Holiday camp at the castle: education or right-wing ideology?

Holiday camp at the castle: education or right-wing ideology?

In the picturesque Görlitz, more precisely at Ober-Neundorf Castle, an educational leisure time for children and young people between the ages of 9 and 17 will take place in the coming weeks. The event costs 350 euros for one week and is dedicated to imparting “humanistic education” and giving participants moving holiday experiences. The aim is to create a connection between body, soul and spirit. But appearances are deceptive: the castle is a center of the controversial Anastasia movement, which was classified as a suspected right-wing extremist case in 2023. This raises questions as to whether the holiday camp is actually apolitical, although co-leader Ferdinand P. emphasizes that no political or ideological agenda should be pursued, as can be read on Endstation Rechts.

The Anastasia movement has its roots in Russia and is based on a series of novels that are not only characterized by anti-democratic and anti-Semitic stereotypes, but also propagate a utopia of rural life. In this idealized world, people's happiness is achieved through natural roots in the earth, as MMZ Potsdam describes. The aim of the books and the associated movement is to retreat into self-sufficient communities, often referred to as “family estates”. These efforts are not without ideological connections to right-wing extremist groups, which Matthias Pöhlmann, an expert on sect issues, considers worrying.

Learn creatively and holistically

The “School at the Castle Summer Week” program includes a wide range of activities, including calligraphy, poetry, mathematics, crafts, theater and sport. These approaches make use of the controversial Shetinin pedagogy, which aims at “natural learning” and the existence of “primal cosmic knowledge” in children. Co-director Ferdinand P. also brings his experience from the Tekos school, which applies these pedagogical principles. On an esoteric blog and his YouTube channel, P. also comments on various conspiracy theories, including the “Big Bang Lie”.

The event will be led together with Elisa L., a Waldorf teacher who has extensive experience in education. Both emphasize the relevance of holistic educational approaches and seem to have good access to the participants, but the connections to the Anastasia movement remain to be viewed critically.

The role of the Anastasia movement

The Anastasia movement is quite heterogeneous in Germany and finds a connection to alternative, esoteric and ecological groups. There are now settlement projects in Brandenburg that want to put the ideas from the novels into practice. However, these efforts are not free from ideological connections to ethnic movements of the past, which does not necessarily make the movement easier to perceive. What is particularly striking here is the fact that some of the projects in Brandenburg have been criticized because they have connections to right-wing extremism.

Wlada Ruggle, a well-known supporter of the Anastasia movement, is a regular guest at folklore events, and Mänken, an anthroposophist, combines anthroposophical and Anastasia ideas in her books. She appears as a speaker at the anthroposophical center Goetheanum. The spread of such views has not only local but also international relevance and should not be trivialized in the context of a more critical discussion.