Marie Steiner established the «Philosophisch-Theosophischer Verlag» in 1908, later renamed as the «Philosophisch-Anthroposophischer Verlag», known today as the «Verlag am Goetheanum» (The Goetheanum Publishing Press). All its surplus income was used to promote the edition of Steiner's writings. On many occasions Rudolf Steiner emphasized that without the contribution of Marie Steiner-von Sivers, he would not have achieved as much as he actually did. He had an unlimited confidence in her faculty to understand his intentions correctly and that she was the one who would be able to realise them independently. When he died in 1925, she inherited in particular the legal rights of Rudolf Steiner's literary estate, as it had been specified in his last will. This fact led to a long conflict with the General Anthroposophical Society and as a result its board members distanced themselves from her.

In 1943 Marie Steiner, together with a small number of loyal members who had already worked in the Rudolf Steiner archive, founded the association «Verein zur Verwaltung und Pflege des Nachlasses von Rudolf Steiner» for the administration and care of Rudolf Steiner’s legacy. This was later renamed the «Rudolf Steiner Estate Administration». Because of the conflict with the General Anthroposophical Society which had not been resolved at that time, Marie Steiner founded the «Anthroposophische Vereinigung in der Schweiz» (Anthroposophical Association in Switzerland) with a circle of close friends to support the Estate Administration.
Marie Steiner died in Beatenberg at the End of 1948.

Marie Steiner 1867 - 1948

Marie von Sivers was born in 1867 in Wloclawek (Poland). She grew up in several places in Eastern Europe and received a multilingual education. She was fond of the arts, even as a child, and later studied arts, in particular dramatic arts. She then continued her studies in Paris, St. Petersburg, Dresden and Berlin. There she met the writer and theosophist Edouard Schuré and it was through him that she heard about the German Theosophical Society and Rudolf Steiner, whom she first met in 1900. She became one of his closest collaborators in the Theosophical Society and later, after its foundation in 1913, in the Anthroposophical Society. She married Rudolf Steiner in 1914.

Marie Steiner worked tirelessly for the development of the artistic side of Anthroposophy. It was Marie Steiner who inaugurated a new type of speech formation, so she engaged herself in staging plays like the Mystery Dramas, Goethe's Faust and others. She also dedicated herself to the developing of a new art: Eurythmy. To promote these new arts, she founded an association called the «Eurythmeum» in 1920. It is known today as the «Verein zur Förderung anthroposophischer Art und Kunst» .

Literature

Marie Steiner – Ihr Weg zur Erneuerung der Bühnenkunst durch die Anthroposophie. Eine Dokumentation, herausgegeben von Edwin Froböse, Dornach 1973.

Marie Steiner, Briefe und Dokumente, vornehmlich aus ihrem letzten Lebensjahr, herausgegeben von Hella Wiesberger, Dornach 1981.

Hella Wiesberger, Marie Steiner-von Sivers, Ein Leben für die Anthroposophie. Eine biographische Dokumentation, Dornach 1989.

Rudolf Steiner – Marie Steiner-von Sivers: Briefwechsel und Dokumente 1901-1925, Rudolf Steiner Gesamtausgabe,
GA 262, Basel 2014.

Wilfried Hammacher, Marie Steiner. Lebensspuren einer Individualität. Stuttgart 1998.

Peter Selg, Marie Steiner-von Sivers. Aufbau und Zukunft des Werkes von Rudolf Steiner, Dornach 2006.