Svobodní zednáři v Žatci – Čechurová Jana, Kardoš Rudolf, Salavová Mirka (2020)

Freemasonry is a phenomenon that continues to evoke extraordinary interest, stimulates the imagination, and often awakens in us the notion of a mysterious community that orchestrates a global conspiracy. But what was the real life of the members of this secret order like during the First Republic, and how did it influence the daily lives of its members and the society in which it operated? One of the areas where Freemasonry flourished is Žatec. The book offers a sober view of one of the many Masonic lodges that operated in Czech territory from the final period of the Habsburg monarchy until the signing of the Munich Agreement in September 1938. It is thus possible, through the fates and stories of specific personalities from the First Republic, to glimpse who gathered in the Žatec lodge Kette zur Freiheit, what social backgrounds its members came from, and how the individual meetings of this society took place. Complementing the picture of German Freemasonry in Czechoslovakia, at the center of which this lodge stood, are chapters dedicated to Czech-German relations during this period, focused specifically on Freemasons and their activities. The book presents a rich array of visual materials, much of which has not been publicly published in this way before.