Stanisław Karłowski: an unlikely BD pioneer, opportunity to calamity

Summary in the original language of the document

Stanisław Karłowski (1879-1939) was an unlikely pioneer of biodynamic agriculture. He was a banker and a politician. He was a Pole. He was not an Anthroposophist. He did not attend the Agriculture Course presented by Rudolf Steiner at Koberwitz in the summer of 1924. He never met Rudolf Steiner; and he did not read Steiner. Yet Stanisław Karłowski was an enthusiast for biodynamics (BD). He managed, what was at the time (the 1930s), almost certainly, the world’s largest biodynamic farm (of 1724 hectares). He was a vocal public advocate for BD. He presented his estate as a showcase for BD practices. He ran BD courses at his Szelejewo Estate, and he translated and published BD pamphlets in Polish. He joined the Experimental Circle of Anthroposophical Farmers and Gardeners in 1936. Stanisław Karłowski spoke fluent German, he had worked as a banker in Germany, and he was described a ‘Germanophile’. Germany invaded Poland, on 1 September, 1939. There was no declaration of war, and Germany was out to brutally plunder ‘living space’, at the expense of its neighbour. Nazi policy was: decapitate the Polish intelligentsia. In the public square of Gostyn (a town nearby to Szelejewo Estate), on 21 October, 1939, 30 civilians, prominent citizens of the area, including Stanisław Karłowski, were executed by firing squad by a Nazi SS Death Squad. The BD legacy of Stanisław Karłowski lives on in Juchowo Farm and Demeter-Poland.