“Rescue in The Philippines” is a newly released documentary detailing the extraordinary story of how the four Frieder brothers, Cincinnati businessmen manufacturing cigars in 1930s Manila, together with Manuel Quezon, the charismatic first president of the Philippines, Paul McNutt US High Commissioner and an ambitious Army Colonel named Dwight Eisenhower helped 1,200 Jews escape the Nazis and immigrate to the Philippines.
The documentary makes regular mention of the fact that cigars and poker seemed to be the uniting thread among this odd group of men. Another interesting connection shared by all except Eisenhower - apparently unknown to the documentarians - is Freemasonry.
Alex, Philip, Morris and Herbert Frieder were all Masons from Cincinnati. Quezon was the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Philippines and an active Mason until he resigned his membership in 1930 to join the Catholic Church. McNutt was an Indiana Mason, and on January 25, 1939 he addressed the Grand Lodge of the Philippines. As part of that speech he said, “Through all the years of my life I have put all that I have against those who would deny any man the right to worship God as he pleases or who would draw any line of creed or of color. I believe in that as I believe in the fundamental principles which have mad Masonry the great fraternal organization.”
www.rescueinthephilippines.com
