Useful Yugoslavs in White Gloves: How Serbian Freemasons Begged Their Executioners for a Job

Pod senkom ali ne od sveća

History is often a field of shame, but few periods offer such a bizarre blend of naivety and spinelessness as the attempted “revival” of Freemasonry in the blood-soaked, newly communist Belgrade of 1946.

While the “liberators” in leather trench coats were still wiping their bayonets clean of the blood of the pre-war elite, the surviving “Brethren” were knocking on the door of Moša Pijade (Tito’s right-hand man) with an offer he couldn’t refuse: “Use us. We are just like you.”

“Urgent and Quite Important”: A Plea for Espionage

In November 1946, as the secret police (OZNA) was finalizing its execution lists, one Veljko Tomić sent a letter to Moša Pijade. The label? “Urgent and Quite Important.” The content? Pure political prostitution masked as patriotism.

Tomić, acting on behalf of the remnants of the Grand Lodge, proposed that the communist regime restore Freemasonry in Yugoslavia. Why? Not for enlightenment or philanthropy, but to serve as an informal intelligence agency for the new regime.

His argument was the height of cynicism: since Masons around the world trust one another, we can use American lodges to “sell” your communist thesis and suppress “foreign intrigues” coming from London.

Communist = Mason: The Peak of Sycophancy

In an attempt to flatter a regime that despised everything bourgeois, Tomić wrote a sentence that would make any true Freemason return their apron in disgust:

“You know, Masonic connections in the world are similar to Communist ones. A Mason trusts a Mason just as a Communist trusts a Communist.”

Comparing a brotherhood based on freedom of thought to a party that had just introduced a dictatorship of the proletariat and mass executions was either an act of supreme desperation or total moral blindness.

While Some Wrote Letters, Others Faced the Firing Squad

While Tomić was busy convincing Pijade that Masons would “propagate our national aspirations” in America, the communist sword was already cutting through the ranks of his “brothers.” The purge of the “old bourgeois class” spared no one.

On the list of those executed without “proper judicial proceedings” were:

• Milan Horvatski, Dr. Ilija Pržić, and Dr. Petar Zec — men who were “carving the stone” until a partisan bullet stopped them.
• Juraj Demetrović — A Croat with a Yugoslav soul, a man imprisoned by the Nazis, only to be executed by the “liberators” the moment they entered Belgrade.
• Risto Jojić and Buda Cvijanović — Accused of collaboration, while their surviving “brothers” were offering that same kind of “collaboration” to the new master.

A Lesson in Spinelessness

The tragedy of Serbian Freemasonry in 1946 is not that they were persecuted — that was expected from the communists. The tragedy lies in the attempt to sell Freemasonry as an intelligence outpost for the Party.

The attempt to use a “detour through America” to polish the image of a regime that was simultaneously exterminating you at home remains a testament to the total moral collapse of the pre-war elite. Instead of a dignified exit, they chose the role of “useful idiots.”

History, they say, repeats itself: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. Looking at the events of 1946, it is clear that the foundations of today’s Masonic schisms and their ties to secret services were dug deep into the graves of those whom their own brothers tried to trade for the “mercy” of the Communist Party.

Serbian language edition below

Korisni jugosloveni u belim rukavicama: Kako su srpski masoni molili dželate za posao

Istorija je često polje sramote, ali malo koji period nudi tako bizaran spoj naivnosti i beskičmenjaštva kao pokušaj obnove slobodnog zidarstva u tek oslobođenom, krvlju natopljenom Beogradu. Ovo je priča od oslobođenja do raspada.

Dok su “oslobodioci” u kožnim mantilima još uvek brisali bajonete od krvi predratne elite, preživela “braća” su kucala na vrata Moše Pijade sa ponudom koja se ne odbija: “Iskoristite nas, mi smo vam isti kao vi.”

“Hitno i dosta važno”: Molba za špijunažu

U novembru 1946. godine, dok je OZNA završavala spiskove za odstrel, izvesni Veljko Tomić šalje pismo Moši Pijade. Oznaka? “Hitno i dosta važno”. Sadržaj? Čista politička prostitucija pod maskom patriotizma.

Tomić, u ime onoga što je ostalo od Velike Lože, predlaže komunističkom vrhu da obnovi masoneriju u Jugoslaviji. Zašto? Ne zbog prosvetljenja ili humanizma, već da bi služili kao neformalna obaveštajna služba novog režima.

Njegov argument je vrhunac cinizma: pošto masoni u svetu veruju jedni drugima, mi ćemo preko američkih loža “prodavati” vašu komunističku tezu i suzbijati “tuđinske intrige” iz Londona.

Komunista = Mason: Vrhunac poltronstva

U pokušaju da se dodvori režimu koji prezire sve što miriše na građansko, Tomić piše rečenicu koja bi svakog pravog slobodnog zidara naterala da vrati kecelju:

“Znaš, masonske su veze u svetu slične komunističkim. Mason masonu veruje, kao što komunista komunisti veruje.”

Upoređivati bratstvo zasnovano na slobodi misli sa partijom koja je upravo uvela diktaturu proletarijata i masovna streljanja, bio je ili čin vrhunskog očaja ili totalnog moralnog slepila.

Dok jedni pišu pisma, drugi idu pred streljački stroj

Dok Tomić ubeđuje Mošu kako će masoni “propagirati naše nacionalne aspiracije” u Americi, komunistički mač je već uveliko sekao kroz redove njegove braće. Čistka “starog građanskog staleža” nije birala.

Na spisku streljanih bez “valjanog sudskog postupka” našli su se:

• Milan Horvatski, dr Ilija Pržić, dr Petar Zec — ljudi koji su “klesali kamen” dok ih partizanski metak nije zaustavio.
• Juraj Demetrović — Hrvat, jugoslovenska duša, čovek koga je hapsio okupator, samo da bi ga “oslobodioci” streljali čim su ušli u Beograd.
• Risto Jojić i Buda Cvijanović — optuženi za kolaboraciju, dok su njihova preživela “braća” nudila istu tu vrstu “saradnje” novom gazdi.

Pouka o beskičmenjaštvu

Tragedija srpske masonerije 1946. godine nije u tome što su bili proganjani — to se od komunista i očekivalo. Tragedija je u pokušaju da se masonerija proda kao obaveštajna ispostava Partije.

Pokušaj da se “zaobilaznim putem preko Amerike” pegla imidž režima koji te istovremeno istrebljuje kod kuće, ostaje kao svedočanstvo o potpunom slomu predratne elite. Umesto dostojanstvenog nestanka, odabrali su ulogu “korisnih idiota”.

Istorija se, kažu, ponavlja. Prvi put kao tragedija, drugi put kao farsa. Gledajući šta se dešavalo 1946, jasno je da su temelji današnjih raskola i službi duboko ukopani u grobnice onih koje su njihova sopstvena braća pokušala da zamene za “naklonost” Moše Pijade.

Ovo je tekst Z.N. iz ugla onoga ko ne mora da opipava zidove da bi znao da su krivi. Moja vinkla ne prašta, a vaša ‘velika arhitektura’ se pod mojim merenjem pretvara u običnu scenografiju.

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