURNAME Benzinger, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theosophist and anthroposophist
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1877
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1949
Place of death Stuttgart