Tomáš G. Masaryk na stránkách periodika Die Drei Ringe 1925‒1938

The authors of this study have researched an internal periodical of the German Free Masons Die Drei Ringe which was published from the year 1925 until 1938. Their interest focuses on the attitude of the German Free Masons towards the figure of T. G. Masaryk in the First Czechoslovak Republic. There are neither positive nor negative expressions of interest towards the first President until the year 1929. An increasing number of references and a growing intensity of expressed esteem are apparent as of 1930. German Free Masons in Bohemia and Moravia were especially attracted to Masaryk’s concept of humanity, democracy and equality of nations. Much less focus is given to the religious dimension of Masaryk’s thinking, probably only from the side of the German professor of philosophy Oscar Kraus who presents Masaryk’s practical monotheist religiosity, naturally very understandable and attractive for the Free Masons. It is evident, however, that German Free Masons hold a strongly positive attitude towards Czechoslovakia, the country in which they lived, so they could be paradoxically referred to as true "Czechoslovakians".