Saxony Societies

Following are a few genealogical societies of Saxony which can be contacted:

http://www.lgg-leipzig.de/

Free masons

To become a free mason was a mass movement during the 19th and the beginning 20th century. In all larger cities clubs or even a lodge could be found. Within 100 Kilometers around Dresden were 66 masonic congregations, the densest masonic population in all of Germany according to researcher Karl Dieter Holz. People of all social backgrounds were represented to practise brotherhood, rituals and most of all to make business ties. Free masons met originally in inns, later in Bauhütten, their own gathering places. They kept lists of their members and published biographies of their more popular representatives. Most records of free masons are housed in the Geheime Preußische Staatsarchiv

(http://www.gsta.spk-berlin.de/freimaurerbestaende_543.html).

Researchers into masonic activities in Saxony are Karl Dieter Holz who has his own home page about this subject http://www.freimaurer-lesebuch.de/ and Harald Wenske, a member of Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ostdeutscher Familienforscher, who has gathered about 2200 names of lodges in Görlitz and who plans to make his research available to genealogists in due time. Present day lodges around Dresden are listed here:

https://secure.sz-online.de/aboservice/rundumsz/base.asp?aktion=RundUmSZTreffpunkte

Source: [mailto:Sachsen-l@genealogy.net Sachsen-l@genealogy.net] Rainer Jacob, 12/9/2009