Lessing ring
The Lessing ring is adjacent to the Culture Prize of the German Freemasons and the humanitarian price one of the awards that the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Germany awards.
The Lessing Ring has been awarded at irregular intervals since 1966 and is to be understood as a symbol of Lessing's ring parable , which integrates the award winners “into the chain of those for whom humanity and tolerance, freedom and brotherhood are the principles of their endeavors and actions”. The Grand Lodge wants to show its special bond with the respective award winner by handing over the ring, "which should be more valued than a monetary prize".
The previous sponsors of the Lessing Ring are:
Siegfried Lenz
Golo man
Lev Kopelev
Hans Küng
- 1966 Max Tau
- 1968 Erich Kästner
- 1970 Siegfried Lenz
- 1972 Golo Mann
- 1974 Peter Huchel
- 1983 Lev Kopelev
- 1993 Reiner Kunze
- 2001 Arno Surminski
- 2004 Rolf Appel
- 2007 Hans Küng
With the exception of Rolf Appel, all of the Lessing Ring winners have also received the German Freemasons' Culture Prize.