Otto Wolfskehl (Junior)

Otto Wolfskehl (Junior) (born May 13, 1920 in Darmstadt ; † February 1, 1987 in Kassel ) was a German graduate physicist and Freemason . He was a member of the federal government's group of advisers on nuclear physics .

Wolfskehl is the grandson of the Jewish banker and politician Otto Wolfskehl (senior) from Darmstadt . He himself was a convert and had been brought up as a Protestant since childhood, although he was always aware of his Jewish roots.

family

The Wolfskehl family comes from an old Jewish patrician family residing in Ried in Hesse, who named themselves after the village of Wolfskehlen . Otto Wolfskehl (Junior) is the son of Eduard Wolfskehl (1864–1943) and Wilhelmine Marie Spohr-Braunfels (1878–1939). His siblings are Marie-Luise (Lilly) (1900–1991), Fanny (1902–1974) and Charlotte married. Kühner (1911-2010). Otto (Junior) is the nephew of Karl Wolfskehl , a well-known German poet, and of Margarete (1862–1925), later the wife of Lieutenant General Carl Freiherr von Preuschen . The mathematician Paul Wolfskehl was his great-uncle.

Fanny, Marie-Luise and Otto (junior) lie in the family grave in the old Darmstadt cemetery next to their grandparents Otto (senior) and Lilli nee. Schulz (1841-1920).

Profession and Freemasonry

On July 1, 1966 Otto Wolfskehl moved from Darmstadt to Kassel for professional reasons and became a member of the board of the Stadtwerke Kassel . Important undertakings in Kassel with his significant contribution were: conversion from town gas to natural gas, construction of the waste incineration plant and the indoor swimming pools in the south and middle, expansion of the water supply, installation of combined heat and power plants.

On June 6, 1958, he was accepted into the Masonic Lodge Zum Flammenden Schwert in Darmstadt. It works under the constitution of the Grand Lodge of the Freemasons of Germany . Until his death he held various high offices in various Masonic lodges: From 1968 to 1980 he was the master of the Andreas Lodge Ignis Sacer in Kassel. From 1969 to 1972 he held the office of speaker at the Masonic Lodge Zur freundschaft . From 1985 to 1987 he was chapter master of the Coronata chapter in Frankfurt am Main.

From 1974 to 1979 Wolfskehl took part in the talks between the Roman Catholic Church and Freemasons from Germany, Austria and Switzerland on behalf of the Grand National Lodge of Freemasons of Germany , which ultimately led to the Lichtenau Declaration . The "Lichtenau Declaration" describes the attitude of the Freemasons to the Catholic Church. It was signed by the church dialogue participants and can be interpreted as a first attempt at reconciliation between German-speaking Freemasons and the Roman Catholic Church.

At the beginning of the 1980s, he discovered in the archive of the Darmstadt Masonic Lodge Zum flammenden Schwert , to which he remained connected until his death despite his professional move to Kassel in 1966, the historical questionnaires of the Masonic Order , some of which were commented on by Erwin Rousselle . Erwin Rousselle was also a member of the Masonic lodge Zum flammenden Schwert and had begun to interpret, explain and comment on the somewhat confused questionnaires written in the language of the 19th century (created between 1826 and 1843). Otto Wolfskehl completed this mammoth task. The ten questionnaires are one of the teaching pillars of the Freemason Order in addition to the rituals, the so-called supplements and the Hieber guidelines (named after Otto Hieber ). The annotated questionnaires are used by many Freemasons today as Masonic study material.

Honors

In 1973 he received the ordination as temple master and knight commander with the Red Cross of the Masonic Order. The TU Darmstadt guest house at the Lichtwiese site, which was inaugurated in 2013, was given the name of his grandfather on June 16, 2014: Otto-Wolfskehl-Haus . The Wolfskehlsche Garten in Darmstadt was named after this family. On November 7th, 2014, the city of Darmstadt honored their services with a plaque.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stadtlexikon Darmstadt, ed. Historical association for Hesse on behalf of the city council of the City of Science Darmstadt. Stuttgart: Theiss Verlag 2006, pp. 1006-1007.
2. ↑ Eckhart G. Franz: Jews as Darmstadt citizens. Darmstadt: Roether 1984, pp. 240-244 and p. 378.
3. ^ Circular correspondence combined with the Hanseatic Logenblatt. 142nd year. Johannismeister booklet. Berlin 2014.
4. ↑ http://www.darmstadt-freimaurer.de
5. ↑ http://www.zurfreundschaft.de
6. ^ Circular correspondence combined with the Hanseatic Logenblatt. 142nd year. Johannismeister booklet. Berlin 2014.
7. ^ E. Dingeldey: Catholic canon law and membership in Freemasonry. Lecture [...] on the occasion of a temple work in the 1st degree of the Johannis Lodge "Zum Füllhorn" on October 31, 2013 in the Lodge House in Lübeck. P. 5.
8. ^ Text of the original document in: Freemason Wiki. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
9. ^ Circular correspondence combined with the Hanseatic Logenblatt. 142nd year. Johannismeister booklet. Berlin 2014.
10. ↑ On September 12, 1966, the acceptance took place in the Johannisloge Zur Friendship in Kassel.
11. ^ TAU: History and Systematics of the Great Freemasons' State Lodge, March 22, 2003, Horst Julich, pp. 5-6.
12. ^ TAU: History and Systematics of the Great Freemasons' State Lodge, March 22, 2003, Horst Julich, page 7.
13. ↑ http://www.echo-online.de/lokales/darmstadt/otto-wolfskehl-als-namensgeber_15600307.htm  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
14. ↑ http://www.darmstaedter-tagblatt.de/newsreader-kultur/Otto-Wolfkehl-Darmstadt-919.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.