  The absolute scale of neutrino masses is very important for understanding the
evolution and the structure formation of the universe as well as for nuclear
and particle physics beyond the present Standard Model. Complementary to
deducing statements on the neutrino mass from cosmological observations two
different methods to determine the neutrino mass scale in the laboratory are
pursued: the search for neutrinoless double beta decay and the direct neutrino
mass search. For both methods currently experiments with a sensitivity of order
100 meV are being set up or commissioned.
