"... to become a blessing for mankind, that is what the association of the Bne Briss strives for" - this universal concern was formulated in 1901 by the Frankfurt Lodge of the B'nai B'rith ("Sons of the Covenant" with God).

In Europe and worldwide, the order, today one of the largest Jewish non-governmental organizations, is committed to humanity and social justice (Zedaka), against anti-Semitism and racism.

Anyone researching the history of the German District, which was destroyed by the National Socialists in 1937, is entering uncharted territory: the Independent Order of Bne Briss (old spelling) comprised more than 100 individual lodges in many German cities until the Nazi ban in 1937; Rabbi Leo Baeck was the last Grand President.

The order co-founded today's Central Welfare Office of Jews in Germany, and its sister associations were part of the Jewish Women's Association and the German women's movement.

Under the common umbrella of the order's values of Zedaka, brotherly and sisterly love and unity/harmony, the lodges of the B'nai B'rith united different directions and promoted inner-Jewish cohesion. Their committed cultural work made a significant contribution to Jewish self-assertion during the Nazi era.

For the B'nai B'rith in Frankfurt am Main, the book on which the exhibition is based (available as an e-book) traces the history of the Frankfurt Lodge, the Hermann Cohen Lodge and the Marcus Horovitz Lodge for the first time in ten chapters with numerous illustrations.

The chronological arc spans from the founding in 1888 to pioneering social projects to the lodge home, projects of Jewish education, the diverse women's history, the commitment to Germany in the First World War, the upswing in the Weimar Republic (Franz Rosenzweig's Lehrhaus Kunst und Kultur), the cultural resistance to Nazi persecution, the B'nai B'rith as a "who's who" of the Frankfurt Jewish community and city history, and after the Shoah the reconstruction of the Frankfurt lodge as a "glorious and blessed Frankfurt Jewish tradition" (Paul Arnsberg).

As committed Frankfurt citizens, the lodge brothers and sisters contributed significantly to the reputation of their city. Their lodge home in Eschersheimer Landstraße was an impressive "Jewish Place" and at the same time a social center for the whole of Frankfurt.

In addition to renowned rabbis, the lodge was shaped by members of many different professions such as architects, doctors, artists, lawyers, educators, entrepreneurs and scientists.

Well-known members of the lodge include the philosophers Hermann Cohen and Franz Rosenzweig, the "father of labor law" Hugo Sinzheimer, the department store pioneer Hermann Wronker, the historian and first Bertha Pappenheim biographer Dora Edinger and the Impressionist Jakob Nussbaum. There are many more exciting biographies to discover in the book.