Lodge "Zur gekrönten Unschuld", Nordhausen

In 2026, a book from the library of the St. John’s Lodge “Zur gekrönten Unschuld” in Nordhausen could be returned.

The book was acquired by the Berlin City Library (Berliner Stadtbibliothek, BStB) after the end of the war in 1945 via the Salvage Office for Academic Libraries (Bergungsstelle für wissenschaftliche Bibliotheken), salvage order 15 (“Library of the SS Reich Security Main Office”). The Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt, RSHA) had gathered looted books from across Europe in an expropriated lodge building at Eisenacher Str. 11–13 in Berlin Schöneberg. The aim was to establish an “enemies library”. After the end of the war in 1945, parts of these books were distributed by the Salvage Office to libraries in Berlin, in particular to the BStB.

The stamp in the book clearly identifies the Nordhausen lodge as the previous owner. Founded in 1790, its membership had grown to 260 by 1931. In 1935, the lodge was dissolved and its property confiscated.

As early as 1933, Freemasonry in Germany was subjected to persecution by the Nazi regime. In 1935, the remaining lodges – which had not yet disbanded of their own accord under mounting pressure – were banned and dissolved by a decree issued by Reich Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick on 17 August of that year. The same decree stipulated that the lodges’ assets were to be seized and confiscated, as they were deemed to be “intended for activities hostile to the people and the state”. The St. John’s Lodge “Zur gekrönten Unschuld” was re-established in 1991.