page_title: History of Freemasonry in Belgium
section_title: 1914-1945
hierarchical_section_title: History of Freemasonry in Belgium / 20th century / 1914-1945
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Une du périodique Le Rempart de la Ligue antimaçonnique belge, publiée en septembre 1942.
context_page_description: The history of Freemasonry in Belgium reflects the many influences on what is now Belgium from the neighbouring states.
context_section_description: During the First World War Belgium was almost wholly occupied by Germany and the lodges suspended their operations.  The period was marked by the "Call to the Grand Lodges of Germany" organised by Charles Magnette, Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Belgium, on 27 September 1914, aiming to have the occupying troops exactions on the Belgians examined by an independent commission.  This received two polite responses from seven close jurisdictions.  Magnette relapsed on 7 November 1915 to prevent the massive deportation of Belgian workers to Germany and was arrested and imprisoned by the occupying authorities for subversion for the duration. The lodges resumed their work when peace came, but found new enemies in the dictators of the right and left (with the former finding Masonry's emphasis on free thought dangerous, and the latter reproaching it for "class collaboration").
  In 1921 the "Association Maçonnique Internationale" (A.M.I.) was created on the initiative of the Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina and with the active participation of Charles Magnette.  Like the vast majority of international Freemasonry (with the notable exception of the Grand United Lodge of England), the Grand Orient of Belgium adhered to this organisation, though the Grand Lodges of New York and the Netherlands soon left it.
  On the German invasion on 10 May 1940, Freemasonry was banned.  With the aid of a list of Freemasons published in a conservative Catholic newspaper, the occupiers arrested, deported and assassinated several Masons, such as Georges Pêtre, president of the supreme council in 1942, and Jules Hiernaux, Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Belgium in 1944.  Belgian Masonic life continued in exile in London and New York, and even secretly in the concentration camp at Esterwegen (the "Liberté chérie" lodge) and the PoW camp at Prenslau (the "L'Obstinée" lodge).
caption: A 1942 issue of the periodical Le Rempart of the Ligue antimaçonnique belge accusing Freemasons of "burying" peace
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