The dissolution of Free Masonic lodges in Germany, as announced by the grand lodges in Berlin, will have no meaning to Masons in this country. George Cook, grand secretary of Masons in Maryland, pointed out that German Masons and Masons here have had no official relations with German lodges since the World War.
The announcement in Germany said that the order would reorganize on a “purely Christian basis,” retaining only temporarily the word “Freemason” and the ritual based on the Old Testament. The name will be changed ultimately to “National Christian Order of Frederick the Great.”
Jews will not be permitted to join the new German order.
Masons here have few relations with Masonic orders in other countries, Mr. Cook said, except in Englad, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands. Most of the other countries have been cut off because they made changes in their religious ritual.
The German lodges, however, cut themselves off from the rest of the world at the time of the war, Mr. Cook said. The relations never have been reestablished. He added that Masons here have no interest in what the Masonic orders in Germany choose to do.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
