Freemason Esperanto Patronage Committee

In a 1922 Bulletin of the French federation of Le Droit Humain there is a short notice of a newly founded committee to spread the use of the artificial language Esperanto.

1922 Is also the year that Franz Eduard Farwerck (1889-1969) became the Dutch representative for the Supreme Council. Farwerck was one such ‘espérantiste’. He was active in Esperanto circles. In January 1922 the first lodge of Le Droit Humain was founded in Germany. Initially I thought that this was an initiative of the Dutch federation, but recently I found out that it was actually a group of ‘esperantists’ who founded that lodge! This group included Farwerck, a member of the Italian federation of Le Droit Humain and known German esperantists. See here for more information.

I already knew that at an international Esperanto convention in 1920, plans were forged to form the International Freemason League and the idea for the German mixed gender lodge apparently came during the German Esperanto meeting in 1922. I don’t know yet if the lodge “Goethe Zum Flammenden Stern” (‘Goethe to the blazing star’) initially worked in Esperanto. Rituals in Esperanto have been available in 1920, so this is not impossible.

Already in the French federation there appears to have been an Esperanto movement judging the announcement in the Bulletin. French Grand Master Eugène Piron was a member of the committee, so the project appears to have had quite some prestige. It is a bit odd that Farwerck isn’t mentioned. I can’t imagine that in Paris the fact that Esperantists founded a Le Droit Humain lodge had been missed.

The timing is suggestive. Piron as Grand Master, Farwerck became Dutch representative in the year that several Esperanto initiatives were started.