Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy
On Monday, February . 26, relatives and friends of en met to pay their final respects to one of Dartth's most teachers and scholars. Born on July 6,1888 Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy died at the age of 84 his home. Four Wells, in Norwich, early in the morn0f February 24. At the simple, moving service in the Congregational church in Norwich, his former pastor and friend, Loren House, quoted one biographer's attempt to estimate the quality of Rosenstock-Huessy's life "We should not, therefore, presume to circumscribe by means of a trite formula that unity of the tasks and themes, in all their variety, to which he has applied his extraordinary energies. One who tries to compress the life work of a man into a single principle, a single thought, or a fixed goal, strangles him.. Something completely different from such deadly abstractions is required when we try to name the source of Rosenstock-Huessy's insights, his strength of constant renewal, the power to be true to his own. That'source is the word of God become flesh in Christ.
The German author of this statement, Kurt Ballerstedt, asked in this same essay whether one "Should ... insist on speaking of a 'Rosenstock-school'? The natural feeling of belonging of all those who have been fortunate enough to come into close touch with this true teacher would justify that. But we must still not forget that the founding of a doctrinal school could never be the intention of Rosenstock-Huessy. In fact, relatively few of his students have chosen scholarly careers."
While it is true that no "Rosenstock-school" exists, there is, however, an international Rosenstock-Huessy Society consisting of people of all ages from widely diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and national identities.
Subsequent to his appointment at Dartmouth in 1935 as Professor of Social Philosophy, he had a profound influence on the lives of countless young men and women in ways that but few human beings are capable of. While most of us can look back and identify outstanding teachers and scholars, few have been exposed to persons who effectively succeeded in sharing with young people radically new ways of understanding history, their personal lives, and matters of the Spirit.
It is equally intriguing that few of those who were touched in the classroom by the beauty and the richness of this man realized that we were being exposed, as he described it, to one of his "nine lives of the cat" - a phrase from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. How many of us, as undergraduates, were aware of his "other lives"; for example, that at age 23 he was a Professor of Medieval Constitutional Law at Leipzig, that he served as a lieutenant in the German Army on the front during the battle of Verdun-in World War I; or that, in 1913, after an intensive conversation with the young historian and skeptic, Franz Rosenzweig, the latter, moved by this encounter, decided first to become a Christian and, subsequently, became one of the most distinguished Jewish intellectuals of the 20th century. Of Rosenstock-Huessy's continued influence and their subsequent correspondence on 'Judaism and Christianity," published in German and English, Rosenzweig declared that his Star of Redemption would not have been possible had he not been exposed to the "speech-thinking" and the concern for Time, Revelation, History, Calendars, Holidays, and Names which permeate Rosenstock-Huessy's writings. Nor were many of us who sat in his classes aware of his involvement in labor camps and, through these, of his influence on the lives of many young Germans who actively resisted and in some instances were executed for their role in the.German resistance to Hitler. This applies particularly to the Kreisau group, its leader, Helmuth James von Moltke, and Horst von Einsiedel, and Carl Dietrich von Rosenstock-Huessy's name was mentioned frequently during this period and it is partly for this reason that the twin sister of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Mrs. a Sabine Leibhoiz. wrote an article entitled, "Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy and Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Two messes to the Change in our Time."
How manyof us were aware during our undergraduate days of imPlicattinons of his interest in labor camps where student' worker, scholar, engineer, and farmer could explore together purposeful and creative possibilities for communal or political existence; or, for example, that prior to the outbreak of World War II President Roosevelt invited Rosenstock-Huessy to head up a Leadership Training Center in Tunbridge, Vermont, for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Camp William James, as it was called, was for many young Dartmouth and Harvard students an experience that shaped irrevocably the quality and direction of their lives; many regard his leadership and preoccupation with these problems as providing the inspiration for the Peace Corps.
The author of more than twenty original works and countless articles and essays, he received honorary degrees from the University of Munster, Cologne, and the University of California at Santa Cruz where his visits, subsequent to his retirement, helped define and shape the climate, not only of Cowell College, but of the entire Santa Cruz community.
In 1970, my friend and classmate, Ed Lathem, and President Kemeny invited Eugen to permit Dartmouth to become the permanent custodian of his papers, tapes, and manuscripts. A simple ceremony celebrating the event was held at Baker Library on the occasion of his 82nd birthday, July 6, 1970.
And lastly, there was that side of him known better to his friends and residents of Norwich who, although perhaps unaware of his preeminence as teacher and scholar, knew him as conservationist and dedicated layman in his local church. He was a familiar sight to Norwich residents in his dark green Swiss army jacket that he wore constantly and often was sprinkled with bits of hay from the barn. A founding member of the Happy Hill Riding Club, he helped to develop an extensive network of horseback trails. An even smaller circle of acquaintances knew that after his afternoon lecture he would buy the newspaper, pick up his mail at the post office, and then indulge himself in any one of his favorite pastimes - horseback riding, playing chess, or attempting to satisfy his insatiable love for ice cream.
But the meanings and memories associated with Four Wells and Rosenstock-Huessy are incomplete without mention of the pillar of strength and love provided by his wife, Margrit, a most wonderful person, who died in 1959. The void left with her passing was filled fortunately when the widow of Helmuth James von Moltke, Freya, offered to care for Rosenstock-Huessy and help perpetuate those concerns and causes which many of us identify with Four Wells.
The funeral service was an adaptation of the one he helped prepare for Margrit some fourteen years ago. The simple pine coffin was carried from the church by six of Eugen's eleven grandchildren, followed by his son, Hans '42, a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Vermont Medical School, who, together with family and friends, filled the grave with earth at the Norwich cemetery.
Of the many remarks and insights attributed to Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, four stand out as particularly memorable. The first two are from his book, Out ofRevolution, where he proposed a' sequel to Michelangelo's painting of God creating Adam in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. God, in- the upper right-hand corner, is shown creating Adam, reclining naked and helpless in the lower left-hand corner. Eugen suggested that in the beginning all of God's angels were on God's side, contained in the folds of His robe. He then added that "we might conceive of a pendant to this picture; the end of creation, in which all the spirits that had accompanied the Creator should have left him and descended to man, keeping, strengthening, enlarging his being into the divine. In this picture God would be alone, while Adam would have all the Elohim around him as his companions."
The second quotation consists of a description of the human task repeatedly before us and all our children: "We postwar thinkers are less concerned with the revealed character of the true God or the true character of nature than with the survival of a truly human society. In asking for a truly human society we put the question of truth once more, but our specific endeavor is the living realization of truth in mankind ...truth is vital and must be socially represented - Respondeo etsi mutabor (I respond although I will be changed)." The third remark is taken from his work. The Christian Future: "I believe that in the future. Church and Creed can be given a new lease on life only by services that are nameless and incognito...each generation has to act differently precise- ly in order to represent the same thing."
As a concluding and perhaps appropriate attribute, I will simply mention that for me one of his most memorable lectures was one devoted to the theme that "Man is but a moment in Time."
