"Here lies Kaspar Hauser, riddle of his time. His birth was unknown, his death mysterious." (Inscription on Kaspar Hauser's tombstone.)

In 1828 a teenage boy was discovered on the streets of Nuremberg. Barely able to walk, he clutched a letter in his hand. This youth, Kaspar Hauser, who couldn't properly speak or write, was soon to become an international phenomenon known as "the Child of Europe".

The story of Kaspar Hauser presents many mysteries. According to his account, the young boy spent most of his life confined in a darkened space. Unable to stand up, and with no knowledge of his captors, he was fed a diet of bread and water. Eventually released from this macabre prison, he survived an assassination attempt only to be stabbed to death in 1833.

Why was a child kept in such squalid circumstances? Who were his parents? Who was responsible for such a cruel attack on childhood? Who murdered him? In this seminal work Peter Tradowsky addresses these questions through the insights of anthroposophy. His analysis reveals some of the secrets of Kaspar Hauser's short life, and the occult significance of his incarnation, spiritual nature and individuality.

PETER TRADOWSKY, born in Berlin in 1934, taught at the Rudolf Steiner school in Berlin and co-founded its Waldorf Teacher Training course. He initiated the building of Berlin's Rudolf Steiner Haus in 1983, and was a key member of the Arbeitszentrum (study centre) for 21 years until 2005. He is a frequent lecturer and the author of many books, including Christ and Antichrist and The Stigmata.