He was a spiritual man who was interested in building community that emphasised compassion and an understanding that everyone, no matter their physical or mental limitations, had an underlying spirit.
Dr. Karl König (1902-1966) was an Austrian paediatrician who was a follower of Anthroposophist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925).
This underlying spirit meant that each person should be treated with equal dignity and respect. He worked with people with additional support needs and was interested in setting up a curative, therapeutic community that would allow each person to reach their full potential. In 1938 König and a group of Austrian refugees fled Austria and the Nazis to find safety in the North East of Scotland. Here the Camphill Rudolf Steiner School was established to care for children with additional support needs and subsequently the Camphill movement was born.
Traditionally, in these communities volunteer co-workers live alongside the children, sharing daily life and tasks and attuning to each child’s individual needs. Therapy and creative expression were encouraged and the children were put at the centre of community life. This was revolutionary at the time. People with additional support needs were usually seen as a ‘problem’ that needed to be hidden away from society in asylums or hospitals. In these places the ‘patients’ were seen as very separate from their carers.
Camphill aimed to erase this separation and create a more holistic and therapeutic environment www.karlkoeniginstitute.org
From this small beginning the Camphill movement has grown over the decades and is now a worldwide movement with 119 communities in 27 countries.
To learn more about the Camphill movement visit
