Freemasons

The Freemasons are a group of men, and now women, who meet in private for their own rituals, discussions, and business. They are known as a ‘secret society” and are prevalent throughout Europe and America. However, Hitler and his Nazi regime felt that the Masons were a threat to their policies and power. It was believed that the Masonic lodges had connections to social and liberal democrats and close ties with the Jews. In fact, it was believed that Jews were in control of the Freemasons and dictated how they behaved, who they had associations to, and their government links. Whereas many Masons were Jewish, the Jews had no control over policy or practice. Religion and Masonic orders were kept separate (1).

Originally, the Masonic lodges were shut down and disbanded, assets were confiscated, archives and libraries taken and studied. Soon, the Masons were banned from careers in the Ministry of Defense, both military and civilian. By October 28, 1934, the Masonic lodges were decreed as hostile or the German state. By 1935, all lodges had been dissolved and their assets confiscated by the Nazis; to this day only some of these collections have been returned. Others reside in foreign archives. Soon, there were propaganda exhibitions across Europe to ridicule Freemasonry, direct hatred towards them, and heighten the fear of the Masons (2).

It was eventually believed that there was a Jewish-Masonic conspiracy against the Nazis. The Freemasons were believed to have political power and use it to provoke war (such as World War II), as well as using their “power” for subversive activities, revolution, and using the press to control the general public. They were also said to be responsible for FD Roosevelt’s (the American president) policies (3).

In 1922, Rosenberg published a book called “The Crime of Freemasonry: Jewry, Jesuitism, and German Christianity.” This was followed in 1925 with Hitler’s own book, “Mein Kamf,” in which he stated “… and in Freemasonry, which has succumbed to him [the Jews] completely, he has an excellent instrument with which to fight for his arms and put them across. The governing circles and the higher strata of the political and economic bourgeoisie are brought into his nets by the strings of Freemasonry, and never need to suspect what is happening (4).” In 1927, Ludendorff’s published his book “Exterminating Freemasonry by Revealing Its Secrets.” In 193, the Nazis were determined to root out all “… Jewish, liberal, and Masonic infectious residue that remains in the unconscious many, above all in the academic and intellectual world (5).”

No one is certain how many Freemasons died, or in which categories. As many Freemasons also fell under other categories, such as Jewish, political prisoners, etc., there is no record of numbers of Freemason deaths. It is also unknown how many Freemasons were persecuted for being Freemasons, and how many for being Jewish or for being suspected of being Jewish. There were Freemasons in the resistance movements, there were some arrested, and there were those murdered during World War II (6).

At the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum- “you can also read some of Hitler’s materials linking the Jews and Freemasonry to his extermination programs 7)."

Sources:

(1) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007187 (accessed April 13, 2011).

(2) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007187 (accessed April 13, 2011).

(3) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007187 (accessed April 13, 2011).

(4) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007186 (accessed April 13, 2011).

(5) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007187 (accessed April 13, 2011).

6) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007187 (accessed April 13, 2011).

(7) Edward L. King. Nazism. http://www.masonicinfo.com/nazism.htm (accessed April 15, 2011).