Homeopathy, Rabbit Plagues, and Nazi Germany

Is anyone facing a rabbit plague? Maybe homeopathy can help.

On website Sue Young Histories, tucked amongst other fascinating information on what happened with homeopathy during Nazi Germany, we find the following:

“In 1924, Rudolf Steiner prepared a homeopathic remedy from a dead male rabbit to remove a plague of rabbits from the estate of Count Keyserling in Silesia. Within three days, all of the rabbits on the estate had fled towards the distant wastelands and marshes and rabbits were rarely seen on the estate for years to come.”

Does this mean that other potentised pests and vermin will always remove a plague of that same pest? Or that potentised rabbit will always remove a rabbit plague?

Sadly, no – it’s not as simple as that. Let’s find out why.

Clinical experience shows that potentised “causes” don’t automatically provide a reliable or routine form of treatment for the problems they cause.

For example, even though potentised snail will deter snails from vegetable gardens, potentised aphid will not deter an aphid plague; the effective remedy for that is potentised ladybird (Coccinella), the natural predator of the aphid.

The same is true for other pests and vermin; sometimes the effective remedy is the potentised pest, sometimes the potentised predator, and sometimes, a different remedy altogether.

A positive result depends on a symptom-similarity relationship between the problem being treated and the treatment remedy. If a relationship is present, an effect will be seen; if it is missing, nothing will happen – and this is the crux of homeopathy.

In our bunny example, while potentised rabbit worked for Count Keyserling, it may not automatically work in different environments, different rabbit populations and under different circumstances because of changes in any symptom-similarity relationship.

Still, if you are desperate, it is worth a try and the odds are in your favor.

So, what’s the connection between rabbit plagues, homeopathy, and Nazi Germany, the start of our story? For that you will have to visit Sue Young’s to read about Fritz Donner, a German homeopath who had a difficult role to play in Nazi Germany.

More Information: Fritz Donner 1896 – 1979