Entry selected by Krzysztof Tyszka from the book “Nazi-Looted Jewish Archives in Moscow. A guide to Jewish Historical and Cultural Collections in the Russian State Military Archive”, ed. by D. E. Fishman, M. Kupovetsky, V. Kuzelenkov
The Independent Order of B'nai B'rith (Sons of the Covenant) was established in New York in 1843 by a group of German-origin Jews headed by Henry Jones. B'nai B'rith was established to help raise the moral, spiritual, and social level of Jews, espousing philanthropy, charity, and fraternity. The order was free of any particular political or religious ideology. The German Grand Lodge sponsored various social welfare programs. It financed nursing courses and the Association of Jewish Nurses (1900-1930); it founded a Jewish orphanage and a school for retarded children in Berlin (1907-30), an employment agency (established 1910), and a cultural fund (1920) that supported educational institutions. The German Grand Lodge helped establish and finance the Union of Jewish Youth Associations in Germany in 1909, and it published the youth journal Wegweiser fir die Jugendliteratur (1905-14), as well as numerous books and pamphlets for youth. Only men could be full members of the Grand Lodge; women's auxiliary lodges were established beginning in 1897. The German Grand Lodge's monthly organ Bericht der Grossloge fur Deutschland was first published in 1891, and was soon renamed Der Orden Bne Briss: Mitteilungen der Grossloge fur Deutschland VIII. On the eve of the Nazi assumption of power in 1933, Germany had 103 lodges of B'nai B'rith with 13,000 members. B'nai B'rith was banned by the Nazi authorities in April 1937, and its assets were confiscated.
Microfilms are held by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives.
Nazi-Looted Jewish Archives in Moscow. A guide to Jewish Historical and Cultural Collections in the Russian State Military Archive, ed. by D. E. Fishman, M. Kupovetsky, V. Kuzelenkov, Scranton - London 2010.
2412 files
The collection's contents are described in three inventories; the collection has a geographical index. Deposited in the collection are the constitution of the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith; charters of the Grand Lodge and of affiliated lodges in Germany and the United States; the charters of the order's committees on youth organizations and Jewish women's organizations; the charters of affiliated lodges' courts of honor; draft charters of youth organizations; the charters of the women's charitable society Schwesternbund, of the Eintracht lodge's women's organization, and of the women's auxiliaries of lodges in East Prussia and elsewhere; the charter of the Association of Jewish Nurses; the charter of the B'nai B'rith employment bureau and of the Jewish labor exchange organizing committee; the charter of the local Eschwege lodge's home for the disabled; the charter of the Jaffe orphanage; the charter of the Jewish sanatorium for nervous disorders in Frankfurt-on-Main; the charters of the charitable societies Madchen-Haus Pankow and the G. Tuch Society in Hamburg; and draft amendments to the charters of the Grand Lodge and its affiliated lodges. The collection has documents of the 24th Congress of the German Grand Lodge, as well as materials on the activities of B'nai B'rith lodges in the United States, Palestine, Austria, Poland, Turkey, and Switzerland, and documents of the International Congress of B'nai B'rith held in Tel Aviv in 1934. Deposited in the collection are reports on the activities of the Grand Lodge, of its general committee, the propaganda committee, and finance committee; as well as reports of the Union of Jewish Youth Associations. A large part of the collection consists of documents of local affiliated lodges: minutes of meetings, correspondence, reports on personnel, and financial statements. The lodges with extensive documentation in the collection include East Prussia (in Allenstein/Osterode), Mamre, Montefiore (Berlin), Reichsloge, Berthold Auerbach (Berlin), Timendorfer, Akiba Eger, Westphalia, Lessing (Berlin), Manuel Josel, and Edward Lasker.
Великая ложа Германии еврейского ордена"Бней-Бри" (УОББ) (г. Берлин)