Karl Habicht

Karl Habicht (born April 15, 1868 in Berlin ; † May 17, 1937 there ) was a German Protestant pastor and one of the most famous German Freemasons of his time. During the Weimar Republic , he turned against efforts in German Freemasonry to come to terms with the emerging National Socialism .

Live and act

Rectory of the Petri community in Berlin-Mitte

Karl Habicht's tomb in the St. Petri-Luisenstadt-Kirchhof

After attending school, Habicht studied theology . After his doctorate he was a pastor in the St. Petri community in Berlin-Mitte.

theologian

In 1920 Karl Habicht accepted a position as pastor in the St. Petri parish in Berlin-Mitte. As early as 1921 he was also active in the General Evangelical Mission Association, whose president he became in 1932. In September 1933, with the beginning of the church struggle , in which there was a conflict between Protestant Christians of the Confessing Church and the national German Christians , he joined the pastors' emergency association around Pastor Martin Niemöller . Due to his advocacy of the Confessing Church, Habicht was urged to retire by the German Christians and retired on October 1, 1934.

Freemasons

In 1896 Habicht was accepted into the Masonic lodge "To the Three Seraphim", a subsidiary of the Great National Mother Lodge "To the Three World Balls" (GNML "3WK") in Berlin. Most recently he was their deputy chairman. When three new lodges were founded on March 9, 1912 because of the rapidly increasing number of members, Habicht took over the management of the " Friedrich der Große " lodge . He chaired it as its master until 1929 . From 1920 to 1933 he was the national grandmaster of the GNML "3WK".

Under his leadership, the GNML "3WK" left the German Grand Lodge Association in 1922 with the other two old Prussian grand lodges because they did not agree with the pacifist attitude of the German Grand Lodge Association, which was based on reconciliation and international cooperation. Habicht was thus a representative of the nationally minded German Freemasons. He was also a co-signer of the joint declaration of the three old Prussian grand lodges of February 16, 1924. It stated that only Christians can be admitted to a Masonic lodge and that the lodges are not allowed to maintain any relationships with lodges of the victorious powers of the First World War . He refused to delete the word Freemason from the name of the grand lodge. Nonetheless, he was one of the few German Freemasons who, despite belonging to the rather Prussian-conservative GNML "3WK", opposed the emerging National Socialism. Habicht soon realized, however, that he could no longer oppose the predominantly Christian-national, sometimes “ folkish ” attitude of the Freemasons of the GNML “3WK”. On March 10, 1933, he resigned as national grandmaster. As a justification he stated that he no longer enjoyed the trust of the member boxes. This was his break with Freemasonry. The change of the name of the GNML “3WK” to the National Christian Order of Frederick the Great was done by his successor in office, Otto Bordes , without this being able to prevent a ban on Masonic lodges.

Habicht was one of the close confidants of his lodge brother Gustav Stresemann , who, according to his private secretary Henry Bernhard, was "impressed" by Habicht.

Habicht died at the age of 69 on May 17, 1937 in Berlin. He is buried in the St. Petri Cemetery, which was laid out in 1838.

literature

• Ralf Melzer : Conflict and Adaptation. Freemasonry in the Weimar Republic and National Socialism , Braumüller Verlag, Vienna 1999. ISBN 978-3-7003-1245-1
• Helmut Neuberger: Freemasonry and National Socialism , Volume 1 Bauhütten Verlag Hamburg 1980, ISBN 978-3-8705-0152-5

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freemaurerlexikon, special production 1st edition, Herbig Verlag Munich 2006, p. 373 ISBN 978-3-7766-5036-5 .
2. ^ Carsten Nicolaisen , Ruth Pabst: Handbook of the German Protestant Churches 1918 to 1949: organs - offices - associations - people. Vol. 1: National institutions, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2010, ISBN 3647557846
3. ↑ Manfred Gailus: The traditional parishes of Berlin-Mitte in the time of National Socialism , accessed on June 4, 2014.
4. ↑ Great National Mother Lodge "To the Three World Globes": Commemorative publication for the 225th anniversary of the Great National Mother Lodge "To the Three World Globes". Donated on September 13, 1740, Berlin 1965, pp. 49, 113
5. ↑ Alexander Geipel: JL Friedrich the Great / Prometheus Our story. (No longer available online.) JL Friedrich der Große / Prometheus, May 4, 2015, archived from the original on August 16, 2015 ; Retrieved December 20, 2015 . 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.  
6. ↑ Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freemaurerlexikon, special production 1st edition, Herbig Verlag Munich 2006, p. 216 ISBN 978-3-7766-5036-5
7. ↑ Royal York: "Am rauhen Stein" Moorish magazine for the large state lodge, Berlin, year 1924, issue 3 p. 33/34
8. ↑ Eric Howe: Freemasonry in Germany, Part II ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2014 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. (English) accessed on June 2, 2014 
9. ^ Henry Bernhard: Gustav Stresemann. A contribution to the history of the German Freemasons, Krefeld 1948, p. 7. See also Reinhard Markner: The Freemason Stresemann in the sights of the National Socialists. In: Quatuor-Coronati-Jahrbuch 42 (2005), pp. 67-75.
10. ^ Cemetery of the St. Petri Congregation. Administration Ev. Friedhöfe Friedrichshain / Prenzlauer Berg, accessed on October 7, 2014 .