The text at the top reads; "Jews - Freemasons World politics - World revolution." The text at the bottom reads; "Freemasonry is an international organization beholden to Jewry with the political goal of establishing Jewish domination through world-wide revolution."

When most people hear the word Holocaust, they automatically think of the persecution and mass genocide of Europe's Jews perpetrated by the Nazis in the 1930s and '40s. This is rightfully so, as over six million Jews were systematically murdered by Hitler's regime. However, the Jews were not alone in their suffering. The Nazis and their collaborators also persecuted other groups for racial or ideological reasons. Among the earliest victims were political opponents: Communists, Socialists and Social Democrats. They then moved on to the mentally and physically disabled, Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war and the Freemasons. It is not common knowledge, inside or outside of Masonic circles, that the Freemasons in Europe were persecuted and murdered during the course of the Third Reich.

Adolf Hitler had a negative view of Freemasonry long before he took office as Germany's Reich Chancellor on Jan. 30, 1933. He wrote disparagingly about the fraternity in his 1924 autobiography, "Mein Kampf." He believed that Freemasonry was part of an "International Jewish Conspiracy" which was led by Germany's former enemies and was responsible for every conceivable evil that afflicted the country. He was not alone in this belief. There was a culture of anti-Semitism in Germany at that time that dated back to the 1870s, but after the Weimer Republic's defeat in World War I, anti-Semitism had renewed interest.

Upon assuming power in 1933, Hitler did not ban Freemasonry outright; rather, he took a slow, methodical approach to the destruction of the Craft. One of the first measures of persecution was taken in early 1934, when Roland Freisler, State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice and President of the Volksgerichtshof (People's Court), ruled that Masons who did not leave their lodges prior to Jan. 30, 1933, could not join the Nazi party. Shortly thereafter, Hermann Goering, Prussian Minister of the Interior, called upon lodges to dissolve "voluntarily," but only after his approval. At the same time, Schutzstaffel (SS) and Sturmabteilung (SA) units, under their own initiative, proceeded to commit violent acts aimed at lodges in various cities throughout Germany.

The persecution heated up in May 1934, when the Defense Ministry banned membership in lodges to all personnel (soldiers and civilian employees). Later that summer, the Gestapo started forcibly closing down many Masonic lodges and confiscating their assets, including their libraries and archives. On Oct. 28, 1934, Wilhelm Frick Reich, Minister of the Interior, issued a decree defining the lodges as "hostile to the state," and on Aug. 17, 1935, Frick ordered all remaining lodges and branches dissolved and their assets confiscated.

As the German army conquered Europe and set up occupation regimes, many Masonic lodges were forcibly dissolved. After a lodge was closed, it was ransacked for membership lists and other important library and archival materials. These materials were then sent to the appropriate Nazi office. Many of the confiscated items ended up in anti-Masonic exhibitions, part of a major Nazi propaganda campaign.

To some, the destruction of the Craft became an obsession. Reinhard Heydrich, head of the SS Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst-SD), believed that the Masons, Jews and the political clergy were the "most implacable enemies of the German race." Heydrich became so obsessed that he even created an entirely new division of the SD to specifically deal with Freemasonry, Sicherheitsdienst-Section II/111. This office later became Section VII B 1 of the Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt; RSHA).

It will never be known how many Freemasons were put into concentration camps and murdered during the course of the Third Reich. This is because many of the members of the Craft who were placed in the camps were also Jews and/or associated with the German resistance or other political opposition groups.

However, Freemasonry has enjoyed a renaissance in Germany. The United Grand Lodges of Germany now have 467 lodges and over 14,000 members. German Masons now use as their symbol a little blue flower, known as das Vergissmeinnicht, the forget-me-not. This is a reminder of the countless brothers who suffered during the course of the Third Reich.

It is a day the United States, and the world, will not soon forget: Aug. 6, 1945. On this day, the United States dropped an atomic bomb, the first of its kind, on Hiroshima, Japan. For one Pennsylvania Mason, this day is remembered through his first-hand account aboard the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress bomber responsible for dropping the bomb on Japan.

Navigator Lt. and Bro. Ted "Dutch" Van Kirk, Eureka Lodge No. 404, Northumberland, joined the U.S. Air Force in 1939, at age 19, knowing the country would be in a war sooner or later. To make the best of a bad situation, he decided he'd "rather fly than walk in the mud."

His primary job was guiding the plane to the target and returning to base, but Bro. Van Kirk also faced situations in which he had to use the B-17's machine gun. It was always a thrilling experience to see the wings of attacking planes light up as they fired. He recalls his aim was less than perfect.

"We were the lousiest shot you ever saw," he said of himself and bombardier, Lt. Tom Ferebee. "We were credited with using the most ammunition without hitting anything."

Throughout his career as a navigator, he flew on 58 missions in Europe and one in the Pacific. He was a member of the first B-17 bomber groups out of England to fly over occupied Europe. Another one of his missions was to lead a group of six planes transporting Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and his staff over hostile waters, from England to Gibraltar, in the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. All insignia identifying the planes and the crew as American was removed.

"A higher authority tells you what you're going to do and when, and as the lead airplane, it's your job not to [foul] it up," Bro. Van Kirk said. "If you do, everyone will follow."

Once in Gibraltar, an important naval base for the British, Bro. Van Kirk saw an image he'll never forget.

"To watch the invasion fleet steaming through the Strait of Gibraltar was a sight to see," he said. "It was small in comparison to the invasion at Normandy, but to this day, it makes my blood chill."

His most famous mission, at the age of 24, was to drop the atomic bomb on Japan.

The Enola Gay - The first airplane that ever dropped an atomic bomb

"At the time, we didn't realize we were making history," Bro. Van Kirk said. "Our objective was to shorten or end the war; to stop the killing. We didn't realize until the press brought it up what a big deal it was."

His crew included Lt. Ferebee and pilot Col. Paul Tibbets, with whom he had flown many missions. They were told about the mission in early 1945, and were given full disclosure on the purpose and significance of it. After months of training and briefings, the only detail left undetermined was the weather.

"We knew how much money had been spent on atomic energy," he said. "They built cities just to develop its capabilities. The amount of scientific man power - all of it - was resting on our shoulders. If we were not successful, we didn't have many other chances to end the war. We would have to invade Japan and many lives would be lost."

Typically, a bomb explodes with the delivery plane still in the air above it, so the pilot immediately sees if the target was hit. With the atomic bomb, according to scientists, the plane had to be nine miles away before the bomb detonated or they "wouldn't make it," Bro. Van Kirk said. "We stripped the airplane of any weight we could to make it lighter. After releasing the bomb, we had to make an immediate 150 degree turn to get the maximum distance from the explosion. There were 43 seconds from the time the bomb was dropped to its explosion."

"All we saw was a bright flash, like a photographer's flash in a dark closet. The first shock wave, with a magnitude of 2½ g, hit us and it sounded like sheet metal snapping. We turned around to take a look and saw the large white cloud well above our altitude. It was shades and hues of purple on top and white around the base. The entire city was covered with thick black smoke, so we couldn't make any visuals of the damage."

After that unforgettable flight one summer day, debates flourished about the use of nuclear weapons. Immediately after the war, people seemed in favor of using atomic bombs, but as time has passed, opinion has changed and the today the argument still rages.

"It caused a lot of casualties, but overall saved many lives. The Japanese would not have surrendered by August 6. They had large land armies and thousands of people were being killed throughout China and other countries they had invaded," Bro. Van Kirk said. "Now that we understand the dangers of using one, I hope atomic weapons are never again used in warfare."

His military service earned him a Silver Star and other medals and ribbons. He went on to receive a bachelor's and master's degree in chemical engineering and moved all over the world as an employee of DuPont. He has four children and seven grandchildren, and enjoys taking vacations with his family.

"I'm really blessed with a wonderful family," he said. "We practice togetherness, when we have the time."

His father, uncle and many other relatives were Masons, so it was an easy decision for him to join the fraternity. He has made many friends in the process. Members of his lodge presented him with his 50-year Masonic Service Award in the spring.

Bro. Van Kirk was featured in the HBO documentary, "White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," which premiered in August. He also speaks at many schools and other events, including a recent occasion at his lodge. The interview requests have waned over the years, although close to the anniversary of the bombing, he receives inquiries from talk shows and radio shows.

A modern-day hero, patriot and Mason, Bro. Van Kirk's brave and selfless service helped to change the course of history and preserve the freedom we enjoy today.

4 December 2008

In a basement room cluttered with the guts of a giant theater organ, Don Frerichs, handling a hot soldering ron, connects tiny electrical wires inside the instrument's marimba mechanism. iHe is one of 10 volunteers restoring and installing a 1924 Wurlitzer at the Masonic Auditorium theater on Euclid Avenue and East 36th Street. Over the last 15 months, the volunteers -- members of the Western Reserve Theatre Organ Society -- have been working two nights a week on the $100,000 project. They hope to be playing fugues by June.

"We're giving it our best," said volunteer Frank Sillag, slapping shellac on one of the thousands of wooden parts, this one a gizmo that strikes a crash cymbal. Unlike a church or a concert organ, a theater pipe organ is fortified with percussion, orchestral instruments and an array of crazy sounds: doorbell, train whistle, thunderstorm, horse hoofs, gong, glockenspiel, castanets, car horn and more. In the days of silent films, every movie house in America was equipped with one of these pneumatic contraptions -- usually a Wurlitzer -- accompanying the big-screen antics of tragic clowns, sinister cads and doeeyed damsels. Today, only about 500 exist.

When the 2,400-pipe instrument at the Masonic Auditorium is completed, Northeast Ohio can boast of having nine theater organs, possibly the highest concentration in the country. Because so many are here, the American Theatre Organ Society, an international organization founded 53 years ago with the aim of preserving theater organs, is holding its annual convention this July in Cleveland. "We've been getting feedback from people all over the world who are stunned by the number of functioning theater organs in Northeast Ohio," said the society's local chapter President Doug Powers. Unlike other parts of the country, Greater Cleveland has been less aggressive in tearing down old theaters, he said. And his group, which has 117 members, has been vigilant in saving the organs. "Several years ago, the major cities across the country had quite a few of these instruments up and running," said Powers. "But over the years, theaters have closed, some of them have been torn down, some of the organs sold. And it turns out that Cleveland and Northeast Ohio have quite an inventory of these instruments." Some are in private homes and some are in public places. Three are at their original venues -- the Lorain Palace Theatre, the Akron Civic Auditorium and the Canton Palace Theatre.

The Masonic Auditorium's Wurlitzer originally was in a theater in Santa Barbara CA. It was sold and resold to private collectors, and ended up disassembled and stored in a Michigan man's three-car garage.

Two years ago, the man donated it to the Cleveland group, which rented four big trucks to haul it here. In 1969, the Warner Theatre in Erie PA donated a Wurlitzer theater organ to Grays Armory in downtown Cleveland. It took the organ society 2½ years and more than 10,000 volunteer hours to install it. Grays' "Mighty Wurlitzer," maintained and used for concerts by the organ society, is equipped with 1,200 pipes, ranging 32 feet long to the size of a pencil.

The guts of the machine -- pipes, bellows, electromagnetic components, orchestral instruments and soundeffect gizmos, fill two rooms a floor above the organ. A basement room houses a powerful fan and more components. "All of this is operated by wind pressure and a little bit of electricity," Powers said. "There are no speakers. All the sounds are created by air. Everything on this organ is a product of American ingenuity, sweat and talent."

When the Wurlitzer at the Masonic Auditorium's theater is brought back to its second life, the organ society plans to run old silent films. "Theater organs were designed to take the place of the pit orchestras to accompany the silent movies back in the 1920s," said Powers. "In order to do that, the organ had to emulate all those different orchestral sounds -- trumpets, oboes, strings, drums, the crash when the comedian falls. "Some of it's kind of corny. But it can be done in such a way that is extraordinarily musical. When people hear this thing, they say, I had no idea.' "

Inside the Lodge

During the Middle Ages, the Knights Templar protected Christian pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem. But by 1321, members of the militaryreligious order, known for their role in the Crusades, were tried for heresy and the group disbanded In recent years, the order of monks has become a subject of renewed interest, and have become more popularly known as guardians of spiritual treasures, in particular the mysterious lost Holy Grail, the chalice believed to have been used by Jesus during the Last Supper.

The Templars have been featured as key players in the juicy plot lines of blockbuster motion pictures and best-selling novels — fueling keen interest in what became of the secretive group nearly 700 years ago. Those depictions, in movies like “National Treasure” and books such as “The Da Vinci Code,” are mostly fiction. But some Vatican documents giving scholars and history buffs deeper insight into the Templars’ real past were on display Friday at the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society.

The reproduction set of Vatican Templar Trial Transcripts, here for a one-day presentation, are owned by the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of Grand Lodge in Manhattan. The Masons’ ownership of the documents is somewhat ironic, because the Catholic Church historically has opposed Freemasonry and has banned Catholics from joining lodges.

Thomas M. Savini, the library’s director, acknowledged that the acquisition “will raise some eyebrows” inside and outside the Masonic fraternity.

A popular theory holds that to-day’s Masons, who number about 53,000 across New York State, including 3,000 in Erie County, evolved out of the Knights Templar. That is one of the reasons the Livingston library acquired the trial manuscripts in April.

Legend has it that the Templars went underground in the early 14th century to escape persecution by the inquisitors of King Philip IV of France, then emerged two centuries later in Scotland as the Freemasons. One branch of modern day Masons that was organized sometime around the turn of the 19th century even calls itself the Knights Templar.

But the connection between the Knights Templar of the Crusades and Freemasonry is “highly dubious,” Savini said. “There is no valid historical documentation establishing that link.” Due to the great deal of interest and inquiry into the possibility of a link, the library’s trustees felt a responsibility to obtain the trial documents as a resource for both Masons and non-Masons.

The library is one of just a few groups in the United States, including the Cornell University library in Ithaca, that possesses authentic reproductions of the “Processus Contra Templarios.” Seven hundred and ninety-nine numbered copies of the trial transcripts became available following the Vatican’s 2007 announcement that the original parchments, misplaced for hundreds of years, had been found. The replicas were sold for 5,000 euros (about $6,300) each.

“It’s almost a question of why wouldn’t an organization want to have this as part of their archives,” said Marlon Gayadeen, who teaches criminal justice at Buffalo State College and helped organize the Buffalo showing, one of several taking place across upstate New York.

The Masons have long been considered a secret, ritualistic society, although today’s members say those days are long past. In the 21st century, Freemasons consider their group to be a society with certain private aspects, not a “secret society” with its negative connotations. Events like the display of the Templar documents are further proof of that fact.

“We’re removing the cloak, so to speak,” Gayadeen said.

The transcripts, in tiny Latin calligraphy, re-create the folds, faded ink and mold stains found on the original. Some of the sheets are as long as 6 feet, and sewn together by thread, as was done in the 1300s. “People who are fascinated or intrigued by history can come up and touch something that represents a document from 700 years ago,” Savini said. “That tactile experience of history is an important part of education.” Friday, about 100 people in Western New York got a glimpse of the manuscripts, including the “Chinon Parchment,” in which Pope Clement V absolved the Templars of heresy charges. Leaders of the Templars were nonetheless burned at the stake under King Philip IV, who sought to erase his considerable debt to the financially savvy warrior monks by banishing them.

He always spoke for the underdog, the down-trodden, the less fortunate. "We will never have true civilization", he said, "until we have learned to recognize the rights of others". Politicians of both major parties held him in esteem, for they knew all to well that it was he, not they, who represented the voting public. He spoke to American's hearts with an honesty and clearness of thought that they themselves would have said if given the chance. Yet he was never arrogant, never pretentious. "I'm for the cut's and ag'in, the in's", he would say. This wasn't meant as some political statement but as a way to keep the pompous leaders in their place. He spread the Brotherly Love of our Society along the highways and byways of his wonderful life while at the same time, he exposed the Truth of the human spirit. To put it simply, he was a good man who brought out the good in others. It was these beautiful qualities that rate Brother Will the title "Ambassador of Goodwill".

"This country is not where it is today on account of any one man. It is here on account of the real common sense of the Big Normal Majority". Brother Will said this and meant it. He spoke the language of the common people, the "Big Normal Majority", as he called them. He believed in the every day working people, the farmers and ranchers, the family grocer, the shop keeper, the day laborer and all people everywhere who worked for a living because he knew these people, these "folks", were the backbone of America. It's not the millionaires or captains of industry, it's the common people that have always held this nation together. Brother Will knew this and said so in a rich, twangy voice that was never mean spirited, but always to the point.

He believed in progress as long as it helped his people, if it made their lives a little easier, he was for it. He was a staunch supporter of air flight and knew it would some day be of great benefit to the working people he so eloquently championed. He also believed the automobile was the poor mans leveler to the rich. Brother Will had personal relationships with two pioneers of these respective fields, Brothers Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford. Yet his heart remained in those bygone days of the open range land, and his eyes were forever fixed upon the horizon of Faith, Hope and Charity, things that Masonry strives to keep alive.

Though Brother Will lived the last several years of his life in the fast-paced world of Hollywood and rubbed elbows with the powerful and famous, as he rambled and joked his way across the length and breadth of the earth, he remained the plain, easy going, unpretentious country boy. He loved the simple things in life as he loved the common people. "Everyone has deep in his heart, the old town or community where he first went barefooted, got his first licking, traded the first pocket knife, grew up and finally went away thinking he was too big for that Burg. But that's where your heart is".

"What constitutes a life well spent"?, he once questioned. "Love and admiration from our fellowmen is all that anyone can ask." A proper answer from a man whose famous quote stands like a granite monument as to how he believed and who he was: "I've joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn't like."

This energetic, plain spoken, bowlegged, beloved Brother Mason's life ended entirely too soon, when on August 15, 1935, he was killed in a tragic airplane crash near the lonely Alaska n outpost of Point Barrow with famed aviator Brother Wiley Post. One must wonder "what if. What if we had Brother Will's insightful wisdom for the years to come, for he had such an influence, not only on this country, but the entire world as well. He detested dictators and intolerance and said so in a manner that everyone could understand. He was a proud man with deep convictions - convictions born on the Oklahoma prairies, honed in the Lodge Halls of Freemasonry and polished as a learned citizen of the world.

His good friend and Brother Mason, Eddie Cantor, wrote of his passing: "Will Rogers was probably the most beloved man of our time. He was one man in the entertainment world who more than balanced by his exemplary life any of the scandals involving people of the theater. He was the most charitable, most tolerant man I have ever known. There wasn't an atom of envy in his system".

Thus, my question is answered. The bond between Brother Will and myself, as well as with all of us who can claim membership in the Ancient and Honorable Society of Freemasonry, is greater than the span of time. The cement that binds us together goes beyond any religious, social or political status and propels us to be Brethren of a truly miraculous Fraternity. We as Masons today can and should look to our glorious past and to Brothers like Will Rogers. He was, by no means perfect, just a good common man who achieved uncommon good for himself and the world around him. He lived for the betterment of his fellowman. He knew from "Whence He Came"; we should know the same.

Brother Will once remarked: "They may call me a 'rube' and a 'hick', but I'd a lot rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the man who sold it". To me, that sums up the philosophy of this man and Mason. To me, that is Will Rogers. I'm proud to call him BROTHER!

Bro. T. L. Thompson Is a Past Master of "Iredell Lodge #405, A.F.& A.M., Iredell, Texas, He is Past High Priest of Meridian Chapter # 153, R.A.M. and Past Thrice Illustrious Master of Meridian Council #95, R & S.M. and a member of Granbury Commandery #100, K T He is a 32° Scottish Rite Mason In the Valley of Fort Worth and a member of the Texas Lodge of Research.