Who was Kaspar Hauser and where did he come from? Why was his childhood spent in a prison cell? Was he related to nobility, royalty or even Napoleon, as some have suggested?
From his initial appearance on the streets of Nuremberg in 1828 to his disturbing murder only five years later, the enigmatic story of Kaspar Hauser has stirred feelings of love and admiration in countless people. He has been celebrated as the subject of films and plays, popular books and academic studies, yet even today--nearly two hundred years after his death--he continues to arouse opposition and hatred from his detractors, who dismiss him as an opportunist and a fraud.
In this first English-language edition of the classic text--the original, comprehensive attempt to illumine the mysterious life of Kaspar Hauser from a spiritual-scientific, anthroposophic perspective--historian Karl Heyer gathers the basic facts of the life and death of the "Child of Europe" and explores his remarkable abilities and character. With admirable clarity, he studies Hauser's fate in connection with the mission and destiny of Central Europe, focusing mainly on the roles of the House of Baden and key political actors such as Napoleon and Otto von Bismarck. His original research leads to shocking conclusions that have significant consequences for Europe's future.
Karl Heyer was initially drawn to the subject of Kaspar Hauser through a private conversation with Rudolf Steiner. That seed matured forty years later as intensive research and the first publication of this book in German in 1958. "For me," says Heyer, "it represented the high point of my writing and a kind of crowning of my life's work."