Kaspar Houser and Being Human in our time: Autumn Conference
The Autumn Conference was held at the Rudolf Steiner University College, Oslo
Professor Dahls Gate 30
Early on the morning of Pentecost in the year 1828, a young boy staggers into the square of Nuremberg with a small note in his hand that reads: "I want to be a rider like my father." He could not speak properly, could barely walk and no one knew who he was, where he came from and what he wanted.
He was named Kaspar Huser. It turned out that the boy had been sitting in a dark basement room without contact with other people throughout his childhood. He had to learn everything. He kept his abilities, but they were hidden and had to be resurrected. Kaspar Hauser had already as a child lost a safe home and first found security again as a youth with a few good adults who took care of him and guided him the first time among people. At the same time he was subjected to a lot of hatred, insanity and fell victim to several assassination attempts and eventually he also died after an assassination attempt on him in 1833.
Since then, research has been ongoing on his identity and origins. Particularly prominent is the discovery that he had be born as the Crown Prince of Baden. And yet.... Kaspar Hauser has most of all become a leading image on the questions of human dignity, integrity and determination; who are we, where do we come from and why are we here? Karl König saw him as an important figure in relation to working with children and young adults with special challenges in life and he writes about Kaspar Hauser: "We can experience the wonder and dignity of our own childhood, when we read about his life and death and we can remember, that we are not only of mortal matter, but an immortal and integral part of all creation.
Children with disabilities also move our hearts in a similar way when they remind us of our higher and better selves. Their patron saint is the Prince of Baden; Kaspar Hauser, the child of Europe, the protector of the image of God. " - Karl König Speakers at the conference will be: Eckart Böhmer, director of the Kaspar Hauser Festivals, Ansbach, Germany Richard Steel, director of the Karl König Institute, Berlin.