Edwin Kaufmann
Edwin Kaufmann was born in Basel (CH) on 22 November 1934, the first child of Clara Bleuler and Hans Kaufmann, followed eight years later by his sister Ursula. When Edwin contracted tuberculosis, his life was hanging by a thread.
The doctors felt it was best to let him die peacefully, but his father thought differently. Armed with a pistol, he marched to the head physician and told him to treat his son instantly or else … The six-year old was sent to Davos (CH), where he was cured within a year with the help of sunshine and goat’s milk. Edwin Kaufmann was grateful to be alive and remained active and full of vitality throughout his life.
Born to be a teacher
When he returned to Basel in 1942, there was a canon in his room that was aimed at Germany; his apartment on the river Rhine was the perfect army base. Despite all the difficulties during the war, Edwin Kaufman finished school and became a typesetter, although a gypsy prophesied that he would be a priest or a teacher.
As a child, Edwin Kaufmann played the violin and the cello and he was very good at painting and singing (he sang in the Basel Bach Choir). All these talents would later stand him in good stead. He was working in printing when his pedagogical talent became apparent, and so he first trained to be a teacher in Basel before studying Waldorf Education in Dornach (CH). He had started studying anthroposophy at the age of 17 and would later, for many years, be responsible for the anthroposophical branch in Burgdorf (CH).
Edwin Kaufmann devoted 65 years of his life to education. He was involved in the founding of many Steiner Schools in Switzerland and of one of the most important teacher training institutes, in Bern (CH). He also taught in Switzerland, Germany and Great Britain. In the 1990s he was among the first to bring Waldorf Education to Russia and Ukraine, where he taught both in schools and in teacher education. Many teachers continue to use his notes as valuable impulses for their daily work.
Edwin Kaufmann also introduced people to Waldorf Education in public lectures in East Germany, Armenia, Bulgaria, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
‘I did’
Aside from his teaching activity, Edwin Kaufmann guided groups of tourists to Russia and Ukraine, which was his way of contributing to an understanding among the nations. He undertook numerous cultural trips to Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Norway.
The following episode is characteristic of Edwin Kaufman: in 1974 he travelled by car from Switzerland to the Soviet Union. In Georgia he went off the permitted road. He was arrested and when the judge asked him, “Who gave you permission to leave the main route?” he said, “I did!” This is how he lived his life – he could not do it any other way.