Karl König 1902-1966: Biography
Dr Karl König (1902-66) was an Austrian physician, author and lecturer. In 1938, König fled the Nazi invasion of Austria and settled near Aberdeen, Scotland. It was here that he founded what became the Camphill movement in 1940. Based on the educational ideas of Rudolf Steiner, this network of special education schools for children and villages for adults with developmental needs are now established throughout Britain, Europe, North and South America, and southern Africa. He was also working very closely with Dr Ita Wegmann, the founder of the Anthroposophical Medical and cosmetic company WELEDA.
Karl König's Early Life
Karl König was born on September 25th 1902 in Vienna, Austria, the only son of a Jewish family who owned a shoeshop. He studied zoology, biology and medicine at the University of Vienna, graduating in 1927. During König’s studies on embryology, he encountered the works of Rudolf Steiner through Goethe’s scientific writings. König immediately identified with Steiner and was soon acquainted with a number of his followers, including Ita Wegman.
Upon graduation, König was offered several high-profile positions in Vienna but instead accepted an invitation from Ita Wegman to join her clinic in Arlesheim, Switzerland.
König’s time at the Clinic would shape the Camphill movement. It was here that he met his wife and co-founder, Tilla Maasberg, and it was here that he first witnessed the Advent Garden. During this festival, where children with learning disabilities circle a spiral of moss, lighting a candle from a large central beacon, he promised to ‘dedicate my life to the care and education of these children’.
Following his time at Arlesheim, König moved to Germany and was involved in founding the Pilgramshain Institute – one of the early curative educational centres based on anthroposophy. However, due to political pressure König was forced to leave Germany in 1936. He returned to Vienna where he ran a successful medical practice and led anthroposophical study groups until 1938.
Karl König and the Camphill Movement
Fleeing Austria after Nazi annexation in 1938, König was part of a small group of doctors, teachers and artists to be granted political asylum in the United Kingdom during 1939. König moved to Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where this group founded a home for children with learning disabilities that became the beginning of the Camphill movement. After the Second World War, more schools were founded as well as curative education villages for adults with disabilities, based on the ideal of working together as a community.
In the following decades, König’s Aberdeenshire community grew and expanded into Britain, Europe and America, becoming the Camphill movement we recognise today. During this period, König worked tirelessly to help children and adults with special needs through publications, talks and seminars – and by founding communities the world over.
Karl König returned to Germany in 1964, founding another community near Überlingen. He died there in 1966. Today, the Camphill movement he established includes more than 100 communities in over 20 different countries.
