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Freemasonry

Eklektischer Bund

I don’t have a very clear picture of Farwerck’s Masonic network. I know that in the Netherlands he was acquainted with Freemasons outside his own organisation, most notably Denier van der Gon and probably Raemaekers. Farwerck was also involved in the foundation of lodges abroad, but in the cases of the Goethe lodge in Frankfurt and the Dubrovsky lodge in Prague, Dutch fellow-Esperantist brother Faulhaber was involved. In Frankfurt the fellow-Esperantist Schwalhaber who would later come to lecture in the Netherlands was involved as well. Once there were foreign lodges, these were involved in the foundation of other lodges, also in other countries, and Farwerck, initially in his capacity of representative for the foreign lodges and later as Grand Master of the Dutch federation of Le Droit Humain, was directly and indirectly involved with these lodges.

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Farwerck and Le Droit Humain

A couple of years I paged through all Bulletins that were published between 1918 and 1933 in one afternoon rapidly taking pictures of what appeared to be interesting. Now I have all these issues myself, so I can check them for information without the rush.

The Dutch part of the international mixed gender Masonic organisation Le Droit Humain started in 1904. In Bulletin 3 from 1933 (March) a text is published about the first 25 years. The text was a lecture of Johannes Francisus Duwaer (1869-1944) which was reworked for publication by Anne Schlesinger-Kerdijk (1882-1944). Duwaer has a few details that were new to me.

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Kulmamitta

The Finish federation of Le Droit Humain (“Suomen Yhteisvapaamuurarijärjestön Äänenkannattaja”) has published a magazine called Kulmamitta which Deepl translates to “angle measure”. I suppose it is a reference to the building trade that Freemasonry took inspiration from. The magazine appears to have first been published in 1927.

The first issue from 1928 contains a text with the title: “Tietoja Hollannin Liiton Toömaalta” which Deepl translates to “information from the Dutch federation site”. I will give the Deepl translation below as it shows a bit how Farwerck was as a Freemason.

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Mixed gender Freemasonry (in the Netherlands)

Farwerck’s Freemasonry is spoken about on this website (and elsewhere) frequently. Time for a little more in depth information. Let me start with a bird’s eye view of mixed gender Freemasonry (or co-Masonry) and how it came to the Netherlands. Then we are going to have a look at Farwerck’s place in all this.

Freemasonry is traditionally a men’s thing, but towards the end of the 19th century some people started to do more to change that than just talk. A French lodge initiated a woman in 1882, Maria Deraismes (1828-1894). Even though the lodge that did this was already quite liberal, the Grand Lodge they worked under did not agree. Deraismes and Georges Martin (1844-1916) decided to start a new Masonic organisation, open for both men and women, the Grande Loge Symbolique Écossaise “Le Droit Humain” in 1893,

This symbolic Scottish Grand Lodge would eventually become “The International Order of Freemasonry Le Droit Humain”, LDH for short.

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