George Kaufmann: Pacifism, Prison & Poland

George Kaufmann (1894-1963) was the remarkably talented linguist who extemporaneously translated lectures of Dr Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) from German to English for Anglo audiences. Later, he was the translator of Steiner's Koberwitz ‘Agriculture Course’ (1929). His colleague, Olive Whicher (1910-2006), has written a biography ‘George Adams: Interpreter of Rudolf Steiner’ (1977). From September 1940, he was ‘George Adams’, adopting his mother’s maiden name. During WW2 a Germanic name was a burden and all three Kaufmann siblings adopted new names (Adams, Elgin and Mann). But for Rudolf Steiner he was always George Kaufmann. This presentation considers his life in the formative Kaufmann years (before Olive Whicher’s association). George’s father was Australian born mining engineer (George von Kaufmann) and his mother British (Kate Adams). The couple moved to Eastern Europe and George was born shortly after. He attended Mill Hill boarding school in London, travelling home to Solotwina and Poland during school holidays. George studied Mathematics and Chemistry at Christ’s College, University of Cambridge (1912-1915) and was awarded an MA. During WW1, George applied as a conscientious objector but recognition was refused. He was arrested, court-martialled, and served time variously in Wormwood Scrubs Prison and Wandsworth Prison. George joined the Anthroposophy movement of Rudolf Steiner in 1916 in Britain. After the war met Steiner at the Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland (in 1919). He married Mary Fox in Berlin in 1920 and he reported on post war conditions in Poland for Quaker Relief. As a translator of Rudolf Steiner George Kaufmann was without peer. He first translated for the English Teachers Course at the Goetheanum in 1919, and subsequently at Steiner’s Summer Schools including at Penmaenmawr (1923) and Torquay (1924). George devoted his life to Steiner and Anthroposophy, and he was the leading British Anthroposophist of his generation. The prospect of the George Adams Research Centre at Sunhill, Clent sponsored by Ruskin Mill Trust is a worthy and welcome development.