Theodor Vogel (Freemason)

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Theodor Vogel (right) and Bernhard Beyer (left) in front of the Bayreuth Logenhaus . (1954)

Theodor Vogel (born July 31, 1901 in Schweinfurt , † February 9, 1977 in Glashütten (Taunus) ) was a German entrepreneur , writer and important Freemason ; he is considered to be the unifier of German Freemasonry after the prohibition period under National Socialism .

Life path

Theodor Vogel studied after upper secondary school certificate in 1920 in Nuremberg , the specialist civil engineering at the technical universities of Munich and Darmstadt and received the 1924 diploma in civil engineering. In the same year he married Else Anna, geb. Raasch. Between 1926 and 1944 they had nine children, six daughters and three sons. At first the young family lived in Schweinfurt. In 1932 he was awarded a Dr.-Ing. PhD. This was followed by a degree in economics in Frankfurt am Main and in Munich. In 1934 and 1935, the family of six lived temporarily in Nuremberg. In the summer of 1935 she moved to Schonungen near Schweinfurt, where she stayed until 1953. From 1953 the family lived in Schweinfurt again.

In the 1930s Theodor Vogel had an engineering office in Nuremberg and from 1935 in Schweinfurt or, after its destruction by air raids in 1944, in Schonungen, where plans were drawn up for the underground relocation of Bavarian and Thuringian industrial plants. During the war up to 1944 he also had an office in Saarbrücken with assignments from the so-called "Reconstruction Office". He was not a member of National Socialist organizations.

After the war, he took over his father's metal construction company in Schweinfurt, which he expanded over the years into an international company with 500 employees. In the 1950s he founded a subsidiary in Sontra in Hesse with around 200 employees. A branch in Beirut (Lebanon), AG STAL, which was 50% in Lebanese hands, supplemented his entrepreneurial activities from 1962. He was involved in professional organizations such as the German Steel Construction Association , of which he was temporarily president, and in the regional association of Bavarian industry. From 1963 to 1967 he was President of the Würzburg-Schweinfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry .

writing

During the economically difficult period of the late 1920s and early 1930s, Theodor Vogel worked as a writer in order to contribute to the livelihood of his family with this activity. He published magazine articles, short stories, essays and a drama that was performed in Leipzig. In later years he mainly wrote writings on the subject of Freemasonry. (See below under Scriptures .)

Working in Freemasonry

On October 1, 1926, Theodor Vogel and his father were admitted to the Freemasons' Lodge Brudertreue am Main in Schweinfurt, and in 1930 he was promoted to master craftsman . After the reopening of this lodge after the prohibition period, Vogel became its master on April 1, 1946 . On May 1, 1948, he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge Zur Sonne . Not least because of the determined work of Theodor Vogel, the United Grand Lodge of Germany was founded on May 19, 1949 in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt (since 1958 continued as the Grand Lodge of the Old Free and Accepted Masons of Germany ), in which a large part of those who separated from before 1933 Grand lodges organized Freemasons united in a league. Theodor Vogel became its first grandmaster and held this office until 1958. When in 1958, separately organized grand lodges agreed on a "Magna Charta" with this grand lodge and merged in the United Grand Lodges of Germany (VGLvD) (in the plural) as an umbrella organization Vogel was the first grand master of the VGLvD and thus until 1959 the highest representative of the entire regular German Freemasonry to the outside world. German Freemasonry owes much of its regained international recognition after 1945 to his personal commitment through visiting grand lodges abroad.

Vogel was one of the founders of the York Rite in Germany and in 1956 was the first high priest (chairman) of the German major chapter of the bricklayers from the Royal Arch . In 1960 he was also a founding member of the German Boy Scout Masonic Lodge Zur Weißen Lilie and in 1962 the Lodge Jacob de Molay zum Flammenden Stern , which was called for youth work , both under the umbrella of the VGLvD.

He was one of the participants in the dialogue between German-speaking Freemasonry and the Roman Catholic Church in Lichtenau, Upper Austria, from July 3 to July 5, 1970 and he is a co-signer of the Lichtenau Declaration .

Honors

Theodor bird engagements in various areas of society earned him numerous honors, including the Federal Cross of Merit , the Bavarian Order of Merit , the Golden Citizen Medal of the City of Schweinfurt and the Golden city seal of the city of Wuerzburg. He was an honorary citizen of the Technical University of Munich . Theodor-Vogel-Strasse in Schweinfurt is named after him. To mark his 100th birthday, the City Archives and the City Collections of Schweinfurt dedicated an exhibition to him.

Within Freemasonry, he was an honorary member of 135 German and nine foreign lodges as well as nine grand lodges. He wore 18 of the highest honors in Freemasonry. In Hamburg, a Masonic lodge founded in 1979 is named after him Theodor Vogel .

Fonts (in selection)

  • The Franconian fate - novellas from the peasant war, Sweden- u. French times , Nuremberg: Spindler 1925.
  • Kunzk Kaufmann, the revolutionary - A story from the 16th century , Nuremberg: Spindler 1925.
  • The father - play in six pictures , Würzburg: Frankenbund 1926.
  • Olympia Fulvia Morata - Ein Schicksal [story], Schweinfurt: Giegler [1927].
  • Journey home - A Goethe novella , Würzburg: Frankenbund 1928.
  • The glass roof rung , Stuttgart: Akad. Verl. Wedekind [printed dissertation 1933].
  • The grand master and his workmen. From the Paulskirche in Frankfurt to the Berlin Convention. 2nd edition Bad Kissingen: Bauhütten-Verlag [1959].
  • The unwritten laws of Freemasonry , 4th edition Hamburg: Bauhütten-Verlag 1971.
  • Encounters and companions. Hamburg: Bauhütten-Verlag 1976.

swell

  • Eugen Lennhoff / Oskar Posner / Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freemaurer Lexikon , Munich: FA Herbig 2006, p. 880.
  • Theodor Vogel , in: Fränkische Lebensbilder , Insingen: Degener 2004, pp. 313–325.
  • Remember: Theodor Vogel (07/31/1901 - 02/09/1977) - writer, entrepreneur, freemason on his 100th birthday , publisher v. Uwe Müller, Schweinfurt: City Archives 2001.
  • Rolf Appel: Theodor Vogel - The Unifier of German Freemasonry , Graz: Studienverlag 1987.
  • Der Spiegel 15/1963 (article and Theodor Vogel as cover picture)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Rolf Appel: Theodor Vogel (see sources), p. 40f., And Henry Hatt: alias tadpole. Secret relocation of the war-important production of the Jenaer Glaswerke Schott & Gen., Jena, to the Lehesten state slate quarry. Ludwigsstadt [2005].
  2. ^ Internet pages of the STAL company in Beirut [1] .
  3. ↑ Extensive in Rolf Appel: Theodor Vogel (see sources), p. 42ff.
  4. ↑ a b Bfr. Dr.-Ing. Theodor Vogel passed away . In: Franconia . Journal for Franconian regional studies and culture. tape 29 , 1977, pp. 84–85 ( Frankenland online [PDF; 291 kB ; accessed on June 30, 2020]).
  5. ^ Supreme Chapter of Masons from the Royal Arch . Anniversary gift for the 50th anniversary. Frankfurt a. M. 2007, p. 16 .
  6. ↑ Roland Hoede (Ed.): 50 Years of the Masonic Lodge at the White Lily N ° 871 . Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the lodge. Self-published, Wildbad 2010, p. 19 .
  7. ↑ Henning Kirchberg: The history of this lodge. (No longer available online.) Jacob de Molay Masonic Lodge on the Flaming Star , November 6, 2002, archived from the original on May 2, 2016 .;
  8. ↑ Jürgen Holtorf: The Masons' Lodge (=  Edition Culture & Knowledge ). Nikol Verlags GmbH, Hamburg 1991, ISBN 3-930656-58-2 , p. 113 .
  9. ↑ a b Uwe Müller (Ed.): Theodor Vogel (July 31, 1901 - February 9, 1977), writer, entrepreneur, freemason, on his 100th birthday . Exhibition of the Schweinfurt City Archives and the Schweinfurt City Collections, Gunnar-Wester-Haus, November 8, 2001 - January 13, 2002 (= City Archives and City Library [Ed.]: Exhibition booklets of the Schweinfurt City Archives . No. No. 6 ). Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt, Schweinfurt 2001, ISBN 978-3-926896-22-3 (40 pages, exhibition catalog).
  10. ↑ Our lodge. Masonic Lodge Theodor Vogel , accessed on June 30, 2020 .
  11. ↑ digitized version | [2]
personal data
SURNAME Vogel, Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur, writer and important Freemason
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Schweinfurt
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 1977
Place of death Glassworks (Taunus)