
Freemasonry in Poland
 A Brief Outline of Its History
MW Taddeusz Gliwic, 33, Grand Master of Poland
Lekarska 19
00-610 Warsaw, Poland


Legend has it that Masonry existed in Poland under the French name La Confrerie Rouge for some years before the first official Lodge, whose authenticity is unquestioned, was founded. The first Lodge undoubtedly was created in Poland in 1742 in Wisniowiec, Wolhynia, by nobleman Andrzey Mokronowski. Mokronowski had just returned from abroad, where he was in touch with British and German Masons. The next year, Polish King August III, also the sovereign of Saxony, started a Lodge at his court under the authority of Scottish Rite sources. With royalty thus sanctioning and approving, Freemasonry spread rapidly throughout Poland.
	In 1744, Mokronowski, considered the founder of Polish Freemasonry, opened the Lodge Trzech Braci, "Three Brethren," in Warsaw, Poland's capital.  The new Lodge's membership soon reached 75. About the same time, Lodges were created in Gdansk, Danzig, Dukla, and other places. It is believed that all these Lodges worked under the Constitutions of 1723, accepted by English Freemasonry.
	In the beginning, Polish Masonry had very few native Poles among its members. In 1767, however, there was founded a purely Polish Lodge, Cnotliwy Sarmata, or "The Virtuous Sarmatan." This Lodge became the Mother Lodge of all other Polish Lodges. Its membership was composed of Brethren of all creeds, laymen being in the majority, as well as noblemen, the Catholic clergy, officers of the Polish army, and many artists, such as painters, actors, and musicians.
	September 28, 1769, marked a new and important step in the history of Polish Freemasonry. The Grand Lodge, under the French name Grande Loge "du Vertueux Sarmate" de Varsovie, was duly consecrated by August Maszynski. There were nine Polish Blue Lodges, with seven working in Poland and two abroad. The foreign Lodges consisted of political refugees, seeking safety in Austria from the Russian government which had great influence in Poland at this time.
	In 1772, the first partition of Poland occurred.  Under pressure from Russia, Prussia and Austria, Polish Freemasonry started to weaken and lose ground. Finally it ceased to meet. Then the new Grand Master, Alois Frederic Brhl, put the Polish Craft under German obedience.
	Such a situation of confusion did not last very long. Mokronowski, Ignacy Potocki, and others succeeded in establishing the new Polish Mother Lodge Katazyna pod Gwiazda Polnoona, or "Catherine under the North Star." Ignacy Potocki resumed ties with British and French Masons and secured their patronage. The delegates of the Mother Lodge "Catherine" and the other thirteen Lodges restored the Grand Lodge of Poland on December 27, 1781, under the official name "Grand Mastery of Poland and Lithuania." They adopted the regular English Constitutions, worked out the bylaws, elected Ignacy Potocki as Grand Master, and were duly recognized by the Freemasonry of Western Europe. From that time until the downfall of the Polish Republic, Freemasonry flourished in Poland.
	The second partition of Poland in 1792 was followed by Thaddeus Kosciuszko's failed War for Independence in 1794. After the fall of the Polish Republic in 1795, Freemasonry was declared unlawful by the invaders and practically ceased to exist.
	This dormancy lasted until Napoleon Bonaparte captured Warsaw, made it the county of Warsaw, and protected Freemasonry. Napoleon, of course, was a Mason. The following wars, though they played a large part in the history of Poland under the rule of the Russian Emperor, did not stop the rapid expansion of the Order. 
	Unfortunately, the period of Russian domination, which was surprisingly liberal, was extremely short. The reactionary policy of Czar Alexander I, in his capacity as Emperor and King of Poland, was displayed after three years. On October 1, 1821, Alexander I issued a decree closing all Lodges forever and confiscating their archives. Thus ended the existence of Polish Freemasonry and, ten years later, Polish autonomy itself.
	The modest return of Freemasonry began in 1909. The resurrected Craft started its work not only in spreading Masonic idealism, but also in aiding and actively promoting every effort toward regaining the country's lost independence. In 1918, Poland regained its long-desired liberty. In 1920, the Mother Lodge Kopernik was established. A few months later, September 11, 1920, a National Grand Lodge was created as well as a Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite; and thus, on the hundredth anniversary of its demolition, Polish Freemasonry took its due place in the great Masonic community of the world. In 1928 there were 13 Lodges, 10 of them in Warsaw, but the total membership was small, running less than 500. Only a few of the members were known publicly as Masons, and they were frequently attacked by the Roman Catholic newspapers. Nevertheless, Polish Masons were very influential in public life because of their intellect and high social  status. Among them were well-known politicians, artists, high officers, businessmen, and scientists.
	The leading Masonic personalities in the early 1900's were Andrzej Strug (1871-1937) the famous writer and politician; Rafak Radziwikkowics (1860-1929) the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of Poland and the Grand Master of the National Grand Lodge of Poland (N.G.L.P.) and Jan Masurkiewicz, both doctors, scientists, and Grand Masters of the N.G.L.P. Also there was Stanislaw Stampowski (1870-1952), politician,  writer, and the Sovereign Commander of the Polish Supreme Council up to 1938. Ill\  John H. Cowles, 33, the Sovereign Grand Commander of The Supreme Council, 33, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, who travelled to Poland twice, in 1928 and 1936, described the Polish Brethren as follows:
 Looking into the faces of those brethren, I saw in every feature the determination to go on and to follow their convictions. . . . They know what the word sacrifice means to maintain a cause they love, and they excite my strongest sympathy and admiration," 
"Journeyings of the Grand Commander," The New Age Magazine,Vol. 37, No. 4, April 1929, p. 235.
	Under the pressure of the Roman Catholic clergy and radical political circles, the Masonic Order was banned in Poland on November 22, 1938, by presidential decree. However, the N.G.L.P. decided to close prior to the presidential decree. Polish Freemasons have always placed great emphasis on the legality of their activities and proclaimed their attachment to the institutional state. In February 1940, outside Nazi-occupied Poland, Polish Masons resumed their activities. A Lodge Kopernik, "Copernicus," was set up by politicians and ministers of the Polish government-in-exile in Paris, France.
	After World War II, the Communists also battled against Freemasonry, declaring it had lost its original progressive character. It was not until 1961 that seven Masters who had been initiated before the war establish the Mother Lodge Kopernik in the Orient of  Warsaw, using the authority granted by the last Grand Commander, Brother Stanislaw Stempowski, 33, to Brother Mieczyslaw Bartoszkiewicz, 33. Kopernik Lodge,  the sister of its exiled Parisian equivalent, was where Polish democratic principles were forged. Among its members was the late Jan Jozef Lipski, who died in 1991. Bro\  Lipski was a leading member of the opposition Worker Defense Committee, KOR, as were many present-day democratic and liberal statesmen.
	In 1963, personal contacts were established between the Mother Lodge Kopernik in the Orient of Warsaw, and the Lodge Kopernik in the Orient of Paris. In 1989, the Paris Lodge was asked to represent Polish Freemasonry. Ill\  Brother Elvio Sciubba, 33, G\C\, from the Grand Orient of Italy met with Brethren from Warsaw on October 6, 1991, to offer assistance to the Polish Masons in rebuilding the Order in Poland. This help was accepted with gratitude, and his advice followed. On December 2, 1991, two new Lodges were awakened: Walerian Lukasinski in the Orient of Warsaw, and Przesad Zwyciezony, or "Superstition Overcome," in the Orient of Krakow. On December 9, 1991, the three Lodges decided to awaken the National Grand Lodge of Poland. About 70 national Grand Lodges around the world were informed of the event and cordially invited to take part in the ceremony. On December 27, 1991, during the formal meeting of the three Lodges--Kopernik, Walerian Lukasinski, 
and Przesad Zwyciezony--the National Grand Lodge of Poland was reestablished and its officers were elected. The  reawakening of the Polish obedience was the culmination of a long history of the Masonic Order in Poland.    s
