Supreme Being
04-15-2008, 08:23 PM
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The "Forget Me Not" Pin and Freemasonry
The Legend
In the years between WW1 and WW2 the blue forget-me-not was a standard symbol used by most charitable organizations in Germany, with a very clear meaning: "Do not forget the poor and the destitute".
It was first introduced in German Masonry in 1926. That was a terrible time in Germany, economically speaking, further aggravated in 1929 following that year's "Great Depression". That economic situation contributed a lot to Hitler's accession to power. Very many people depended on charity, some of which was Masonic. Distributing the forget-me-not was meant to remind German Brethren of the charitable activities of the Grand Lodge.
In early 1934, soon after Hitler's rise to power, it became evident that Freemasonry was in danger. In that same year, one of the pre-war German Grand Lodges, realizing the grave dangers involved, adopted the little blue Forget-Me-Not flower as a substitute for the traditional square and compasses. It was felt the flower would provide brethren with an outward means of identification while lessening the risk of possible recognition in public by the Nazis, who were engaged in wholesale confiscation of all Masonic Lodge properties. Freemasonry went undercover, and this delicate flower assumed its role as a symbol of Masonry surviving throughout the reign of darkness.
During the ensuing decade of Nazi power a little blue Forget-Me-Not flower worn in a Brother's lapel served as one method whereby brethren could identify each other in public, and in cities and concentration camps throughout Europe. The Forget-Me-Not distinguished the lapels of countless brethren who staunchly refused to allow the symbolic Light of Masonry to be completely extinguished.
When the Lodges reopened in 1947, a little pin in the shape of a Forget-Me-Not was officially adopted as the emblem of that first annual convention of the
brethren who had survived the bitter years of semi-darkness to rekindle the Masonic Light.
In 1948, the pin was adopted as an official Masonic emblem in honor of the thousands of valiant Brethren who carried on their masonic work under adverse conditions. The following year, each delegate to the Conference of Grand Masters in Washington, D.C., received one and thus the symbol spread from Europe to the US.
Thus did a simple flower blossom forth into a symbol of the fraternity, and become perhaps the most widely worn emblem among Freemasons in Germany and the US; a pin presented ceremoniously to newly-made Masons in most Lodges. In the years since adoption, its significance world-wide has been attested to by the tens of thousands of brethren who now display it with meaningful pride.
The Facts
1. The Grand Lodge zur Sonne (Bayreuth) let a pin be made for its yearly meetings and it gave one to each delegate. Those made for the meeting held in Bremen about 1926 represented a forget-me-not, and were manufactured in a factory located in Selb, a small town near Bayreuth. The Brethren from Bayreuth never thought of replacing the Square and Compasses with a forget-me-not.
2. In 1934, the Nazis invented the so-called Winterhilfswerk, which consisted in collecting money on the streets during specific weeks in winter. The money was in fact used for rearmament. Youngsters were requested to participate, by handing out hundreds of badges, sometimes pins, to be sold at a minimum price. Different ones were chosen each winter and they were worn only during the time of a collection to identify those who had already contributed.
3. By an extraordinary coincidence, the badge used by the Nazis for the collection made in March 1938 happened to be the very forget-me-not pin chosen by the Freemasons in 1926 and it was made by the same factory in Selb. No doubt Freemasons who attended the Bremen meeting of 1926 were glad to wear it again twelve years later. However it is out of question that such a pin could have been worn after the March 1938 collection : wearing a mark or a badge which did not originate in the Party was a criminal offence under the Nazi regime.
4. When Grand Master Vogel installed a new Lodge at Selb in 1948, he remembered the story of the pin. Since the factory and the mould still existed, he let a large quantity be made anew and distributed them as a token of friendship whenever he made official visits abroad, especially in the U.S.A.
5. This explains why the blue forget-me-not turned out to be regarded as an official German Masonic emblem after the war. Grand Master Vogel told the 1938 story while in America. However, the point made was outwitting the Nazis and their Winterhilfe badge.
6. This also explains why, when American Masons later founded military Lodges in Germany, some of them chose that flower as a Lodges name. Such is the case of Lodge N° 896, Forget me not, in Heilbronn, warranted by the American Canadian Grand Lodge in 1965.
Conclusion
It rapidly became quite impossible to risk wearing anything but Nazi pins. So there were probably only a very few Brethren wearing the forget-me-not, and probably only for a brief time, until wearing any non-Nazi pins became suspect. There is absolutely no record of the pin, or the flower, ever having been worn during the war (that is after 1939), even less in concentration camps, as the legend also goes.
It is unlikely that it was often worn even in the dark days of the Third Reich... it is unlikely such a symbol would have long remained unknown, unless it was employed most sparingly.
It is true that the flower was used by some German Masons about 1926, and it appears likely that in March 1938 some of them did wear it again as a Nazi badge, even though by an extraordinary coincidence, it had been chosen as a Masonic emblem twelve years earlier. It is likely not true that it was ever worn after March 1938 as a secret mean of recognition.
Regardless of its origins or legend attached to it, the little blue foget-me-not flower remains a symbol of charity and Masonic identity to this day.
*Compiled by me from various sources and authors.
The "Forget Me Not" Pin and Freemasonry
The Legend
In the years between WW1 and WW2 the blue forget-me-not was a standard symbol used by most charitable organizations in Germany, with a very clear meaning: "Do not forget the poor and the destitute".
It was first introduced in German Masonry in 1926. That was a terrible time in Germany, economically speaking, further aggravated in 1929 following that year's "Great Depression". That economic situation contributed a lot to Hitler's accession to power. Very many people depended on charity, some of which was Masonic. Distributing the forget-me-not was meant to remind German Brethren of the charitable activities of the Grand Lodge.
In early 1934, soon after Hitler's rise to power, it became evident that Freemasonry was in danger. In that same year, one of the pre-war German Grand Lodges, realizing the grave dangers involved, adopted the little blue Forget-Me-Not flower as a substitute for the traditional square and compasses. It was felt the flower would provide brethren with an outward means of identification while lessening the risk of possible recognition in public by the Nazis, who were engaged in wholesale confiscation of all Masonic Lodge properties. Freemasonry went undercover, and this delicate flower assumed its role as a symbol of Masonry surviving throughout the reign of darkness.
During the ensuing decade of Nazi power a little blue Forget-Me-Not flower worn in a Brother's lapel served as one method whereby brethren could identify each other in public, and in cities and concentration camps throughout Europe. The Forget-Me-Not distinguished the lapels of countless brethren who staunchly refused to allow the symbolic Light of Masonry to be completely extinguished.
When the Lodges reopened in 1947, a little pin in the shape of a Forget-Me-Not was officially adopted as the emblem of that first annual convention of the
brethren who had survived the bitter years of semi-darkness to rekindle the Masonic Light.
In 1948, the pin was adopted as an official Masonic emblem in honor of the thousands of valiant Brethren who carried on their masonic work under adverse conditions. The following year, each delegate to the Conference of Grand Masters in Washington, D.C., received one and thus the symbol spread from Europe to the US.
Thus did a simple flower blossom forth into a symbol of the fraternity, and become perhaps the most widely worn emblem among Freemasons in Germany and the US; a pin presented ceremoniously to newly-made Masons in most Lodges. In the years since adoption, its significance world-wide has been attested to by the tens of thousands of brethren who now display it with meaningful pride.
The Facts
1. The Grand Lodge zur Sonne (Bayreuth) let a pin be made for its yearly meetings and it gave one to each delegate. Those made for the meeting held in Bremen about 1926 represented a forget-me-not, and were manufactured in a factory located in Selb, a small town near Bayreuth. The Brethren from Bayreuth never thought of replacing the Square and Compasses with a forget-me-not.
2. In 1934, the Nazis invented the so-called Winterhilfswerk, which consisted in collecting money on the streets during specific weeks in winter. The money was in fact used for rearmament. Youngsters were requested to participate, by handing out hundreds of badges, sometimes pins, to be sold at a minimum price. Different ones were chosen each winter and they were worn only during the time of a collection to identify those who had already contributed.
3. By an extraordinary coincidence, the badge used by the Nazis for the collection made in March 1938 happened to be the very forget-me-not pin chosen by the Freemasons in 1926 and it was made by the same factory in Selb. No doubt Freemasons who attended the Bremen meeting of 1926 were glad to wear it again twelve years later. However it is out of question that such a pin could have been worn after the March 1938 collection : wearing a mark or a badge which did not originate in the Party was a criminal offence under the Nazi regime.
4. When Grand Master Vogel installed a new Lodge at Selb in 1948, he remembered the story of the pin. Since the factory and the mould still existed, he let a large quantity be made anew and distributed them as a token of friendship whenever he made official visits abroad, especially in the U.S.A.
5. This explains why the blue forget-me-not turned out to be regarded as an official German Masonic emblem after the war. Grand Master Vogel told the 1938 story while in America. However, the point made was outwitting the Nazis and their Winterhilfe badge.
6. This also explains why, when American Masons later founded military Lodges in Germany, some of them chose that flower as a Lodges name. Such is the case of Lodge N° 896, Forget me not, in Heilbronn, warranted by the American Canadian Grand Lodge in 1965.
Conclusion
It rapidly became quite impossible to risk wearing anything but Nazi pins. So there were probably only a very few Brethren wearing the forget-me-not, and probably only for a brief time, until wearing any non-Nazi pins became suspect. There is absolutely no record of the pin, or the flower, ever having been worn during the war (that is after 1939), even less in concentration camps, as the legend also goes.
It is unlikely that it was often worn even in the dark days of the Third Reich... it is unlikely such a symbol would have long remained unknown, unless it was employed most sparingly.
It is true that the flower was used by some German Masons about 1926, and it appears likely that in March 1938 some of them did wear it again as a Nazi badge, even though by an extraordinary coincidence, it had been chosen as a Masonic emblem twelve years earlier. It is likely not true that it was ever worn after March 1938 as a secret mean of recognition.
Regardless of its origins or legend attached to it, the little blue foget-me-not flower remains a symbol of charity and Masonic identity to this day.
*Compiled by me from various sources and authors.