Jews and Freemasonry in Europe

Freemasonry, an initiatory sociability movement born in the early eighteenth century and bearing universalist and fraternal ideals, offered emancipated Jews a space for mixed encounter with their Christian fellow citizens, at a time when few institutions permitted this. After the emancipation that followed the French Revolution, Jews joined lodges in considerable numbers in several Western European countries, seeing in them a place of integration consonant with Enlightenment values, even though certain obediences, notably in Germany, long resisted their admission. This participation was part of the broader movement of Jewish entry into the civic and associative life of modern societies. But the association between Judaism and Freemasonry also became a recurring theme in antisemitic propaganda: the denunciation of an alleged "Judeo-Masonic" conspiracy intended to subvert the Christian order was spread by counter-revolutionary circles and later by authoritarian regimes and Nazism, which persecuted Jews and Freemasons alike. This conspiracy myth enjoyed a considerable longevity.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan
• Jewish Virtual Library ↗