Mon, 13 Aug 2007

German Association of Waldorf Schools threatens legal action against far-right activist

STUTTGART (NNA) - The German Association of Waldorf Schools in Stuttgart has threatened the former Waldorf teacher and official of the far-right German National Democratic Party (NPD), Andreas Molau, with legal action if he fails to remove his announcement on the NPD website that he intends to open a “Waldorf” education centre.

The name “Waldorf school” was legally protected and the Association would “most certainly not grant an institution which was associated in any form with extremist right-wing ideas the right to use the name," a statement from the Association of Waldorf Schools says.

Such ideas stood in fundamental contradiction to Waldorf education.

The Association was responding to the news that Molau has acquired a property in the German state of Brandenburg with the aim of starting an education centre.

Molau was a teacher at the Brunswick Waldorf School in Lower Saxony until he was sacked in 2004 when his connections to the NPD became known.

According to a report on the ARD television Tageschau news website, Molau additionally intended to show „the connection between the nationalist NPD ideology and the teachings of the founder of anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner“ in connection with the establishment of the education centre.

Molau heads the NPD list for the next year’s state elections in Lower Saxony, the Tageschau website said. He is responsible for education in the NPD state executive.

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Item: 070813-01EN Date: 13 August 2007

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