On 16 April 2024, Karl-Heinz Bannasch from Berlin-Spandau will introduce Karl von Madai, one of the most important and well-known Dessau Freemasons and an outstanding personality in imperial Germany. The lecture will take place at 7.00 pm in the lodge house of St John’s Lodge ‘Zu den drei Säulen’ in Orient Dessau at Ferdinand-von-Schill-Straße 7. This is a joint event organised by the lodge and the Dessau regional group of the Verein für Anhaltische Landeskunde.

Karl v. Madai was born in Berlin on 19 February 1844. He came from an old Jewish family whose roots lie in the part of Hungary that today belongs to Slovakia. In 1863, v. Madai began his military career, which took him to Dessau from 1867 to 1877 and from 1893 to 1896 to the Anhalt Infantry Regiment No. 93. He made it to the rank of lieutenant general. In 1901, he was made redundant, but once again commanded a reserve unit in Halberstadt during the First World War at an advanced age.

Karl v. Madai’s extra-professional interests were always focussed on freemasonry. On 19 March 1882, he was admitted to the lodge ‘Esiko zum aufgehenden Licht’ in Dessau, where he later held the office of Master of the Chair for many years. After the First World War, he was one of the best-known freemasons in Germany. He was not only Honorary Master of his Dessau lodge, but also an honorary member of 20 other lodges, including the Grand National Mother Lodge ‘To the Three Globes’ in Berlin, founded by Frederick the Great, and the second Dessau lodge ‘To the Three Pillars’. The German Masonic Museum in Bayreuth commemorates this great freemason in its permanent collection. Karl v. Madai died on 9 August 1934 at the age of 91 in Dessau, where he had spent the rest of his life. He was laid to rest in cemetery III.

19:00 Uhr Logenhaus, Ferdinand-von-Schill-Straße 7
Dessau-Roßlau

Lecture by Karl-Heinz Bannasch, Berlin-Spandau
(Joint event with the Johannisloge „Zu den drei Säulen“ im Orient Dessau)