Spain Declares Historic Masonic Temple a Memorial to Franco's Persecution of Freemasons

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by Christopher Hodapp

The government of Spain has officially designated the historic Masonic Temple in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, as a Site of Democratic Memory, recognizing the building as a monument to the thousands of Freemasons persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and murdered under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

The announcement was published Tuesday, October 27th, in Spain's official government gazette, the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE). The designation recognizes the building as a symbol of the systematic persecution of Freemasonry that began with Franco's military uprising in July 1936 and continued throughout his dictatorship. Spanish Freemasonry had endured nearly four decades of repression when Franco finally died in 1975.

The Canary Islands are located in the Atlantic at the northwestern
tip of Africa, off the coast of Morocco, but belong to Spain.

The Masonic Temple, located on San Lucas Street in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, was the home of Añaza Lodge (Logia Añaza), chartered in 1895. Construction began in 1899, and its principal lodge rooms were inaugurated in 1904, although the building's distinctive façade and ornamentation weren't completed until 1923. Until its seizure by Franco's forces in 1936, it was the largest Masonic center in Spain.

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Unlike so many historic European lodge buildings that concealed their Masonic identity behind relatively conventional exteriors, the Tenerife Temple virtually shouts it from the rooftops, with two enormous columns flanking the entrance, an All-Seeing Eye over the entrance, and a pair of sphinxes.

It wasn't merely a meeting place for Freemasons. In 1909, Añaza Lodge established a secular school that provided free adult education, along with lectures and other programs intended to improve the lives of the surrounding community. 

Naturally, this sort of subversive activity couldn't be tolerated by the Franco regime.

Franco's War Against Freemasonry

Francisco Franco

When Franco's military rebellion began in July 1936, Spanish Freemasons became immediate targets of his Nationalist forces. On July 19th, paramilitary troops stormed the Tenerife Temple, seized its records and archives, and began the systematic persecution of its members. Many were imprisoned, tortured, executed, or simply disappeared. 

Franco's obsessive hatred of Freemasonry was no passing political prejudice. His regime prosecuted Freemasons for their membership, confiscated their property, and attempted to eradicate the fraternity from Spanish society. He portrayed the fraternity as part of an international conspiracy in cahoots with Communists and Jews, responsible for virtually everything he regarded as a threat to Spain.

The fascist Falange organization seized Añaza Lodge's building in 1937 and conducted guided public tours of the Masonic Temple, deliberately staging its rooms and misrepresenting rituals and symbolism to convince the population that Freemasonry was a sinister conspiracy. Spain did this in several locations, as did the Hitler regime throughout occupied Europe during World War II. Lodges would be confiscated, records seized to facilitate easy arrests of members, and lurid displays would be created inside to show that dangerous, spooky Masons needed to be gotten rid of. According to the Spanish government's own historical accounts, these propaganda tours featured stories that Freemasons practiced witchcraft and even sacrificed children inside the Temple.

Franco's regime subsequently used the building as a Falange headquarters, a military supply depot, and a military pharmacy. Following the enactment of his notorious 1940 Law for the Repression of Freemasonry and Communism, the Temple also served as a center for interrogations, torture, and trials by the Special Court for the Repression of Freemasonry and Communism.

Workers carrying out repairs in 2009 uncovered "human remains" inside the building, possibly supporting historical accounts of brutality committed there, although it's unknown whether these were from victims, or were part of the anti-Masonic displays created by the fascists.

(Although, it's entirely possible that the report of 'remains' simply meant that a skull or a skeleton was discovered at the site that was really used in some foreign jurisdictions and rituals as a symbol of mortality, or momento mori. Such real items were more easily and legally obtained up until the 1960s when plastic reproductions became more commonplace, and countless fraternal groups all over the world have often used them at various times.)

Eventually, the building was turned over entirely to the military and it became a barracks until it closed in 1990. After Franco's death and Spain's return to a democratic government, it was sold to the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council in 2001 for more than 470,000 euros. Local government spent another 3 million euros restoring the building. In 2007 it was declared a Site of Democratic Memory.

A Temple Reclaimed by History

According to the Wikipedia entry on the Temple, Freemasonry returned to the building in November 2016 when the Masonic international congress Convent of the Order, was held in the old Temple. This is an event held annually in different parts of the world and was organized by the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for Spain. It was attended by over 300 members representing 17 of the 57 regular Supreme Councils in the world. 

The Spanish government now plans to develop historical interpretation, memorial signage, educational materials, and other programs to explain the building's history and honor the victims of Franco's persecution.

So, a magnificent Masonic Temple that was seized and turned into a propaganda exhibit to frighten the public about the supposed evils of Freemasonry is now being officially preserved by the Spanish government as a memorial to the real evils committed against Freemasons. And perhaps there's a lesson in that for our own times.

Ninety years after Franco's thugs were leading gullible citizens through a Masonic lodge room and spinning lurid tales about secret rituals, child sacrifice, and sinister conspiracies, much the same pap and garbage is still circulating across social media today. 

The technology has improved considerably. The lies, not so much.