Somerset Freemasons take part in Holocaust Memorial

Few people realise that Freemasons were among the groups persecuted by the Nazi regime during the Second World War, with as many as 200,000 Masons dying in the concentration camps.  

At this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day  commemoration event held in Taunton, the Mayor of Taunton, Martin Straus (himself an active Mason), invited Somerset Freemasons to light a candle along with representatives of other persecuted groups.  The theme of this year’s event was Bridging the Generations, and those lighting candles of remembrance were assisted by children from local schools.

Assistant Prov Grand Masters Barrie Palmer and Russ Woodland represented the Province,  joining representatives of the gay, Roma, disabled, and ethnic communities all of whom were persecuted under the Nazi regime in addition to the 6 million Jews murdered during the holocaust.

During the commemoration, attendees were invited to lay a pebble in remembrance of all who had lost their lives during the holocaust, a tradition from the Jewish community whereby someone visiting a grave would leave a stone or pebble to show that the individual was still remembered.

Mayor Martin Straus gave a most moving address commemorating all who suffered during the holocaust, including his aunt who died at Auschwitz.

The persecution of Freemasons by the Nazis, and also the Fascist regimes in Spain and Italy, obviously caused consternation amongst British masons leading to the habit of not talking about our activities.  Unfortunately that habit persisted after the end of the war leading to the myths of our being a ‘secret society’.  Few realise that our silence was born of necessity during a time when invasion was a very real risk.  After the end of the war the discovery of the Nazis’ ’Black Book’ which listed all those to be arrested after the invasion of Britain, showed that many prominent Freemasons had been earmarked for the concentration camps.

So, next time someone talks about Masons being secretive, you can relate to them the context of why this became the impression!