The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

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Chapter 2 – Historical Background
The second group of German Grand Lodges is distinguished by the
characteristic of admitting men of any monotheistic faith, the "humanitarian
lodges" as mentioned before. To these belong, among others, the Grand Lodge of
Hamburg (founded in 1743), the Grand Lodge of the Sun, at Bayreuth (1741),
and the National Grand Lodge of the Eclectic Union, at Frankfurt (1742). After
the First World War, Freemasonry became somewhat static in Germany. Its
stagnation can be described as a tendency towards a harmonious and sociable
circle for a certain small elite of the affluent, who wanted - without ambitions to
improve anything - to preserve their prosperity.
[...] [E]rste Anzeichen für geistige Unbeweglichkeit und für Erstarrung
zeigten sich. Sie wuchsen sich später zwischen den Kriegen und
besonders nach Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges zu Verkrustungen aus.
Die deutsche Freimaurerei pflegte Harmonie und Geselligkeit im
kleinen Kreis. Der Wohlhabende will den Wohlstand vermehren und im
Leben die Verhältnisse, die ihm das ermöglichen, erhalten. Bewegen
will er darüber hinaus nichts. Von solchen Gedanken war die deutsche
Freimaurerei von der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts an stark
beeinflußt. 181
As to the Second World War, Section 9.2.3.2 will explain the development of
certain German lodges during the Nazi era and their re-naming into "Deutsche
Orden." Masonic organizations were completely destroyed by the Nazi
persecutions, and their memberships were decimated. The surviving brethren
tried to reestablish the Craft, and to bring it under one head organization:
After the War, the Craft rapidly re-established itself, although its
membership had been greatly lessened by the War. It was widely
recognised by surviving German Masons that the old system of eleven
independent Grand Lodges was unsatisfactory, and indeed, several of
these were not to rise again from the ashes of the War. Aside from a
lack of unity, the old system had meant that German Masonry had
remained largely unrecognised outside the country. This unity was not
easily achieved [...]. 182
Negotiations took place between the two then existing Grand Lodges, which
in 1958 led to the formation of the United Grand Lodges of Germany. At the
convention forming the United Grand Lodges, 264 lodges of the Grand Lodge
Ancient, Free & Accepted Masons of Germany were present (AF & AM), as
well as 82 lodges belonging to the Grand Land Lodge of Freemasons in
Germany (GLFD). According to the Magna Charta, the document constituting
the basis of this unity, the United Grand Lodges enjoyed sovereignty.
Nevertheless, they maintained the two bodies as Provincial (Land) Grand
181 Kischke, p. 42.
182 Henderson and Pope, vol. II, p. 200.