Dictators' Nightmare

The European dictators of the 20th century were strong, powerful, confident, holders of absolute truth. They seemed invincible, until the very moment they fell. In the darkest time of modern history, they held millions of people in their grip, ruling their fate for better and for worse. But as frightening as they were, they also were terrified, haunted by an obsession that followed them to the grave: the Masonic conspiracy. Every dictator thinks Freemasons are the masterminds of a conspiracy against the nation and its leader. For each dictator, there is a different justification for banning the lodges. Mussolini, who took advantage of the political opportunity presented by the Lateran Pacts, has a control mania; Hitler fears a Jewish-Masonic conspiracy, in which the lodges are instruments at the service of the Jews to dominate the world; Franco fears an international communist-Masonic conspiracy against Catholic Spain. Towards the end of World War II, US President and Freemason Harry Truman sends his friend Ray Denslow to help the Masonic lodges recover after the long years of Nazi-fascist dictatorships. Thanks to his diary, unseen until 2018, we will journey through Europe of 1945 to discover a story not recounted in the history books. The story will be told with the help of some of the worlds leading historians, through usage of colourized archive footage and reconstructions of key events that were not recorded at the time. Our journey will take us through Italy, Spain, Germany, France and Belgium to search traces of Freemasonry and the devastation wrought by the dictators. We will visit some of the most prestigious temples in Europe, such as the Grand Orient de France, the Grande Oriente dItalia and the Grande Oriente de Madrid. Our goal is to understand, through artifacts still in use today for Masonic rituals, what caused so much fear among the most vicious men of modern history, and why even today Freemasonry is considered the perfect enemy.