The Secrets of the Building Lodges
Earlier I mentioned that on another website, somebody is translating texts, some of Farwerck among them. In February 2025 the text was “The Secrets of the Building Lodges“, which I have translated myself as well.
Texts
Somebody is translating Farwerck texts
Somebody who goes by the X/Twitter name “Hameçon ᛟ” is translating texts by Farwerck to English on his blog “Dutch Folklore”. So far there there the following texts: Both are from the Nehalennia periodical, respectively 1-3 and 1-4, both from 1956. Hence, two more texts to read for those of you who can’t read Dutch.
Simon Weisz (1889-1981)
A grandson of Weisz found a photo of his grandfather. Based on the licence plate, he found out that the car was Franz’. It is not Franz in the back, but perhaps Willy and Johanna. Or -of course- Franz lent out his car to other acquaintences. The photo suggests that Weisz was Farwerck’s driver. In that case he was probably employed before Willem Viereke, so at least well before the start of World War II. There is some information about Weisz. He has several namesakes, which doesn’t make investigation easy. One of these namesakes appears to have moved to Argentina and passed away there. This would be another Simon Weisz. The Simon Weisz from the photo was born on in Budapest op 28 May 1889 and passed away in Amsterdam in 18 October 1980. Weisz married Elisabeth Csoma (1/1/10-?) on 21 November 1945. He had four children from a previous marriage. According to the grandson, Weisz was a Jew and moved to the Netherlands around 1920. It appears that he first lived in Wien/Vienna and he was one of more Hungarian Jews who moved to Wien and later the Netherlands to escape national socialism. In another source we find the… Read More »Simon Weisz (1889-1981)
Farwerck’s car
Somebody else was digging into his family history and found a photo of his grandfather as a driver. The licence plate led him to Farwerck, found this website and he contacted me. Thanks to historic archives, we therefor have a photo of Farwerck’s car! The number on the left is “5484”. The image comes from the archives of South Holland, which -at the time- had licence plates starting with a G. Great find! The registration was made on 9 September 1914. At the time, a license plate was registered, not a car, so Farwerck kept his plate when he bought other cars. The car can’t be from 1914. It appears to be a Mercedes Benz Typ Nürburg Cabriolet D (W08) (1) A model which has been produced between 1928 and 1934. Or perhaps a somewhat earlier model: It must have been huge and expensive car when I see what models Mercedes had in these days. For some reason the address has been edited from Emmastraat 58 to 60. All the way to the right it seems to say: “duplicate 29/6-’49”. Perhaps that refers to the initial registration of Franz’ first car. I haven’t been able to find that record. The… Read More »Farwerck’s car
The Church Tower of Vries
Earlier this week my eye fell on something (or so I thought) which made me have an extra look at the subject of the church tower of Vries, about which Farwerck wrote in Nehalennia III-3 (1958).
Vries is a small village in the North of Drenthe, a province in the North of the Netherlands. There is a 12th century Romanesque nowadays Protestant church in the village, dedicated to Saint Boniface. It was enlarged in the 15th century and has been under restauration between 1946 and 1949 according to Wikipedia.
Read More »The Church Tower of VriesLecturing
After his political and Masonic careers were over and he was no longer a “Rotarian“, Farwerck did not sit still. He kept lecturing until very late in his life. Since some of these lectures were announced in newspapers, I can give you an idea what he lectured about and when. It appears that after World War II he found ‘new’ homes in an archaeological and a genealogical group (or at least, he wasn’t thrown out of them).
Some new info about the house
Every once in a while I check if new information has become available. I ran into two newspaper articles that give a somewhat new twist to the story how Farwerck has lost his house. The local government seems to have obtained the house for road reconstructions that never took place. One of the articles has a photo suggesting it was taken in front of Emmastraat 58, but I’m not sure it is.
Lost writings
In the bibliography I mention titles that appear to be lost and writings that never saw the light of day. Lost books? Farwerck was active in a local archaeological group. He even was one of the founders. In 1979 in the annual report (1), the group lists “literature”, “List of books of the society.” See below. Five titles by Farwerck are mentioned, none I know! Another founder of the same group, Siem Pos (1916-2001), is said to have been a long time friend of Farwerck. It could be that not the group, but rather Pos, was the owner of these titles. Pos’ library supposedly scattered after his passing (as did Farwerck’s). Even though the head says “books”, the titles actually suggest articles. “Vries I en II” (1 and 2) and “Volksgebruiken I, II en III” (1, 2 and 3) could be essays planned to be printed in two and three issues of, for example, the periodical Westerheem that the local archaeological group published since 1952 (2). Then again, Farwerck published only one text in Westerheem in 1954. Why would he have five (or even eight when you count the separate parts) texts ready in the year after his death and… Read More »Lost writings
Letter to 1927 International Convent
The National Archive of France in Paris contains (a part of) the archives of the French federation of Le Droit Humain. In this archive there is a letter of Farwerck who, since 1923, was the representative of the Dutch federation of this international organisation. At the time of the convent he was even Vice-President of the Supreme Council. I had hoped that the letter would make clear why Farwerck (or seemingly any Dutch representative) was not present at that convent. Instead, the letter turned out to be a 16 page printed and stapled booklet with both in French and in English. Farwerck gives his personal view on the future of Le Droit Humain. He strongly warns against Theosophical influences in spite of the fact that it was Theosophy who led himself to co-Masonry. The lengthy letter is perhaps the only text in English of Farwerck that I know (or French). It shows again how he wants to work for mankind, how strongly he opposed (certain) influences on Theosophy of Le Droit Humain and why and how he hoped to strengthen the international Masonic movement. TO THE MEMBERS OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL AND THE DEPUTIES FOR THE CONVENT OF 1927 OF… Read More »Letter to 1927 International Convent
New photo
I ran into a photo of Farwerck and Mussert that I didn’t know on the website oorlogsspullen.nl. Farwerck looks young, but since it’s a photo with Mussert, it must be from around 1933 when Farwerck was 44.