Keresés
Könyvek
Belépés
History of the Martinovics Lodge
The oldest masonique lodge to‑day in Hungary is named after Ignác Martinovics. This lodge in spite of two bans making regular work impossible, kept on with uninterrupted activity for a hundred years.
At the beginning, its origination was related to the unfolding radical movement of the early 20th Century. Oszkár Jászi was the principal leader of the movement, its objective was to obtain rights of voting and secret ballot for all adults, agrarian reform, (redistribution of land), reform of the educational system and autonomy for the ethnic minorities in the framework of a renewed monarchy.
In November 3rd of 1907 forty‑four radical minded freemasons decided that within the masonic organization they would start inter‑lodge‑communication and activity. Several conservative and moderate minded lodge was disapproving the effort, however since the idea was not influenced by active party‑politics the protest soon subsided, diminished.
May 27th of 1908 eight member left the Demokrácia Lodge: Jeno Gönczi, civil servant, Ede Harkányi, lawyer; Oszkar Jaszi social scientist; Géza Marschan, lawyer, Gyula Rácz, statistician, Imre Székely, lawyer; Pál Szende, lawyer and columnists, and Zoltán Zigány, educator. They elected Zoltán Zigany for the first President (Worshipful Master) of the Lodge.
The goals and objectives of the Lodge according to their program; “ to formulate the potential possibilities for the progressive middle‑class and the working class to conduct the historical task ahead of them and the society in the near future, which can be achieved only by the collaboration of these classes. We wish for the benefit of an educated and prosperous Hungary to unite workers and intellectuals in solidarity of the democratic and industrious middle class: for this very reason we have chosen for the lodge’s name of the martyred freemason Ignác Martinovics who represented the idea of radical democracy and the concept of free‑thinking enlightenment as well.”
During the first decade of the Lodge, to 1918, the lodge counted eighty members. From the field of literature and arts: Endre Ady, Lajos Bíró, György Bölöni, Géza Csáth, Géza Lengyel, Endre Nagy, Béla Reinitz, Gyula Szini, Aladár Schöpflin, professors: Erno Czóbel, Ede Rózsa, Zoltán Zigány, the legal profession was represented by: Samuel Beck, Béla Halasi, Ede Harkányi, Artur Székely, and government office holders: Gyula Conrád, Miklós Iván, Oszkár Jászi and Pál Sándor represented the politicians.
In 1911 Oszkár Jászi was elected President of the Lodge. In his inauguration address he stated the following: “I would consider the crowning of our effort if we could hand over a modern, intelligent Hungarian history to the people of the country. Such history that is not connected or serving directly to any political party or “ school” and just simply applying the socio‑ knowledge that would illuminate with the torch of comprehension the academic ignoramuses, the intellectual servile whom are perpetrating today as the chronicle of history.
Such history which is not a political essay or an indoctrinating database, instead the kind that without sentiments reveals the dual nature of history that will deal with the interplay, interrelations and the final results of history and culture and state and labour.”
They were disbursing these viewpoints with the cooperation of other masonic inspired organizations like the Free School of Social Sciences, also under the directorship of Oszkár Jászi. They were struggling for the realization and implementation of the these ideals at the National Coalition for the Right of Voting, the members of these organizations came from the masonic lodges, they were supporting both morally and financially the Hungarian Society of Freethinkers and the Galilei Circle as well. The members of the Martinovics Lodge were involved as contributors and editors in two publications, the 20th Century monthly and the Világ (World), platforms for propagating the notions of their beliefs. In 1914 with several lodge members and Jászi as leader they launched the Civic Radical Party.
Jaszi later, during the time of his emigration he considered a huge mistake to form a political party because he realized the fact that he personally was not suited for such endeavour. At the same time he bitterly summed up his contemporary masons: “besides an outstanding, very small, educated, brave and self scarifying minority the average freemason leader is a mediocre speaker, enjoying a joyous diner with a insatiable appetite, remains a man of public life, who in the closed, contained separation of the masonic lodge bravely voices his protest, disapproving the dark forces of the powerful in the society, but when the moment of truth comes he meekly steps aside”.
In 1920 the counter revolutionary Horthy Government, enforcing an earlier directive of communist Béla Kun bans freemasonry in Hungary. The regular activity of the Martinovics Lodge had to stop. During WW I. through his connection of the Swiss and Dutch, Jászi maintained contacts with the freemasons of the Allied Partners (Antant) French and Italian and the efforts of emperor Charles the IV th. Parallel with that he initiated a negotiation for a “separate peace” agreement. In 1919 in the Károlyi Government he lead the Department of Nationalities but before the communist takeover he left, immigrated to Vienna. During his stay there mainly for the encouragement of Tomas Masaryk, Jaszi tried to ease up the conditions of the Peace Agreement of Trianon. Since his efforts proved futile, he left for America.
Between the two World Wars some members of the Martinovics Lodge, like Pál Sándor and Lajos Bíró emigrated, the others gathered now and then in private homes or at occasional hiking trips. Leadership was assumed by the lawyer and civil rights activis Rusztem Vambery. In 1945,
in the framework of the revitalized Grand Lodge, with the leadership Dr. Samuel Beck the Lodge‑work was restored. In 1947 Oszkár Jászi revisited Hungary, during his stay he gave an address at the Lodge.
After the ban in 1950 the Hungarian masons dispersed again. After WW I. and WW II. most of these individuals ended up in Western Europe and in the Americas some were integrated in their local Lodges. However in Canada and in Brasil they organized Hungarian language lodges. Although in 1927 in Paris a notice, request was issued for the forming of a Hungarian language lodge, this plan came to reality only in 1956. János Szego who was a naturalized French citizen after WW II. visited Budapest in the summer of 1956, during his visit Dr. Samuel Beck and Bertalan Kallós authorized him to start again the regular activity of the Martinovics Lodge in France. Masons with Hungarian origin, who belonged to various French lodges welcomed the idea and in November 12, 1956 revitalized the Martinovics Lodge under the patronage of the Grand Lodge of France. At the first meeting of the Lodge the President of the Russian Lodge in Paris gave a tearful, emotional speech, asking for excuse in the name of the oppressed Russian people for the atrocities of the Red Army during the Hungarian Revolution.
The first President of the Martinovics Lodge (in Paris) was Emil Barrey, French born but initiated in Budapest for mason and spoke the Hungarian language fluently. He was followed in Presidency by Erno Bota, the founder f the League of Human Rights, Hungarian section, after him came (Baron) Bertalan Hatvany, orientalist, successively Dr. Lászlo Robert medical biologist. During thirty years the Lodge of more or less twenty members included such artists as Lajos Babocsay, Zsigmond Kolosváry and Endre Rozsda painters, Lajos Bartha, Ervin Patkai and Péter Székely sculptors, Jozsef Gabel philosopher, university professor, Géza Radványi film director, Pal Winkler book and newspaper publisher.
The first and foremost objective was the survival of the Lodge and to cultivate the masonic activity in Hungarian. The lodges in Toronto and Sao‑Paolo, in lack of new generation masons gradually converted to English and Portugese languages. In 1956 several thousand of the young intelligentsia escaped from Hungary and arrived in Paris, from then on
time‑to‑time arrived self exiled people from their native country who could qualify for permanent resident ship, some of them could be recruited. They became the new generation of masons in the Lodge.
The second most important task, especially in consideration of the future was the initiation of the individuals whom were about to return to Hungary, also their continuous masonic education and to up keep the uninterrupted communications after they have returned to Hungary. Since travel restrictions was eased up after the 1970's these objectives were somewhat easier to accomplish. During that thirty years time span numerous intellectuals were accepted into the Martinovics Lodge.
The third objective was to organize international conventions every five years. These meetings gave the possibilities for the several hundred Hungarian born masons, who were living in the Western hemisphere, to exchange ideas, update their connections, discuss their mutual concerns, etc. Always present during these meetings was the President of the coordinating committee masons in Hungary (appointed in lack of the required regular functions and lack of conventional elections).
The delegation of the Martinovics Lodge was present on June 16 1989 at the memorial service and funeral of Imre Nagy and his martyred political associates. A few days later they organized a public conference, and on June 21 they conducted a regular, formal “St. John work”, where they’ve initiated nine new members, (all resided in Budapest). After forty years of silence this was the first time that freemasonry openly appeared before the public in Hungary.
Three years later in June 21 1991 at the one hundred and thirtieth anniversary of the Hungarian Grand Orient, at the initiative of the Martinovics Lodge two lodges were working in Budapest and one in Szeged. With a ceremonious decree the “resurrection” of the Grand Orient actually took place in 1992.
With this the mission of the late years were concluded for the Martinovics Lodge. Several members of the Lodge moved back to Hungary from Paris, others commute between France and Hungary. The Grand Lodge of France released the Martinovics Lodge from its attachment, the Lodge repatriated in September 2004 to Budapest to continue its undertakings on the homeland within the framework of the Hungarian Grand Orient, (Magyarországi Nagyoriens).
