Secret society

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Secret societies , secret societies or arcane societies (derived from the Latin arcanum "secret") are organizations or associations that keep their members, their goals or their activities secret from their social environment . They differ from one another in terms of origin, organizational form and orientation. What all secret societies have in common is the possession of “secrets” that characterize them, which may not be disclosed to any outsider, and the pursuit of various interests that may be motivated by educational , esoteric , political or criminal goals.

The secrecy can extend to all or only some of the aspects that concern them, such as names and number of members, the hierarchical structure, intentions and goals, activities, meeting places, rites of admission and passage, beliefs, documents and a mostly symbolic secret language. Since the 19th century, political, mostly militant secret societies and terrorist underground and partisan movements of the most varied of aims with methods ranging up to terror and murder emerged.

Secret societies are also widely the subject of social imaginations in conspiracy theories and pop culture .

term

An essential criterion of secret societies is a strong isolation in goals, structures and activities from the social environment. Secret societies are not limited to specific time periods, regions or cultures. They often represent or represent content and goals that contradict or oppose the socio-political norms of the respective time in a respective country. These included revolutionary , and in modern times also democratic , socialist , communist and anarchist associations.

Thereby the political, purely worldly aims, exoteric teachings spreading secret societies are to be differentiated from the esoteric secret societies, which spread traditional, devised or under "divine influence" of an "enlightened one" proclaimed teachings.

Secrecy and hierarchy

Nondisclosure can relate, for example, to the number and names of members, the goals and intentions pursued, activities, meeting places, rites and documents. It is not primarily the association itself that is secret, but the knowledge it has kept secret. There are leagues and groups with a hierarchically staggered initiation structure and certain admission and passage rites, in which often only the initiation contents within the "higher" degrees are kept secret, sometimes because they are misunderstood or, like the sex-magical teachings and rituals of some neo-magical orders, might seem objectionable. In other secret societies, secrecy serves as protection from others if, for example, the members have to fear disadvantages if their membership becomes known; it can also protect against profanation , i.e. the desecration of rituals or symbols that appear pathetic or ridiculous to outsiders.

According to the German-American political theorist Hannah Arendt , the gradual initiation of members into the secret and the associated steep hierarchy have secret societies in common with totalitarian movements that would not protect a secret, but their irrational core from the intrusion of reason . Arendt speaks of the "onion structure" of such groups: According to this, there is always an inner leadership group, the cadres , around them the normal members of the party and its affiliated organizations, and around them the sympathizers of the movement.

Origins

Secret societies as organized bearers of secret teachings are as old as human culture. Cultic secret societies and mystery cults already existed in pre-Christian times , which tried to establish contact with numinous beings through myths, masquerades, secret rites and cult celebrations. The obligation to keep cult customs secret also existed in early Christianity . In late antiquity , for example, baptism and the confession of baptism, the custom of the Lord's Supper and the Our Father were kept secret from the unbaptized. However, there was no generally accepted definition of the scope of the duty of confidentiality, and no criminal provisions are known in the event of a violation.

Historically, today's secret societies of western or Christian cultures sometimes refer to the Grail Knights , the Templars , the Freemasons , the Rosicrucians or the Illuminati Order . There are also secret Christian lay fraternities with limited vows such as Opus Dei or the Order of the Golden Fleece . Some secret societies of the 18th century took concepts of neo-Platonism of the Renaissance , especially that of a stepped rise to knowledge.

Projections

It also happens that a certain group, which in truth appears openly and whose goals are well known, is assumed to be a secret society that secretly pursues completely different goals. These groups are often the subject of conspiracy theories that are embellished with considerable imaginative effort . The objects of such projections were or are, for example, the Freemasons , the Jesuits , Opus Dei, the Jews and partly Scientology . This subheading also includes entirely fictional groups, some of which were believed to exist, such as witches , and some society is aware that these are pure imaginations, such as vampires or the SPECTER organization from the James Bond films . According to the religious scholar Marco Frenschkowski , stories about such secret societies represent "a fear of modernity that the manageable, rationally ordered (possibly - in the recent past - democratically responsible) society could only be a mask for other power relations".

"Secret doctrines" and secret knowledge

In the case of secret societies as carriers of a "secret doctrine" one generally speaks of an esoteric doctrine that is known and accessible only to a few in an inner circle. The betrayal of esoteric secret knowledge was punished very differently in earlier times, depending on the external position of power of the secret society concerned. Today it is safe to acquire the knowledge of a secret society, and a betrayal of secrets only results in an outwardly ineffective moral condemnation by the "betrayed" community. The knowledge of the current secret societies can often be acquired through appropriate material services, whereby the term "secret" was largely misused as a lure for speculative and commercial machinations.

In profane secret knowledge is secrets that should not be disclosed to another. Unjustified communications about it are considered dishonorable and treasonous. Profane secrets usually belong to the concerns of political secret societies.

Secret societies past and present

18th century: emergence of enlightenment and counter-enlightenment secret societies

In the age of the Enlightenment , in the course of the “structural change of the public” ( Jürgen Habermas ) a lively association life developed beyond the premodern forms of socialization of court and church , which took place in the form of secret societies. The main reason for the widespread arcane practice is the repression of the absolutist state , which suspected all meetings in which equality transcending estates society and freedom of expression that disregard the state's monopoly on interpretation were practiced. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote in 1793 that states always have an element of obedience and one of freedom that rationally justifies the claim to obedience . Its absence (for example in absolutism) is "the causal cause of all secret societies". According to Reinhart Koselleck , the separation of private and “statistic” areas of life, that is, areas of life subject to state control, which spread in the 18th century, is constitutive for the emergence of the secret. The tension between the Enlightenment, which aims to bring all knowledge to the public and make it open to criticism, and the secrecy that sought to protect this knowledge and this criticism from being attacked by the state, is "already at the root of the absolutist state".

Freemasons

The Masonic lodges emerged in the early 18th century England; since 1737 they have also been widespread in Germany. These are civil associations in which the esoteric symbolism of a mystery cult and a strict hierarchy of at least three, but in the 18th century also of up to 60 degrees, are combined with a democratic practice and a fundamental equality of all members, who are mutually exclusive Denote brothers. In addition, there is a humanistic cosmopolitan ethic and the claim to work on the perfection of oneself and the world. Political discussions are traditionally forbidden, but the secret operation of the lodges and the duty of secrecy made it possible to raise sensitive topics at the social gatherings that followed the cult activities in the 18th century. Despite their substitute religious obscurantism and the duty of obedience to "Unknown Superiors", which were widespread until the end of the Strict Observance in 1782, the Freemasons of the 18th century are considered to have spread a bourgeois enlightenment mentality. Masonic secret societies also played a considerable role in politics and became a decisive element of the Enlightenment and political reorganization in Europe in the second half of the 18th century. Many Freemasons were involved in the struggle for the rights of the bourgeoisie against the state and sympathized with the ideals of the French Revolution. Although research calls the Brotherhood of Freemasons a secret society because they want to keep a secret, today's Freemasons reject this designation in order to counter attacks, accusations or conspiracies. The pledge to maintain secrecy is interpreted in Freemasonry as an important educational tool. The ritual texts, the means of recognition conveyed in the initiation rituals (words, handles and signs) and the special circumstances of the initiations are subject to secrecy.

Strict observance

The Strict Observance was an elitist high-grade system within Freemasonry that existed from 1751 to 1782 , which was based on the imperative of unconditional obedience to supposedly "unknown superiors" and took the unprovable view that Freemasonry actually goes back to the Templar tradition . Soon up to a third of the active German Freemasons and neighboring countries believed they were in this direction. The Strict Observance was involved in making political and economic intrigues, quasi-military organized and took place of the Enlightenment, the restorative and elitist part stands political interests.

Illuminati Order

The Illuminati Order was the first modern, conspiratorial secret society with clearly defined political goals. It was founded in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt and was a radical Enlightenment offshoot of political Freemasonry. Weishaupt assumed a conspiracy by former Jesuits and Rosicrucians against the Enlightenment. The secret society clearly distinguished itself from the Rosicrucian "infiltration" of the Masonic lodges and had nothing to do with illuminism or Christian mystics.

In its cosmopolitan-republican orientation, the order aimed at a radical political implementation of the rationalist French Enlightenment philosophy and followed the vision of a political order without private property and without authorities such as kings and priests. Ultimately anarchist -oriented, the Order wanted to be strictly hierarchical squad its goals through the tactic of " march through the institutions reach" of the state to take him and make redundant. Under the Freemason Knigge , who joined in 1780, the order was reorganized and its activities expanded to include northern and western Germany and other European countries. However, it did not find any appreciation among moderate Freemasons or politicians. Mutual denunciations led to a ban on the 1400 member order by the Bavarian Elector Karl Theodor on June 22, 1784 . A continuation of the order beyond 1785 and an effectiveness up to the present, as they are asserted in numerous conspiracy theories , are to be referred to the realm of myth .

Order of the Gold and Rosicrucians

The Order of the Gold and Rosicrucians was the first modern esoteric secret society. The Gold and Rosicrucians were anti-Enlightenment orientated, probably originated in 1757 and dealt with Kabbalistic , spiritualism and esotericism. They placed themselves in the tradition of an order which, according to the works of the (probably legendary) Christian Rosencreutz , is said to have existed in the late Middle Ages, but there is no continuity here. The Order of the Gold and Rosicrucians was the first actually existing religious union that bore the name Rosicrucian . The order, rooted in the history of ideas in German high-level freemasonry, was particularly successful in Protestant northern Germany and gained considerable influence in German Freemasonry in the 1780s, where it appeared as a staunch opponent of the Illuminati. The order reached the climax of its political influence in Prussia, when the then heir to the throne and later King Friedrich Wilhelm II became a member at the influence of the ministers Johann Wöllner and Bischhoffswerder . After Wöllner took up the post of Minister of Spiritual Affairs in 1788, he exerted direct political influence as Chief Director of the Gold and Rosicrucians, something that was expressed in the religious edict of July 1788. As more and more members reached the upper grades and the miraculous powers promised to them through inappropriate propaganda failed to materialize, disappointment spread. With the change of the order's purposes from a mystical to a political secret society and the overemphasis on alchemy , which is increasingly recognized as outdated , the order slid deeper and deeper into the crisis. In Prussia, the order temporarily gained influence and was used to combat enlightenment and revolutionary endeavors. In 1800 it was banned in Prussia.

19th century: marriage of the political secret societies

After the victory over Napoleon, the Bourbons were reinstated in Italy, Spain and France, and they turned large sections of the population against them because they gradually curtailed civil rights and freedom of the press and expression. The obstruction and prohibition of political opinion-forming processes led to the politicization of the secret societies, the aim of which was to achieve equality. Since the 1890s, a movement has formed in France that has produced a vast number of secret societies devoted to political goals, the organizational icon of which was Filippo Buonarroti , who lived in exile in Paris . The period from the French Revolution to the formation of regular political parties in the second half of the 19th century is considered the heyday of secret political societies. Politics was already understood as something that could be shaped by people, but at the same time political efforts aimed at changing the prevailing regime were suppressed. As a result, political opposition movements were forced to organize themselves conspiratorially , which in turn made the rulers fear of secret political societies. Not only conspiracies these years were rich, but also in conspiracy theories, such as about the alleged continuation of a generation older Illuminati.

Conspiracy of equals

The secret society Conspiracy of Equals sought an overthrow in France in 1795 in order to redistribute social wealth in favor of the lower classes. Buonarroti spread the ideas of this conspiracy and, above all, how it was organized, and became very influential in various secret societies of the Restoration period and the Risorgimento , such as the Giovine Italia and the Carbonari .

Carbonari and Les Amis de la Vérité

After the Italian secret society of the Carbonari had enforced a constitution against the Bourbon Ferdinand I , there were also the first public protests against the Bourbons in France. The secret organization Les Amis de la Vérité ( Friends of Truth ) gave the impetus . After the assassination of the French heir to the throne, the Duke of Berry , some members of the secret society were arrested, others went into hiding or went to Italy to support the Carbonari.

German Confederation and Association of Communists

In Germany in 1810, under the leadership of Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, a "German Confederation" was formed, a short-lived secret society that aimed to liberate the German states from Napoleonic occupation. The political secret society Young Germany was founded in Bern in April 1834 by five Germans, including the publicist Carl Theodor Barth . The Communist League was founded in London in 1847 as a secret society. It was a revolutionary-socialist association with international aspirations, existed until 1852 and is considered to be the nucleus of the later socialist and communist parties in the world and as the forerunner organization of the 'International Workers Association' (IAA) (also inspired by Marx and Engels in 1864), today often " first international “of the labor movement.

Political secret societies in the 20th century

Black hand

The Black Hand , also called "Ujedinjenje ili Smrt" (unification or death), was a nationalist Serbian secret society, the origins of which go back to circles in the Serbian officer corps and which also fought with terrorist means for the unification of all Serbs in a nation-state of Greater Serbia Objective to unite Bosnia and Herzegovina with Serbia . Members of the Black Hand and its predecessor organization have included in the assassination of Serbian King Aleksandar Obrenovic and his wife as well as the assassination in Sarajevo involved that the July crisis triggered which finally led to World War I led.

In the troubled political climate of Europe, the Repeal Club , which has been active since 1844, met in Prague on March 11, 1848 (a secret society based on the Irish model, which was based on the liberation struggle of the Irish against the English) to let the population step out of their passivity.

Thule Society

The völkisch-racist Thule Society emerged in Munich in 1918, at the end of the First World War, from the German secret society Teutonic Order founded in 1912 . This ariosophy inspired, lie-like political secret society, which derived its name from the mythical north island Thule , functioned as the umbrella organization of pan-German, patriotic and ethnic Munich associations and, under the leadership of Sebottendorf , carried out mainly anti-Semitic propaganda. Outwardly, it appeared as a “study group for Germanic antiquity”, while internally it became a refuge of curious, occult, right-wing extremist ideas and cultivated racist, anti-Semitic thoughts and runic mysticism . Julius Streicher , Hans Frank , Alfred Rosenberg and Rudolf Hess , who later became important in the NSDAP , were among the roughly 1,500 members who had ties to large parts of Bavarian society . The Thule Society also had political influence through the German Workers' Party .

Propaganda Due (P2)

The Propaganda Due was originally an Italian irregular Masonic lodge operating from 1877 to 1981. In the 1970s, under the leadership of Licio Gelli , the P2 was misused to camouflage a secret political organization . After the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano after a loss of 1.4 billion US dollars, for which the P2 was largely responsible, the lodge was exposed. Membership lists with over 900 names and plans to change the Italian constitution, suppress the trade unions and bring the media into line were discovered in Gelli's house . The military, parliamentarians, industrialists, several ministers (including the later Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ), 19 judges and 58 university professors were involved in the P2 conspiracy . Judicial investigations came to the conclusion that the secret society had planned a coup . The central management staff of the Italian secret services were dismissed as part of the conspiratorial P2 network. The P2 was dissolved and banned in 1982.

Modern esoteric secret societies

The German-speaking part of Central Europe formed the breeding ground for various occult underground movements that were careful not to attract much attention. These included several secret societies from the 17th to the 19th century that dealt with the teachings of the Rosicrucians, theosophy and alchemy . Since the early 20th century, some of these new religious secret societies have also been received in the right-wing extremist milieu, with which ideological and personal intersections exist. The historian Helmut Reinalter counts among them the Rosicrucians, Aryan circles, theosophical and anthroposophical societies and the Thule Society .

Golden Dawn

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (GD) was a secret society founded in 1888 by members of the English Grand Lodge and the SRIA , which briefly had considerable cultural significance. The GD made ceremonial magic socially acceptable. Through advertising in the magazine Lucifer , 150 members joined by 1892 who wanted to penetrate the practice of magic for the purpose of transformation in order to prepare for the immortality offered . For this purpose, the secret inner order Ordo Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis was founded, in which the practical-magical element was central. As part of the initiation rituals , the members had to prove knowledge of alchemical, astrological, cabalistic, Rosicrucian traditions. Elaborate meditation techniques were combined with symbol traditions in order to gain access to the unconscious in transcendent states . From 1891 magical group rituals were practiced. Crowley joined in 1898, but was denied entry into the Inner Order. The prominent member William Butler Yeats switched to the spiritualist offshoot Stella Matutina after the following disputes, which led to the collapse of the order .

Ordo Templi Orientis

The Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) was founded around 1896, the system of which Carl Kellner developed. Between 1896 and 1904 Kellner began working with Franz Hartmann , Heinrich Klein and Theodor Reuss, who were in contact with the progressive-utopian underground colony of Monte Verità in Switzerland. After the re-establishment, authorized by Reuss in 1912, the OTO also became better known. According to § 4 of the “Manifesto of the OTO”, Hermetic Science or Hidden Knowledge was taught. The secret of the OTO is the practice of sexual magic and sexual mysticism. The OTO was reorganized from 1922 onwards by Aleister Crowley, who was appointed by Reuss as his successor .

World Alliance of Illuminati

Theodor Reuss founded an "Illuminati Order" (IO) at the end of the 19th century in order to tie in with the "modern" Rosicrucianism to the radical Enlightenment order of the 18th century. Reuss either did not understand or ignored the ideological contradiction between Weishaupt's Illuminati and Reuss' Rosicrucianism and Illuminism. In order to legitimize the founding of the order, Reuss referred to a patent in his possession, which allegedly came from a high degree mason in the 18th degree of the Memphis rite or in the 46th degree of the Misraim rite named Louis Gabriel. November 1786 personally from Adam Weishaupt in Regensburg. According to this patent, the respective owner is authorized to establish "Scottish lodges". Leopold Engel joined the IO on November 9, 1896 and wrote its “history”. Shortly afterwards there was a falling out with Reuss because he questioned the authenticity of Lebauche's patent. Engel therefore initially founded his own IO in 1897, which, however, temporarily reunited with the IO Reuss-style from 1899 to 1901. When Engel dubbed Reuss' assertions about his legitimacy to found the order as a hoax, the two orders were finally separated on July 3, 1901.

The curriculum and organizational structure were newly developed by Engel. Leading members were Franz Hartmann , Arnold Krumm-Heller , Julius Meyer , Herbert Fritsche , Karl Germer and others. Engels IO was deleted from the Dresden register of associations in 1924. In 1927 he tried a comeback with the "World Alliance of Illuminati" . In 1936 the order was banned by the National Socialists. After the Second World War, a new establishment took place in Zurich under the name “World Association of Illuminati”, which also operated under the names OTO , GKK , Kompturei Thelema and Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua .

Rosicrucians

“The Rosicrucians” went down in history as a secret society, but never existed and are a literary fiction of two political program writings ( Fama and Confessio ) and a fictional allegory ( Chymical Wedding ). From the 18th century several "Rosicrucian" movements developed, each interpreting the manifestos of the Rosicrucians in their own way. The active, secretly organized groups of the present, structured with a more or less pronounced arcane discipline, are very inclined to form legends with regard to their alleged lineages, whereby poetry and truth are so inextricably linked that their reality criteria changed by esoteric perspectives make the presentation and determination of historical facts difficult . In 1907 , after receiving a charter from the OTO , Rudolf Steiner developed a Rosicrucianism that claimed to be an esoteric version of Christianity. Steiner took the view that the fictional character Christian Rosencreutz existed in person and, as the great master of his hidden brotherhood, sent his favorite student Buddha to Mars , where he revived the planet, just as Christ did with the earth. Max Heindel took part in Steiner's secret lectures and founded the Rosicrucian Fellowship in 1909 . Thereupon Steiner accused him of plagiarism, who, as his secretary, broke his oath to Steiner's Esoteric Section. The AMORC was created in 1915 . The Lectorium Rosicrucianum embodies a Gnostic trend .

Criminal secret societies

The criminal and political secret societies with different aims include the Carbonari , the Charbonnerie , the Kalderari, the Spanish Comuneros, the Irish Fenians, the Irish Republican Brotherhood , the Chinese Boxers , the Ku Klux Klan , the Triads, Yakuza, Mafia, Camorra and the Propaganda Due . At this end of the scale, the transition to terrorist groups is fluid.

Thuggee

The Thuggee were a caste of predatory murderers organized in India since the 12th century . The brotherhood of murderers and muggers, religiously motivated by the worship of the bloodthirsty goddess Kali, was broken up in the 1830s and 1840s by the British colonial power . The number of murders committed by the Thuggee has not yet been matched by any other criminal group. In the course of its centuries of history, casualties between 50,000 and two million ( Guinness Book of Records ) are assumed.

mafia

The Mafia is originally a secret society with roots in 19th century Sicily, which is now also known as Cosa Nostra and has become a synonym for organized crime. It was not until the 1990s that the judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino , who were later murdered by the Mafia, were able to uncover the internal structures of the so-called "families" of the Cosa Nostra operating worldwide. Characteristic of the in many respects ancient paternalistic secret society structure of the sometimes networked mafia-like "families", in which the physical relationship is not a priority, are strictly hierarchical, patriarchal associations, whose members have to follow a fixed code of conduct and honor . Failure to comply with this code, which includes the confidentiality of the members ( omertà ), will be punished with disciplinary measures up to and including death.

Triads

The most famous forms of organized gang-like crime in Asia include the Chinese triads, whose roots go back to the Manchu dynasty and which are only remotely comparable to the Mafia. A common feature of triads and mafia is the common need to carry out initiations and secret rituals, which are also typical for other criminal secret societies.

Yakuza

The strictly hierarchically organized Japanese yakuza, like the Chinese triads, have a history that goes back several centuries. The yakuza have an internal structure that is organized according to a family metaphor, similar to the mafia. The members have to commit themselves to strict obedience to an oyabun (Japanese father) who has absolute authority and to swear loyalty to the death. Admission rituals are carried out in traditional clothing and traditional ciphers are used for communication. The criminal activities of the yakuza include prostitution, gambling, extortion, illegal money transactions and money laundering on an exorbitant scale. A flourishing amphetamine trade is maintained with Europe .

Ku Klux Klan

Three Ku Klux Klan members in a parade in 1922

The name Ku Klux Klan (KKK) refers to two racist terrorist organizations in the southern United States . The first KKK was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee , in 1866 as a secret society of white farmers who fought for the maintenance of colonial life reform in the southern states. Their activism, especially directed against emancipated blacks and radical republicans, existed among other things. a. from arson , flogging and fememicide . The group, which was dissolved a few years later, was characterized by a hierarchical structure, rituals, the symbolic cross of flames and a costume of white robes and pointed hoods.

A second KKK was founded near Atlanta in 1915 as a nativist mass organization with up to four million members (1924), whose scope extended beyond the southern states. In the 1920s, this KKK exercised immense political influence. The focus was on the persecution of racial, religious and ethnic minorities (blacks, Jews, Catholics, Irish), but also intellectuals and opponents of prohibition. Because Nazi relations of some KKK leader was the number of members during the Great Depression drastically. Since 1928 the KKK no longer acted as a secret society and tried to undermine the enforcement of civil rights laws in the south by force. The current militant groups, around 150, number a few thousand members, some of whom have allied themselves with right-wing extremist neo-Nazi organizations.

Secret societies in other cultures

Secret societies can also be found among many other peoples in the most varied of forms. For the history of East Asian civilizations, these are the Gelaohui and high binders among the Chinese and the Shishi in Japan. In the cultural region of Oceania there used to be a number of secret societies, such as the Arioi in Polynesia or various groups in the traditional religions of Melanesia . The Duk-Duk Association of the Tolai Papua New Guinea is particularly well known here. Spiritually motivated secret organizations have always played an important role among the black African ethnic groups. This applies, for example, to the leopard men , the Nyau in Southeast Africa and the Poro in West Africa. The abakuá are an example of secret societies among African slaves. Finally, there are also numerous secret societies among some North American tribes, some of which still exist today. This applies, for example, to the Iroquois medicine associations , the Midewiwin association of the Anishinabe and neighboring Algonquin tribes, as well as to the Patowa secret associations of the Pueblo cultures .

Jurisprudence

In the German criminal law, offenses were classified as a criminal offense of secret bundling , namely participation in a connection whose existence, constitution or purpose was to be kept secret from the state government or in which obedience to unknown superiors or unconditional obedience to known superiors had to be promised, according to § 128 StGB prosecuted until 1968. Members of a secret society with imprisonment could be punished for up to six months and founders and heads of the association with prison for one month to one year.

Since after the Propaganda Due scandal an accusation of conspiracy against the state had to be dropped and it was only rarely possible to prove the individual involvement of members in certain processes of the secret society P2, the Italian legislature is concerned with ways to develop power To stop secret societies in the future.

In tax law, a Masonic lodge is regularly denied recognition as a non-profit body despite the statutory "promotion of the general public", "since it only accepts men as members and only these can experience the ritual in temple work."

literature

  • Marco Frenschkowski : The secret societies. A cultural and historical analysis. Marix, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-926-7 (=  marixwissen ).
  • Karl RH Frick : The enlightened: Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical-Rosicrucian secret societies up to the end of the 18th century. , Marix Verlag GmbH, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-86539-006-4 .
  • Karl RH Frick: Light and Darkness. Gnostic-theosophical and Masonic-occult secret societies up to the turn of the 20th century. Marix Verlag GmbH, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-86539-044-7 .
  • Frank Jacob (Ed.): Secret Societies: Kulturhistorische Sozialstudien / Secret Societies: Comparative Studies in Culture, Society and History , Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8260-4908-8 (=  Globalhistorische Komparativstudien , Volume 1, partly German and English).
  • Brad Steiger, Sherry Steiger: Conspiracies and Secret Societies. The Complete Dossier. Visible Ink Press, Canton MI 2006, ISBN 1-57859-174-0 (English).

Web links

Wiktionary: Secret society  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Günter Hartfiel: Dictionary of Sociology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 410). Kröner, Stuttgart 1972, ISBN 3-520-41001-X , p. 240.
  2. ↑ a b Karl RH Frick : The Rosicrucians as a fictional and real secret society. In: Gerd-Klaus Kaltenbrunner (Ed.): Secret societies and the myth of the world conspiracy. Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 1987, ISBN 3-451-09569-6 , ( Herderbücherei 9569), ( Initiative 69), p. 104.
  3. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: The secret societies. A cultural and historical analysis. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-926-7 , p. 17 ff.
  4. ^ Hannah Arendt: Elements and origins of total domination . New edition, Piper, Munich 1986, p. 577 ff., Etc., the quotation p. 639.
  5. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: The secret societies. A cultural and historical analysis. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-926-7 , pp. 18-25, the quotation p. 21, on Scientology p. 213.
  6. ↑ Karl RH Frick: The Enlightened. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical secret societies. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, pp. 7–8.
  7. ↑ Karl RH Frick: The Enlightened. Gnostic-theosophical and alchemical secret societies. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, p. 7.
  8. ↑ Jürgen Habermas: Social structures of the public. In: Peter Pütz (Ed.): Research into the German Enlightenment . Anton Hain Meisenheim, Königstein / Ts. 1980, pp. 139-144; Michael Voges : Enlightenment and Secret. Investigations into the mediation of literary and social history using the example of the appropriation of secret society material in the novel of the late 18th century . De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1897, pp. 12–16.
  9. ↑ Immanuel Kant: About the common saying : That may be correct in theory, but not suitable for practice , quoted by Horst Möller : Prussian Enlightenment Societies and Revolutionary Experience . In: Otto Büsch and Monika Neugebauer-Wölk (eds.): Prussia and the revolutionary challenge since 1789 (= publications of the Historical Commission in Berlin, vol. 78). de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1991, ISBN 978-3-11-012684-6 , p. 103 (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  10. ↑ Reinhart Koselleck: Criticism and Crisis . A contribution to the pathogenesis of the bourgeois world. Karl Alber, Freiburg, Munich 1959.
  11. ^ Horst Möller : Princely State or Citizens' Nation. Germany 1763-1815 . Siedler, Berlin 1994, pp. 503-506; Hans-Ulrich Wehler : German History of Society 1700-1815, Volume 1: From Feudalism of the Old Empire to the Defensive Modernization of the Reform Era. CH Beck, 4th edition, Munich 2007, p. 322 ff.
  12. ↑ Kocku von Stuckrad : What is esotericism? Beck, Munich 2004, p. 190.
  13. ^ Matthias Pöhlmann: Freemason. Know what's right. Herder Verlag, 2008, pp. 20, 70.
  14. ↑ Gerald Willms: The Wonderful World of Sects: From Paul to Scientology. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1st edition 2012, pp. 152–153.
  15. ↑ a b Klaus-Rüdiger Mai: Secret societies. Myth, Power and Reality. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2006, p. 207.
  16. ^ Matthias Pöhlmann: Freemason. Know what's right. Herder Verlag, 2008, p. 38.
  17. ↑ a b c Kocku von Stuckrad: What is esotericism? Beck, Munich 2004, p. 190 f.
  18. ↑ Hans-Ulrich Wehler: German History of Society 1700-1815, Volume 1: From Feudalism of the Old Empire to the Defensive Modernization of the Reform Era. CH Beck, 4th edition, Munich 2007, p. 324 f .; Klaus-Rüdiger Mai: Secret societies. Myth, Power and Reality. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2006, pp. 185, 196.
  19. ^ Matthias Pöhlmann: Freemason. Know what's right. Herder Verlag, 2008, p. 38.
  20. ↑ Wolfgang Wippermann : Agents of Evil. Conspiracy theories from Luther to the present day . be.bra. Verlag, Berlin 2007, pp. 49–53, 146–149 u. ö.
  21. ^ Hans-Jürgen Ruppert : Rosicrucian . In: Evangelisches Kirchenlexikon , Vol. 3, Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1992, Sp. 1720 f.
  22. ↑ Harald Lamprecht : New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , pp. 47, 59.
  23. ↑ a b Hans-Ulrich Wehler: German history of society 1700-1815, Volume 1: From Feudalism of the Old Empire to the Defensive Modernization of the Reform Era. CH Beck, 4th edition, Munich 2007, p. 324 f.
  24. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , pp. 49-50.
  25. ^ Klaus-Rüdiger Mai: Secret societies. Myth, Power and Reality. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2006, pp. 242–244.
  26. ^ JM Roberts: Mythology of the Secret Societies . MacMillan, London 1972, pp. 198 ff.
  27. ↑ Hans-Ulrich Wehler: German History of Society 1700-1815, Volume 1: From Feudalism of the Old Empire to the Defensive Modernization of the Reform Era. CH Beck, 4th edition, Munich 2007, p. 324 f.
  28. ^ Klaus-Rüdiger Mai: Secret societies. Myth, Power and Reality. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2006, pp. 242–243.
  29. ^ Klaus-Rüdiger Mai: Secret societies. Myth, Power and Reality. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2006, pp. 308–322.
  30. ^ Herwig Wolfram: Austrian history. Boundaries and spaces. Wirtschaftsverlag Ueberreuter, 1995, p. 292.
  31. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: The secret societies. A cultural and historical analysis. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-926-7 , pp. 167-168.
  32. ↑ Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke : The "Teutonic Order" In: The occult roots of National Socialism . Wiesbaden, Marix Verlag 2004, ISBN 3-937715-48-7 , pp. 112-120, 121 ff.
  33. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: The secret societies. A cultural and historical analysis. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-926-7 , pp. 188-190.
  34. ↑ Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: The Occult Roots of National Socialism , Marixverlag, 2009, p. 23.
  35. ↑ Helmut Reinalter : The World Conspirators: What You Should Never Know . Ecowin Verlag, Salzburg 2010, pp. 131–132.
  36. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: The secret societies. A cultural and historical analysis. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-926-7 , pp. 146–153.
  37. ↑ Stephen Flowers: Fire and Ice. The magical secret teachings of the German secret order Fraternitas Saturni . Translated into German by Michael DeWitt, Edition Ananael, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-901134-03-4 , pp. 24-25.
  38. ↑ Horst E. Miers : Lexicon of Secret Knowledge (=  Esoteric. Vol. 12179). Original edition; and 3rd updated edition, both Goldmann, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-442-12179-5 , pp. 465-467.
  39. ↑ Stephen Flowers : Fire and Ice. The magical secret teachings of the German secret order Fraternitas Saturni . Translated into German by Michael DeWitt. Edition Ananael, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-901134-03-4 , pp. 25-26, 32.
  40. ^ Karl RH Frick: Light and Darkness. Gnostic-theosophical and masonic-occult secret societies up to the turn of the 20th century , Vol. 2, Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-86539-044-7 , pp. 465–468 f.
  41. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , pp. 16, 18, 41-42.
  42. ↑ James Webb : The Age of the Irrational. Politics, Culture & Occultism in the 20th Century. Marix, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-86539-152-0 , p. 102.
  43. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: The secret societies. A cultural and historical analysis. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-926-7 , p. 112.
  44. ↑ Harald Lamprecht: New Rosicrucians. A manual. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56549-6 , pp. 16, 18, 200 ff., 205, 249 ff.
  45. ^ A b c Marco Frenschkowski : The secret societies. A cultural and historical analysis. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-926-7 , pp. 177-186.
  46. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: The secret societies. A cultural and historical analysis. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-926-7 , pp. 189–190.
  47. ↑ https://juris.bundesfinanzhof.de/cgi-bin/rechtsprechung/druckvorschau.py?Gericht=bfh&Art=pm&nr=34871 [Rdz. 23]