The Pipe Organ

When Adolph Hitler came to power in Germany he was determined to squash any people or groups he perceived as a threat. Among those groups were the Freemasons, who were among the first to feel the impact of his ruthlessness.  In 1935, there were 80,000 members of the Fraternity in Germany, with many majestic lodges throughout the country.

The temple in Frankfurt was one of the premiere Masonic halls there.  The Lodge hall was on the top floor. It was beautifully decorated with the pride of the Lodge, an elaborate pipe organ standing in the southwest corner.  The dazzling instrument supplied the music and added to the majesty of every Masonic occasion.

When Hitler dissolved the Masonic Lodges, his thugs moved in and gutted the buildings, taking records, books, furniture and paraphernalia, either destroying what they had taken or selling it.  In the wake of this, the Brethren in Frankfurt learned their great pipe organ had been dismantled and taken away. The Brothers attempted to find what had happened to the instrument, but their requests were only met with scorn. The great organ was lost and its music, along with the Frankfurt Lodge itself, had been silenced.

A decade passed. Finally the war was over, Hitler defeated and Lodges in Germany and, for that matter, all over Europe were able to take up labors again.  One of the first orders of business in Frankfurt was to attempt to locate and reclaim the magnificent pipe organ. Brother Karl Nuckell, organist and Grand Secretary led a group of Brothers in the search.  They appealed to the company that built and maintained the organ, feeling it would have been employed to maintain the instrument wherever it had been taken. The company refused to cooperate until Brother Nuckell threatened to sue.  With that, the company's management told him they had installed the organ in a small Catholic Church in Wiesbaden.

Nuckell and his Brothers traveled to Wiesbaden where they found their precious instrument.  The head priest there refused even to discuss the possibility of returning it.  The Brothers then filed a claim with the government which, conducted an inquiry.

Karl Nuckell at the Frankfurt pipe organ

The priest claimed he was the rightful owner of the pipe organ, having legally purchased it from the government in power at the time. It came out, however, that the Nazis had sold the organ to the church for a fraction of its value. With that, the inquiry ruled the instrument had been illegally seized and returned it to its rightful owners, the Lodge.

Once the organ was returned and installed, the Brothers gathered to hear its music fill the Lodge hall once again. Brother Nuckell selected a piece he thought appropriate for the occasion and which would emphasize the grandeur of the priceless instrument.  As the Brothers waited with anticipation, Brother Nuckell sat down and struck up the booming notes of A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. The great pipe organ was back home.