The roots of the history of the Grand Lodge Humanitas Austria hark back to the inter-war period, when two lodges of the order “Le Droit Humain” took up their work in Vienna. After the Anschluss to the national-socialist German Reich in March 1938 all lodges were dissolved and freemasonry was prohibited, members were persecuted. After the second world war Austria was occupied by the allied forces; the occupying powers left our country after the conclusion of the treaty of 1955. Surviving members of the order “Le Droit Humain” were able to resume their masonic activities.
In 1959 there arose conflicts within the order “Le Droit Humain”, resulting in several lodges in Germany and the Netherlands leaving the order. In Austria, too, several members left and founded, with aid from the Frankfurt Universal Masonic Order “Humanitas”, the Austrian independent masonic lodge “Lux Danubiana” on 13 November 1960.
In July 1961, the lodge “Lux Danubiana” became one of the founding members of the international masonic union CATENA. This is an international union of freemasonry for men and women. The union presently includes obediencies (= masonic bodies such as grand lodges and orders) from, alphabetically, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom. CATENA serves international relations between the members and does not exercise any authority over the individual member organizations, who remain independent masonic bodies.
Subsequently, new lodges were founded, and in 1972 an obediency independent from Germany, the “Austrian Order Humanitas for Co-Freemasonry for Men and Women” was founded. In 1978 the “Grand Lodge Humanitas Austria for Freemasonry for Men and Women” proceeded from this order.
In 1989 the Grand Lodge became a member of the international masonic federation CLIPSAS. Currently the “Grand Lodge Humanitas Austria for Men and Women” consists of three lodges in Vienna.
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