Читать книгу Fritz Perls in Berlin 1893 - 1933 - Bernd Bocian - Страница 25

In 1914, A. P. Eberhard published a book entitled Von den Winkellogen Deutschlands (Germany’s Irregular Lodges) which contains a chapter on »Gründungen des Nathan Perls in Berlin 1892–1913« (Lodges Founded by Nathan Perls in Berlin 1892–1913). Nathan Perls was not a member of the exclusively Jewish B’nai B’rith lodges that had also existed in Germany since 1882 and to which Freud had belonged. This is an indication that Perls viewed himself not primarily as a Jew but rather as a humanist in the sense of the Enlightenment. I suspect that initially Nathan Perls’s ambition was directed toward becoming a member of one of Prussia’s major legal Freemason lodges, rather than a typical bourgeois-Jewish parallel organization (B’nai B’rith, for example) that existed for all types of German clubs and associations. Historically speaking, Hermann Settegast was an important figure in this respect. He interpreted the concept of Freemasonry in a liberal-humanitarian sense and was up in arms that existing Prussian grand lodges held a monopoly on founding new ones and that »Jewish seekers« were not accepted (Peters ibid., 138). In the year 1892, he founded his own lodge without permission from the official grand lodges and brought a successful law suit for the right to do so. Nathan Perls is listed among the founders of Settegast’s lodge (see Peters ibid., 147). However, the by-laws of the new lodge required that members had previously belonged to recognized lodges. For Nathan Perls, a member of the Odd Fellows, this did not apply, and he was therefore »not allowed to participate in further deliberations« (Eberhardt 1914, 109). Since the Settegast action had opened up the possibility, Nathan thereupon founded the first of his own independent lodges of the »Unabhängiger Freimaurerorden – Orden der Humanisten« (Independent Order of Freemasons – Order of Humanists) (ibid.). Many other lodges would be founded subsequently. Eberhard reports: »Perls is a man of good extraction and has an extensive circle of acquaintances and clients. It is therefore not difficult for him to establish a number of lodges in a wide range of German cities in a matter of only a few months. After all, he travels some nine months a year« (ibid.).

Within a very brief span of time, Perls’s lodge encompassed 200, then 300 members. Over the course of the turbulent history of the order, lodges were established in the cities of Berlin, Charlottenburg, Breslau, Stettin, Leipzig, Dresden, Halle, Elberfeld, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Dortmund, Essen, Bremen, Hamburg, and Munich, which can be taken as evidence that Perls’s wine business had expanded across all of Germany.

Perls’s lodges consisted of both Christian and Jewish members, and in Berlin he also established a lodge for women (sisters) which was soon dissolved, however, under pressure from the male lodges. There was a death benefit fund for widows, an assistance fund from which the lodge brothers could receive loans, and two lodges published a journal. The second, called »Freie Bauhütte« (Free Mason’s Lodge) was the official organ of Perls’s »Große Freimaurerloge Kaiser Friedrich zur Duldsamkeit. Großorient Berlin« (Grand Freemason Lodge for Emperor Friedrich and Tolerance. Grand Orient of Berlin) (ibid., 17).

As a rule, problems would emerge in the lodges of Grand Master Perls after some time. On two occasions, the Grand Master was excluded from lodges he himself had founded. One time, a schism arose because a competitor to Nathan had come forward. As early as the end of 1896, a peculiar lodge visit is said to have taken place. The sworn statement of a witness reads:

Years ago, in the lodge he headed, he introduced an elegantly dressed older gentleman who was supposedly a high-ranking dignitary from the English lodge – this under the condition that no one spoke to the man because he understood no German and was still extremely tired from traveling. He feted the dignitary in a lofty speech and then allowed him to remove himself again in silence. As it turned out, the high dignitary was Perls’s father-in-law. Perls was expelled from the lodge. (ibid., 14)

Another event brings to mind the later relationship between Fritz Perls and Paul Goodman. The writer Dr. Hans Spatzier was a member of one of the lodges. »Due to his intellectual superiority and excellent talent as a speaker, he all too soon became a most dangerous rival for ›most worshipful‹ Grand Master Perls« (ibid., 13). Since acceptance at the lodges was swift and uncomplicated, there was apparently a lack of discipline, and differences arose among the members. The majority of the lodge members demitted together with Dr. Spatzier. In a relatively short time, Perls had built up the membership of the grand lodge again by founding new lodges on his business travels. Since Perls was on the road too much for their taste, after some time the new lodge brothers elected Charlottenburg City Councilman R. Issac as Grand Master, naming Perls Provincial Grand Master »in order not to make him overly angry« (ibid., 15). »Nevertheless, the Grand Master was soon forced to expel the Provincial Grand Master on the grounds of un-masonlike conduct. Yet, as the Provincial Grand Master wrote in a press feud in 1903, it was of his own free will that he left the lodge he himself had founded (ibid., 15).

Beginning in 1911, a sisterhood existed in Berlin once again, and according to Eberhardt, one of the peculiarities of life in the Perlsian lodges was that »at lodge celebrations the sisters [are allowed to] participate in temple dedications,« and then »the evening is allowed to end with dancing« (ibid., 18). Based on everything that Eberhard reports, I have formed the impression that Nathan Perls simply did whatever he liked, much like his son later on. For example, there are reports ranging from incredulous to outraged that Nathan »had his brothers dine in Moorish clothing in the presence of guests and that he presented lodge sash and neck jewel to brothers on a Sunday in a profane café over a glass of beer« (ibid., 16). The number of lodge foundings – in some cities there were several – is almost impossible to grasp, as is »the number of curses that Perls … has already heaped upon his own head« (ibid., 18). One of the disappointed brothers wrote, »Each person creates the destiny he deserves; some people absolutely deserve Perls as a worshipful Grand Master!« (ibid., 19).

Eberhard also reports on another side of Nathan Perls and claims that he has been repeatedly informed that:

Perls was a master par excellence at stocking the wine cellars of the lodges, and as a result the brothers had the right drop of wine sparkling in their glasses for every occasion. (…) Perls enjoys seeing himself as the center of attention with everything revolving around him, and if those circumstances allow him to sell some of his wine, then that would naturally be most welcome to him. (…) The lodge brothers are delighted and actually thrust themselves forward when they can buy from their Grand Master. It must be mentioned, however, that to my knowledge Perls did not take advantage of the situation in as much as he always sold qualitatively good wine at reasonable prices. One oc casionally also hears that as a result of his »good-heartedness« Perls raised a number of brothers to the degree of Master in the magical atmosphere and under the egalitarian influence of beer shared in a convivial setting« (ibid., 22).