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16 | Tucholsky as a Freemason

  • Certificate Masonic

    (c) Kurt Tucholsky Literaturmuseum CC-BY-NC-SA

  • ID card Masonic L´Effort

    (c) Kurt Tucholsky Literaturmuseum CC-BY-NC-SA

  • Audio guide for reading

    Audio guide for reading

     

    Tucholsky received the freemasons-certificate on December 11th 1925 in the Avenue de Suffren in Paris. There he was promoted to the rank of a master mason together with eleven other brethren from the lodge “Les Zéles Philantrophes” (The zealous Philantrophists). In the same year he became a member of the lodge “L’effort” (The Effort).

     

    Two years previously Tucholsky decided to apply to one of the lodges, while he worked in the banking house Bett, Simon & Company. In the evening of March 24th 1924 he was admitted as Entered Apprentice to the Berlin Lodge “Zur Morgenröte” (Aurora) in the second floor of a rear building in the Wilhelmsstraße 118 in Berlin.

    And why all this freemasonry? Besides his fascination with the masons contributions to international understanding and their humanitarian ideals his answer was: “Klunkeraugen” (good connections). These contacts he made through his membership were especially of use for his work as foreign correspondent.

    His last of altogether nine lectures in lodges he held on December the 12th 1925 in the “Fraternité des Peuples”. There he read about “the intellectual German-French rapprochement”. At a debate on April 23rd, 1926 he became involved with the idea of the United States of Europe and advocated conscientious objection.

     

    The Original copy of this certificate can be found at a permanent exhibition in the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach.

    Voiced by Marianna Evenstein and Derrick Williams