Secret fraternity associated with Jews, and thus persecuted during the Holocaust.
The Masonic movement was founded in England in 1717. Jews were admitted to its English lodges by 1732, and later on in the Netherlands, Germany, France, and other European countries. The lodges were open to Jews until the 1870s; with the advent of political Antisemitism in the 1880s, Jews were forced out. This led to the growth of Jewish fraternities such as BÕnai BÕrith. However, the association between Jews and Freemasons was already being touted by right-wing organizations in Germany as early as the 1840s. Soon the notion of their alliance spread to France, and then throughout the world.
Catholic groups strongly believed that the Masonic lodges were a cover for a Jewish plot to eradicate Christianity. An anti-Masonic world congress met in Trent, Italy, in September 1894; it was supported by Pope Leo XIII.
After World War I anti-Jewish literature, such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, repeated these false claims of Jewish-Masonic brotherhood. Freemasonry was considered an enemy of Nazi ideology, so a special section of the Security Service was designated to deal with it. Some Masons were sent to Concentration Camps.
