Grand National Mother Lodge

The Grand National Mother Lodge Zu den drei Weltkugeln was founded on September 13, 1740 at the behest of the King of Prussia, Frederick II (Frederick the Great), under the name Lodge Aux trois Globes in Berlin.

In 1765, the Grand Lodge fell under the influence of the so-called Strict Observance — a high-degree system founded by Baron von Hund, tracing itself to the Templars and led by so-called "Unknown Superiors". This system ultimately proved harmful to Freemasonry, as it provided the National Socialists with ammunition against the Brotherhood in a later era. The Grand Lodge had already distanced itself from this erroneous path in 1780, which was confirmed once more at the Convent of the Strict Observance in Wilhelmsbad in 1782.

The 19th century in Germany saw the founding of further Grand Lodges, which largely still required membership of a Christian denomination. The Grand National Mother Lodge "Zu den drei Weltkugeln" retained this requirement until 1964. By 1878 it had established over 180 daughter lodges — 114 St John's Lodges and 69 Scottish Lodges with a total of 13,499 members. In 1899 the King of Prussia granted the three Old Prussian Grand Lodges the rights of legal entities.

After the end of the Second World War, the Grand National Mother Lodge was reactivated as early as 1946, initially limited to the American sector. In western Germany in 1949 there were two Grand Lodges: the "Grand State Lodge of Freemasons of Germany" and the "United Grand Lodge of Germany" — later renamed the "United Grand Lodge of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons" (AFuAM). Forty-seven daughter lodges of the 3WK joined the latter; only five remained with the 3WK.

New problems emerged: the AFuAM took the position that the Grand National Mother Lodge no longer existed, citing the 1935 self-dissolution. This was contradicted in 1955 when the Civil Senate of the Federal Court of Justice ruled that the self-dissolution had been without legal effect, and that the 3WK had therefore existed continuously since its founding in 1740.

Agreement was finally reached at the VGLvD Convention in October 1970 through an amendment to the Magna Charta. By including all State Grand Lodges and Provincial Grand Lodges — including the Grand National Mother Lodge "Zu den drei Weltkugeln" — the unification was achieved on the "basis of absolute mutual trust with the aim of ever further consolidating the unity of German Freemasonry, without prejudice to the independence of the individual Grand Lodges" (Hans Hinterleitner, State Grand Master of the AFuAM).