This term is at the heart of masonic philosophy and reflects a deep commitment to the humanity and dignity of all people. Humanity in Freemasonry means showing respect, understanding, and compassion towards others, regardless of their background or beliefs. It's about building bridges between people of different origins and faiths, promoting an atmosphere of brotherhood and mutual respect. Charity is another core value in Freemasonry.
It manifests not only in financial support or material aid but also in acts of kindness and service to others. Freemasons are ready to engage in charitable work both within their community and in the broader society. This can take the form of donations, philanthropic projects, support for educational institutions, and other social initiatives. In daily practice, this means expressing these values through personal behavior and communal activities. This includes developing personal virtues, striving for moral integrity, and a commitment to improving society.
This website uses cookies and similar technologies. Some are necessary so that the language choice and spam protection work. Others we only use with your consent: visitor statistics with Google Analytics and content from other providers, such as the map in the Lodge Finder. We do not use advertising cookies.
In detail these are cookies, your browser’s local storage and scripts that load content from other providers. Personal data is processed in the course of this, above all your IP address, details about browser and device and the time of your visit. It serves the secure operation of the website, the statistics and the display of embedded content. There is no advertising, no profiling for advertising and no sharing with third parties for advertising purposes.
If you make your own selection, only the services you allow are loaded; everything else stays blocked. Instead of a map or a video you then see a notice with a button to load it. What each service does, who provides it, which cookies it sets and how long they last is listed under “Settings”.
No consent is required to visit the website. You may withdraw or change it at any time with effect for the future – via “Cookie settings” in the footer of every page.
Some services also process data in the USA. The providers – Google, Cloudflare and CleanTalk – are certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, for which the European Commission has found an adequate level of data protection. Details are given in our privacy policy.
Consent to the non-essential services requires a minimum age of 16. If you are younger, please ask your parent or guardian for their approval.
Necessary
These technologies keep the language choice, the spam protection of the forms and the editors’ login working. The website does not work properly without them, so they cannot be switched off.
Consent (this dialogue)Provider: United Grand Lodges of Germany, BerlinPurpose: Stores your choice so that we do not ask again on every visit.Cookies: vglvd_einwilligung · Storage period: 182 days
Language choice (WPML)Provider: United Grand Lodges of Germany, BerlinPurpose: Remembers the chosen language (German or English).Cookies: wp-wpml_current_language · Storage period: until the browser is closed
Spam protection (CleanTalk)Provider: CleanTalk Inc., Carson City, USAPurpose: Tells people apart from automated programs so that no spam arrives through the contact forms. To do so it checks screen, time zone and mouse movements, among other things.Cookies: apbct_* and the entries ct_* and bot_detector_* in local storage · Storage period: up to 1 year
WordPress (editors’ login)Provider: United Grand Lodges of Germany, BerlinPurpose: Only for logged-in editors: login to the administration area and protection against misuse.Cookies: wordpress_logged_in_*, wordpress_sec_*, wp-settings-* · Storage period: session up to 14 days
Statistics
Helps us understand which pages are read and how visitors use the website. For this we load Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics. Without consent neither is loaded and nothing is sent to Google.
Google Tag Manager, Google AnalyticsProvider: Google Ireland Ltd., Dublin (parent company Google LLC, USA)Purpose: Counts page views and evaluates how the website is used. Google Analytics 4 does not store IP addresses; advertising and personalisation features are switched off.Cookies: _ga, _ga_* · Storage period: up to 2 years
External content
The map in the Lodge Finder, the search for places without a lodge of their own and embedded videos are loaded from other providers. The provider learns your IP address in the process. Without consent you see a notice instead of the content.
Map and place search in the Lodge Finder (OpenStreetMap, Leaflet)Provider: OpenStreetMap Foundation, United Kingdom; FOSSGIS e. V., Germany; Cloudflare (cdnjs), USAPurpose: Shows the lodges on a map and finds places without a lodge of their own for the radius search.Cookies: none; the IP address is transmitted · Storage period: only while loading
Videos (YouTube, Vimeo)Provider: Google Ireland Ltd.; Vimeo Inc., USAPurpose: Plays videos embedded from these platforms. Videos stored on our own server are not affected.Cookies: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE, YSC, vuid · Storage period: up to 2 years
