page_title: Suppression of Freemasonry
section_title: Nazi Germany and occupied Europe
hierarchical_section_title: Suppression of Freemasonry / Europe / Nazi Germany and occupied Europe
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Erlangen, Freimaurer bei Zeremonie Illus/dpd Westdeutschland: Im Mai 1948 fand zum ersten Mal nach dem Verbot durch die Nazis im Gebäude der Erlanger Freimaurerloge "Libanon zu den 3 Zedern" der erste Großlogentag "Zur Sonne" statt. Die im Jahre 1741 gegründete Großloge gehört zu den größten deutschen Logen. Amerika, Frankreich und die Tschechoslowakei entsandten Vertreter. - Ein Stuhlmeister während einer Zeremonie in der Großloge 1496-48
context_page_description: A number of governments have treated Freemasonry as a potential source of opposition due to its secret nature and international connections. After the founding of modern speculative Masonry in England in 1717, several Protestant states restricted Masonic lodges: the Netherlands banned the lodge in 1735; Sweden and Geneva, in 1738; Zurich, in 1740; and Berne, in 1745. Catholic Spain, Portugal, France and Italy attempted to suppress Freemasonry after 1738. Bavaria followed in 1784; Austria, in 1795; Baden, in 1813; Russia, in 1822. It was also banned in Pakistan in 1972.
  Masonic scholar Paul Bessel has noted that the language used by modern totalitarian regimes is similar to that used by some other modern critics of Freemasonry.
  Freemasonry was persecuted in all the communist countries, but the organization has survived in Cuba, allegedly providing safe haven for dissidents.
context_section_description: The Nazis claimed that high-degree Masons were willing members of the Jewish conspiracy and that Freemasonry was one of the causes of Germany's defeat in World War I. In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler wrote that Freemasonry has succumbed to the Jews and has become an excellent instrument to fight for their aims and to use their strings to pull the upper strata of society into their designs. He continued, "The general pacifistic paralysis of the national instinct of self-preservation begun by Freemasonry" is then transmitted to the masses of society by the press. In 1933 Hermann Göring, the Reichstag President and one of the key figures in the process of Gleichschaltung ("synchronization"), stated "in National Socialist Germany, there is no place for Freemasonry".
  The Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz in German) was passed by Germany's parliament (the Reichstag) on March 23, 1933. Using the Act, on January 8, 1934, the German Ministry of the Interior ordered the disbandment of Freemasonry, and confiscation of the property of all Lodges; stating that those who had been members of Lodges when Hitler came to power, in January 1933, were prohibited from holding office in the Nazi party or its paramilitary arms, and were ineligible for appointment in public service. Consistently considered an ideological foe of Nazism in their world perception (Weltauffassung), special sections of the Security Service (SD) and later the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) were established to deal with Freemasonry. Masonic concentration camp inmates were graded as political prisoners, and wore an inverted (point down) red triangle.
  On August 8, 1935, as Führer and Chancellor, Adolf Hitler announced in the Nazi Party newspaper, Völkischer Beobachter, the final dissolution of all Masonic Lodges in Germany. The article accused a conspiracy of the Fraternity and World Jewry of seeking to create a World Republic. In 1937 Joseph Goebbels inaugurated an "Anti-Masonic Exposition" to display objects seized by the state.  The Ministry of Defence forbade officers from becoming Freemasons, with officers who remained as Masons being sidelined.
  During the war, Freemasonry was banned by edict in all countries that were either allied with the Nazis or under Nazi control, including Norway and France.  Anti-Masonic exhibitions were held in many occupied countries. Field-Marshal Friedrich Paulus was denounced as a "High-grade Freemason" when he surrendered to the Soviet Union in 1943.
  In 1943, the anti-Masonic propaganda film Forces occultes was produced in Nazi-occupied France, accusing the Freemasons of conspiring with Jews and Anglo-American nations to encourage France into a war with Germany.
  The preserved records of the RSHA—i.e., Reichssicherheitshauptamt or the Office of the High Command of Security Service, which pursued the racial objectives of the SS through the Race and Resettlement Office—document the persecution of Freemasons. The number of Freemasons from Nazi occupied countries who were killed is not accurately known, but it is estimated that between 80,000 and 200,000 Freemasons were murdered under the Nazi regime.
caption: Lodge "Libanon zu den 3 Zedern" in Erlangen, Germany. First meeting after World War II with guests from USA, France and Czechoslovakia; May 1948.
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