|
The Forget-Me-Not
(Das
Vergissmeinnicht)
The Story Behind
This Beloved Emblem Of The Craft in Germany
In Early 1934,
soon after Hitler's rise to power, it became
evident that Freemasonry was in danger. In that
same year, the "Grand Lodge of the Sun" (one of
the pre-war German Grand Lodges, located in
Bayreuth) 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 'Grand
Lodge of the Sun' was reopened in Bayreuth in
1947, by Past Grand Master Beyer, 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.
At the first
Annual Convent of the new United Grand Lodge of
Germany AF&AM (VGLvD), 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 from Dr. Theodor Vogel, Grand
Master of the VGLvD.
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; a pin
presented ceremoniously to newly-made Masons in
most of the Lodges of the American-Canadian
Grand Lodge, AF&AM within the United Grand
Lodges of Germany. 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. Many
Freemasons in the United Kingdom wear this pin
and you will see it worn throughout the length
and breadth of the country, not just in Masonic
Lodges but generally to denote the wearer as a
Freemason. Obviously because of the attraction
caution must be observed.
|
