German Union (secret society)
The German Union or Society of 22 Allied Men was a short-lived secret society in the Kingdom of Prussia in the 18th century .
The society was founded in 1783 by Karl Friedrich Bahrdt in Halle an der Saale , and after the death of the "enlightened" King Friedrich II (1712–1786), he organized and directed it by means of anonymous circulars. The aim of the federal government was to counteract the growing obscurantism and religious fanaticism under Friedrich Wilhelm II's successor . It had an organizational structure similar to that of the Illuminati Order and, like Freemasonry, divided its levels of knowledge into three degrees : the 1st degree The Young Man , the 2nd Degree The Man and the 3rd Degree The Alderman . There were numerous personal connections of the members of the German Union to Freemasonry.
When it became known in 1789 who the founder was, the Society of 22 dissolved. Bahrdt was imprisoned for a long time.
Contemporary and related publications on the German Union
- [Anonymus:] XYZ or New Information about the German Union and Scottish Masonry. A look into the inner corridor of secret societies. With Friedrich Maurer: Leipzig 1789 ( digitized version )
- Johann Joachim Christoph Bode (anonymous): More notes than text or the German Union of Twenty and Twenties of a new secret order for the good of mankind. From a packet of found papers put on public display by an honest bookseller. Bey Georg Joachim Göschen: Leipzig 1789 ( digitized version )
- [Christian Friedrich Gottlob Kühne:] The last trains of the German Union, or: the imprisoned doctor, a dramatic painting . Barthsruhe [recte: Wittenberg] 1789 ( digitized version )
- Carl Friedrich Bahrdt: History and diary of my prison along with secret documents and information about the German Union . Varrentrapp and Wenner: Frankfurt a. M. 1790 ( digitized version )
- August von Kotzebue : Doctor Bahrdt with the iron forehead or the German Union against Zimmermann. A play in four acts by Freyherrn von Knigge. Leipzig 1790 ( digitized version )
- Degenhard Pott: Pragmatic history and final disclosure of the German Union or the twenties and twenties. Developed from their documents, together with the most excellent correspondence from them. Weygand: Leipzig 1798 (= letters from respected scholars, statesmen, and others to the famous martyr D. Karl Friedrich Bahrdt since his departure from Leipzig in 1769 until his captivity in 1789, together with other documents. 5th part) ( digitized version )
- Leopold Alois Hoffmann: Record-based representation of the German Union and its connection with the Illuminati Freemasons and Rosenkreutzer Order. A necessary appendix to the necessary recollections at the right time. Christoph Peter Röhm: Vienna 1796. ( digitized version ) - An anti-enlightenment and denunciatory work; contains unverified lists of alleged sites and members.
- [August Siegfried von Goué:] The whole of all secret religious connections. A book for instruction and warning for the uninitiated and for overview for friars. Drawn from real sources and the best writings by a friend of human ennoblement. Gräff: Leipzig 1805, pp. 306–328 ( digitized version )
literature
- The German Union of the XXII. In: Eugen Lennhoff / Oskar Posner / Dieter A. Binder: International Freemasons Lexicon . FA Herbig: Munich 2006, p. 218
- The German Union. Radical Late Enlightenment, Freemasonry and Illuminatism on the eve of the French Revolution. In: Agatha Kobuch: History of the German People. Contributions to archival science and historical research. Reiner Groß / Manfred Kobuch: Leipzig, 1977, p. 277
Web links
German Union in the Freemasons Wiki