The Forget Me Not

Received from Bro Alistair Glenny PM


THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THIS BELOVED EMBLEM OF THE CRAFT IN GERMANY.

As early as the year 1934, soon after Hitler’s rise to power, it became apparent that Freemasonry was in danger in the same year, The German Grand Lodge of the Sun in Bayreuth (one of the pre-war German Grand Lodges), realised the imminent problems facing them and elected to wear a little blue flower, The Forget Me Not, in lieu of the traditional Square and Compasses, as a mark of identity for Masons.

It was felt the new symbol would not attract attention from the Nazis, who were in the process of confiscating and appropriating Masonic Lodges, and property, Masonry had gone underground and it was necessary that the Brethren have some readily recognisable means of identification.

Throughout the entire Nazi era, a little blue flower in a lapel marked a Brother, in the Concentration Camps and in the cities a little blue Forget Me Not distinguished the lapels of those who refused to allow the light of Freemasonry to be extinguished.

In 1947 when the Grand Lodge of the Sun was reopened by Past Grand Master Beyer, a little blue pin, in the shape of a Forget Me Not, was proposed and adopted as the official emblem of the first annual convention of those who survived the bitter years of semi-darkness, bringing the Light of Masonry once again into the Temples.

At the First Annual Convent of the United Grand Lodges of Germany, AF & AM, in 1948, the pin was adopted as an official Masonic emblem honouring those valiant Brethren who carried their work on under adverse conditions, at the Grand Masters Conference in the United States, Dr. Theodor Vogel, the Grand Masters of the newly formed VGLvD, AF & AM, presented one of the pins to each of the representatives of the Grand Jurisdictions with which the VGLvD AF & AM enjoyed Fraternal relations.

Thus did a simple flower blossom forth into a meaningful emblem of the Fraternity and became perhaps the most widely worn pin among Freemasons in Germany, in most of our Lodges the Forget Me Not is presented to new Master Masons at which time its history is briefly explained. 

VGLvD                                   Vereinigte Grosslogen von Deutschland
AF & AM                               Ancient Free and Accepted Masons