The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 9 - Masonic and Anti-Masonic Literature 725
its former Christian way. Many German lodges, even the "humanitarian" ones,
modified their statutes in this direction.
Die Haltung der deutschen Großlogen [...] ist immer von
Zeitströmungen beeinflußt gewesen. Zur Zeit der Hochflut des
Vorkriegsantisemitismus [...] und schon früher war auch die deutsche
Freimaurerei nicht frei von diesen Strömungen. In den gesammelten
Schriften von [...] Findel [...] finden sich sogar Aufsätze, die von den
jüdischen Suchenden einen eigenen Eid wie im tiefsten Mittelalter
verlangten. Die stark rassenantisemitische völkische Bewegung seit dem
Weltkrieg hat selbstverständlich auch die deutsche Freimaurerei nicht
unberührt gelassen [...]. Da alle gegnerischen Angriffe die Freimaurer
als Werkzeuge Alljudas charakterisieren, glaubten und glauben manche
Großlogen und Logen, teilweise wohl weniger aus Überzeugung als aus
Opportunismus, dem Zeitgeiste Rechnung tragen zu müssen. 1784
The British Encyclopædia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences in its
1921 edition refers to the disqualification of Jews in Germany, regretting that the
great principles of religious and political toleration which characterize
Freemasonry have not always been regarded, and hinting at the thus resulting
bad reputation of German lodges abroad:
[...] from an early period the German Lodges, and especially the
Prussian, were reluctant to accord admission to Jews. This action has
given great offense to the Grand Lodges of other countries which were
more liberal in their views, and were more in accord with the Masonic
spirit, and was productive of dissensions [sic] among the Masons of
Germany, many of whom were opposed to this intolerant policy. But a
better spirit now prevails; and very recently the Grand Lodge of the
Three Globes at Berlin, the leading Masonic body of Prussia, has
removed the interdict, and Judaism is there no longer a disqualification
for initiation. 1785
The British praise comes too early, for the German Grand Lodges returned to
their Christian perspective in the years preceding WW II. The aggravation of this
development under the Nazi regime has been dealt with in another chapter. The
IFL from 1932 also deals with the dissemination of Jews in Masonic lodges,
stating that the percentage of Jews in big German city lodges was relatively high,
whereas the percentage of Jews in Freemasonry altogether was comparatively
low, as a result of the Jewish brethren preferring certain lodges open to them.
According to the IFL, there were almost no Jews in the three old Prussian Grand
Lodges of about 60,000 members, and only a few in the Grand Lodges of cities
like Darmstadt, while certain lodges could boast a Jewish "boom." The same
1784 IFL, p. 795-796.
1785 EFKS, p. 370.