Freemasonry - and the holocaust

Freemasonry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "These moral lessons are communicated in performance of allegorical ritual. A candidate progresses through degrees,[22] gaining knowledge and understanding of himself, his relationship with others, and his relationship with the Supreme Being (per his own interpretation). The philosophical aspects of Freemasonry tend to be discussed in Lodges of Instruction or Research, and sometimes informal groups, although Freemasons and others frequently publish studies, with varying degrees of competence, that are available to the public. Any mason may speculate on the symbols and purpose of Freemasonry, and indeed all masons are required to some extent to speculate on masonic meaning as a condition of advancing through the degrees. There is no one accepted meaning, and no one person "speaks" for the whole of Freemasonry.[28]"

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The Holocaust

Main article: The Holocaust

See also: Freemasonry under authoritarian regimes and Liberté chérie (Freemasonry)

The preserved records of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (the Reich Security Main Office) show the persecution of Freemasons.^[100] RSHA Amt VII (Written Records) was overseen by Professor Franz Six and was responsible for "ideological" tasks, by which was meant the creation of anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic propaganda. While the number is not accurately known, it is estimated that between 80,000 and 200,000 Freemasons were killed under the Nazi regime.^[101] Masonic concentration camp inmates were graded as political prisoners and wore an inverted red triangle.^[102]

The small blue forget-me-not flower was first used by the Grand Lodge Zur Sonne, in 1926, as a Masonic emblem at the annual convention in Bremen, Germany. In 1938 the forget-me-not badge – made by the same factory as the Masonic badge – was chosen for the annual Nazi Party Winterhilfswerk, a Nazi charitable organisation which collected money so that other state funds could be freed up and used for rearmament. This coincidence enabled Freemasons to wear the forget-me-not badge as a secret sign of membership.^{[103][104][105]}

After World War II, the forget-me-not^{[106][dead link]} flower was again used as a Masonic emblem at the first Annual Convention of the United Grand Lodges of Germany in 1948. The badge is now worn in the coat lapel by Freemasons around the world to remember all those that have suffered in the name of Freemasonry, especially those during the Nazi era.^{[106][dead link][107]}