Researching Camphill: Past, Present & Future

Abstract

First paragraph: In 1939 Karl König and a group of other Austrian-Jewish émigrés fled Austria to Scotland and there started a community for children with additional support needs. In time this extended across four continents and one hundred residential facilities, including schools and adults centres (Bock, 1990:36-56). Based on the principles outlined by König, Camphill was established to create and maintain an environment where the economic, social and spiritual aspects of lives within the community complemented each other. The ideals of the founders were to help those who had been “rejected and misunderstood by society, to care for the land, to celebrate the Christian festivals and to live together in a truly communal manner without salaries or other remuneration for their work” (de Ris Allen, 1990:11), guided by the Anthroposophical philosophy of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). It was not a job as much as a way of life, with an ideal of equality and unified decision-making practices (Seden, 2003:111; Bock, 2004).