About Us
theWaldorfs were originally founded by two former students of Frankfurt Waldorf School, Germany,
in 1997. They started out as an Internet-based project dedicated to presenting and discussing all
kinds of topics related to Waldorf education. A major driver of their initiative was to respond to
certain threads in public discussion and to media coverage which, at that time, were often biased
and critical towards Waldorf education. theWaldorfs wanted to counter this by giving those people a
voice who they considered to be in a position to assess this education model due to their own
experiences: Waldorf and Steiner school alumni.
From the beginning, The International List of Famous Waldorf Alumni has been one important
element of theWaldorfs’ project. It was invented to act against the kinds of prejudices that claimed,
for example, that Waldorf education does not sufficiently prepare its students for the "real
challenges of life". Very soon, the list became the center of the website’s visitors’ attention. Thus, it
was turned into the only and central focus of theWaldorfs’ website in 2005.
Today, The International List of Famous Waldorf Alumni receives visits from over 70 countries per
month and has thus turned into a kind of research project of a truly global nature. It continues to
provide Waldorf and Steiner students and alumni with pithy arguments in favor of their education
system. Moreover, it has reportedly helped new Waldorf and Steiner school foundation initiatives
convince public authorities of their eligibility for support and financial contribution.