Great Masonic Lodge "Zur Eintracht"
The Grand Masonic Lodge "Zur Eintracht" was one of 9 recognized German Freemasons - Grand Lodges that existed in the German Reich until 1935 . It was founded in 1844 and forcibly stopped working in 1933. It was most widespread in 1932 with 900 members in 10 lodges. It was not reactivated after 1945.
history
This Christian German grand lodge was founded in Darmstadt on December 1, 1844 . The three lodges Johannes der Evangelist zur Eintracht in Darmstadt, Freunde zur Eintracht in Mainz and Karl zum Risen Lichte in Frankfurt am Main , who originally belonged to the Eclectic League , separated from it after the originally Christian principles had been abandoned in the Bund in 1832 . In the three lodges mentioned above, the Christian principle was adhered to, so that the Karl Lodge was excluded from the covenant on July 2, 1844.
In its policy papers, the grand lodge acknowledges its closeness to the three old Prussian grand lodges ( Great State Lodge , Great National Mother Lodge , Royal York for Friendship ). Negotiations about the connection of the three lodges to the large state lodge, which were led with the order master von Donnersmark , remained fruitless.
On February 27, 1846, the new grand lodge received the protection of Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse .
The law book of the Great Masonic Lodge "Zur Eintracht" specifies the following federal purpose:
“The allied lodges recognize as an irrefutable federal purpose: to work towards the ennobling of their members and the happiness of the human race, far removed from any political and denominational church tendencies according to the principles of Christianity, especially Christian moral doctrine. They see the basic pillars of the covenant in the masons' equality and freedom and consider tolerance to be a fundamental duty of the same. "
The founding lodges agreed to only work on the first three degrees of Freemasonry and to forego high degrees , although the Karl Lodge had its own Schottenloge, in which a fourth degree was processed.
Oberappellationsrat Johann Friedrich Lotheisen was elected as the first Grand Master.
During the revolution of 1848 the work of the grand lodge was suspended for a year.
On January 13, 1859, Grand Duke Ludwig III. a cabinet order, according to which the eclectic lodges in Gießen , Offenbach , Worms and Alzey had to join the great Masonic lodge "Zur Eintracht". The order was obeyed, but this subsequently led to problems as these four lodges did not belong to Christian Freemasonry and refused to change their principles.
On October 12, 1873, they introduced a new code of law that practically turned the Grand Masonic Lodge into a humanitarian grand lodge and finally abandoned the Christian principle.
In the course of its history, the grand lodge emerged in particular through its attempt to create a common "central authority" for the grand lodges in Germany.
Presumably, the dissolution took place in 1933 under pressure from the Nazi state .
Known members
- Johann Friedrich Lotheisen (1796–1859), President of the Court Court in Darmstadt, President of the 2nd Chamber of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, member of the Committee of the Fifties and the Hessian Pre-Parliament .
- Philipp Brand (1833–1914), member of the Reichstag
- Wilhelm Leuschner (1890–1944), Minister of the Interior of the People's State of Hesse , resistance fighter and victim of National Socialism.
literature
- Ferdinand Runkel: History of Freemasonry . Edition Lempertz, Bonn 2006, reprint from 1932, ISBN 3-933070-96-1
- Eugen Lennhoff / Oskar Posner: International Freemason Lexicon . Almathea-Verlag Munich 1980, reprint from 1932, ISBN 3-85002-038-X
- Helmut Neuberger: angle measure and swastika . Herbig Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-7766-2222-9
Individual evidence
- ↑ Founded in 1846 according to the Lennhoff / Posner International Freemasons Lexicon
- ↑ Runkel III, p. 417
- ↑ Runkel III, p. 422
- ↑ Neuberger p. 231
- ↑ Appendix with members of the preliminary parliament in the Federal Archives ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 81 kB)
