← Back to Forgotten Heroes
Paul Borel
Grand Master of France • France • 1890–1945
Used the Masonic lodge network across France to save 10,000 Jewish lives. Died at Buchenwald in 1945.
Paul Borel was the Grand Master of the Grand Orient of France when the Vichy regime began deporting Jewish citizens in 1940. Rather than comply, Borel activated the network of Masonic lodges across France, transforming them into safe houses, supply depots, and escape routes for Jewish families. The network is estimated to have saved 10,000 Jewish lives between 1940 and 1944. Borel was arrested in March 1942, tortured, and deported to Buchenwald concentration camp, where he died in February 1945. His wooden square and compasses survive at the Grand Orient headquarters in Paris, engraved with his words, The temple is not made of stone. It is made of men.