The Craft & Nazis

Although various articles have appeared in the Cross Keys before (last November being the most recent), this was written by Bro. Alexander Craighead during the period of Nazis atrocities.

Grandmaster A.J. MacDonald of Nova Scotia in his 1940 address to his Grand Lodge said, “The dictators of Europe have decreed the death of Masonry, but in this dark hour we thank God that in the British Commonwealth we still have the Great Light of Masonry which has come down to us through the centuries. The living spirit of that Light must be kept alive in the human heart wherever men are determined to be free.”

Immediately on Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, the ten Grand Lodges were dissolved in countries they have conquered. The Gestapo seized the membership lists, persecuted the members, sold the properties at auction, sent prominent members to concentration camps, and in 1937 held an “anti-Masonic Exposition” in Munich.

On the morning of March 12, 1938, a few hours after Hitler’s invasion in Austria, the premises of the Grand Lodge of Vienna were seized and closed, and the property was confiscated. A few days later the Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master, and all the Masters of twenty-two Lodges and a great number of their members were imprisoned on June 5, 1938, the Grand Master Dr. Schlesinger, died, being still in custody.

According to the newspaper reports, the three Grand Lodges in France, the Grand Orient, the Grand Lodge and the Grand Lodge National, were all suppressed. Their property was confiscated and many objects were sold at public auction, after having been on exhibit for a time. Vishy, France, September 19, 1941 -Nine French Army Generals were today dismissed from the service because of their membership in Freemasonry. In Jugoslavia and Bulgaria, Freemasonry was dissolved just prior to the Nazi invasion. In Czechoslovakia, the two Grand Lodges closed their organizations as they saw the approach of their enemy. Many of the Brethren of these two Grand Lodges, as others from the Grand Lodge of Vienna, succeeded in reaching the U.S.A. In New York City they have been assisted by our Grand Lodge and have organized a society named Humanitas which meets regularly in the Masonic Temple.

In Norway Major Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian Nazi Fuehrer, officially banned Freemasonry throughout that country in a decree issued November 29, 1940. Quisling’s order provided penalties for the Craft members who were slow in giving up their membership and converted the Masonic headquarters into a museum.

From Poland, it is reported that many of the Masonic officials who decided to stay in Warsaw were condemned to die of starvation or exhaustion in concentration camps. It is also reported that the general condition in Poland is worse than any other country that has been conquered by the Nazis; that the people are suffering as never before, even during the First World War.

In Sweden Freemasonry seems to be functioning as before. There is not much information from Denmark. The situation is somewhat complicated because they were two Grand Lodges having the same name, but the news from Holland makes tragic reading:“Following an order calling for the dissolution of all Masonic Lodges, gangs of Nazi ruffians were entrusted with the work of breaking Dutch Freemasonry. All Masonic funds were confiscated. This netted the German conquerors more than one and a half million guilders, or approximately $795,000. Masonic jewels were confiscated and melted down, while Masonic aprons were cut up for shoe leather. Several Grand Lodge buildings, including two schools and a home for the aged were taken

The living spirit of that Light must be kept alive