The pro-Axis underground in Ireland, 1939-1942

Historical Journal

Volumn 49, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 1155-1183

  Douglas, R M ^a  

^a Assistant Professor in the University Libraries   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEMOCRACY; NATIONAL SECURITY; POLITICAL HISTORY; POLITICAL IDEOLOGY;

EURASIA; EUROPE; IRELAND; WESTERN EUROPE;

EID: 37849189359     PISSN: 0018246X     EISSN: 14695103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X06005772     Document Type: Article

References (137)

1. R. Fisk, In time of war: Ireland, Ulster and the price of neutrality (London, 1983)
2. B. Girvin and G. Roberts, eds., Ireland and the Second World War: politics, society and remembrance (Dublin, 2000)
3. K. P. Hale, 'Irish neutrality: The myth and the memory' (Ph.D. thesis, Ohio University, 2002).
4. E. Stephan, Spies in Ireland (Harrisburg, 1965)
5. C. J. Carter, The shamrock and the swastika: German espionage in Ireland in World War II (Palo Alto, 1977)
6. M. M. Hull, Irish secrets: German espionage in Ireland, 1939-1945 (Dublin, 2003)
7. J. P. Duggan, Neutral Ireland and the Third Reich (2nd rev. edn, Dublin, 1989)
8. E. O'Halpin, Defending Ireland: The Irish state and its enemies since 1922 (Oxford, 1999), pp. 225-53.
9. Somewhat broader in scope is Hubert Sturm's useful Hakenkreuz und kleeblatt: Irland, die Allierten und das 'Dritte Reich', 1939-1945 (Frankfurt am Main, 1984), though its publication preceded the release of all but a few of the relevant Irish and British official documents.
10. See, e.g., Martin White's 'The Greenshirts: Fascism in the Irish Free State, 1935-1945' (Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 2004). This study must, however, be treated with some caution.
11. A useful, if likewise not always wholly reliable, introduction to the subject is provided in Xavier Audrain's 'Les milieux fascisants en Irlande du sud durant la seconde guerre mondiale' (MA thesis, Université Pierre Mendès-France, Grenoble II, 1999).
12. I use this term analogously with Robert Wohl's 'Generation of 1914', to describe that cohort of Irish youth that was arriving at adulthood, and political consciousness, around the time of the Second World War; had grown up largely or entirely since the achievement of independence; and whose members' most distinctive characteristic, like that of their pre-1914 continental counterparts, was their conviction that 'they had the misfortune to be born into a dying world that lacked energy, vitality, and moral fiber'. R. Wohl, The generation of 1914 (Cambridge, 1979), p. 215.
13. M. Manning, The Blueshirts (Dublin, 1971).
14. Fearghal McGarry accords greater weight than Manning to the fascist overtones and undertones within Blueshirt culture and ideology, but concedes that a Blueshirt regime would most closely have resembled 'the dictatorships of Franco's Spain and Dollfuss's Austria'. F. McGarry, Eoin O'Duffy: A self-made hero (Oxford, 2005), p. 243.
15. See also M. Cronin, The Blueshirts and Irish politics (Dublin, 1997).
16. For a synopsis of his pre-war career, see Pauric Travers's introduction to W. J. Brennan-Whitmore, Dublin burning (Dublin, 1996), pp. x-xv.
17. W. J. Brennan-Whitmore, 'A new political and social philosophy for Ireland', 1 Jan. 1939, Department of Defence Military Archives (DDMA), Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin, G2/0016
18. An tIolar/The Standard, 8 Mar. 1940.
19. It is likely that the individual responsible for bringing the Celtic Confederation of Occupational Guilds (CCOG) to the Germans' attention was Lia Clarke, Dublin representative of the Graf Reischach Dienst news agency, who filed stories on the group's meetings for her employers. Mrs Clarke was also the moving spirit behind the 'Irish Ireland Research Society', which she directed under the pseudonym of 'A. J. Browne'. Report by Chief Supt. P. Carroll to Col. Liam Archer, ' Anti-Jewish propaganda, etc., in Dublin', 25 May 1939, DDMA G2/X/0040.
20. For further details of Pfaus's activities, see Hull, Irish secrets, pp. 52-9,
21. and Duggan, Neutral Ireland, pp. 59-63.
22. Walsh to Pfaus, 27 Aug. 1939, quoted in unsigned and undated memorandum, 'Liam D. Walsh', G2/0016; Lieutenant E. G. Ryan, 'Report of interview - Liam D. Walsh. Internee, Curragh Internment Camp, 11th Sept. 1940', 12 Sept. 1940, DDMA G2/0246.
23. Press release by Lia Clarke, Graf Reischach Agency, 7 Aug. 1939, DDMA G2/ 0016.
24. Report of an All-Purpose Guild meeting by Insp. M. J. Mansfield, 9 Nov. 1939; unsigned memorandum, 'Meeting of Executive Committee', 21 Nov. 1939, ibid.
25. Díospóireachtay' Pairliminte-Dáil, vol. 74, c. 719 (16 Feb. 1939).
26. F. Aiken, 'Neutrality, censorship and democracy', 23 Jan. 1940, National Archives of Ireland (NAI), S 11586A.
27. An example of the continuing confusion that exists with regard to these bodies is Mark Hull's assertion that Cumann Náisiúnta was 'also known as the Coras [sic] na Poblachta'. Hull, Irish secrets, p. 96.
28. Or Ó Murchadha.
29. Record of interrogation of Volunteer John R. Magee, 31 Oct. 1940, DDMA G2/X/0253.
30. Record of interrogation of Volunteer Joseph Leigh, 31 Oct. 1940, DDMA G2/ X/0311. The Red Bank restaurant, owned by an expatriate German member of the Dublin branch of the Nazi party, was a favourite gathering-place of ultra-right and pro-Axis groups.
31. G. Ua Cuinneagáin, 'No other way: Italy and E' ire as allies in war', Wolfe Tone Weekly, 11 Dec. 1937.
32. O'Connor was recorded by a police informant as saying that 'if any of them [i.e. IFG/CN members] was taken into custody they should not under any circumstances furnish any information and regarding names of persons connected they should only give those of women members, who were not likely to be touched, names of those known to be already arrested, and of those who were considered to be of no importance'. Memorandum by Sergeant M. J. Wymes, '"Cumann Náisiúnta" or "Irish Friends of Germany"', 1 Aug. 1940, DDMA G2/2571.
33. Circular letter by Ó Cuinneagáin, 27 May 1940, DDMA G2/X/0311.
34. Clann na Saoirse, Programme (n.d.). In the possession of Aindrias Ó Scolaidhe, Dublin.
35. McCabe resigned his seat in 1924 to express support for the officers behind the so-called 'Army Mutiny'. See M. G. Valiulis, Almost a rebellion: The Irish army mutiny of 1924 (Cork, 1985).
36. Extract from Garda Dublin Metropolitan Division (DMD) report, 24 July 1940, DDMA G2/2634.
37. It is unclear whether Holden's reference was to Brennan-Whitmore or to Dermot Brennan of Saoirse Gaedheal, although the former is the more probable. Holden to Walsh, 2 May 1940, DDMA G2/0246.
38. Private information in the possession of the author.
39. O'Gorman and Walsh identified themselves as 'Hon. Secretaries and Treasurers' of Cumann Náisiúnta, a curious appointment in light of the latter's dubious record in money matters. Walsh had served a term of imprisonment and was forced to leave the National Army in the early 1920s after misappropriating unit funds; accusations of financial improprieties followed him through every subsequent organization in which he held office.
40. The individuals mentioned were ministers of the Fianna Fáil government.
41. Untitled report by Acting-Corporal Pádraig de Beartleigh, 31 May 1940
42. de Beartleigh to Vivion de Valera, same date, DDMA G2/X/0253. Emphasis in original.
43. Transcript of interrogation of Alec McCabe, 7 June 1940, DDMA G2/X/0253.
44. Undated memorandum (c. Dec. 1940), 'Irish born groups', Colonel Dan Bryan papers, University College, Dublin (UCD), P 71/30 (ii).
45. Held's pro-Nazi activities had come to the attention of the British security service MI5 as early as 1938. For particulars, see his file at the National Archives, Kew, London (NA) KV 2/1443.
46. Chief Superintendent W. Quinn to Garda Commissioner 3 'C', 24 May 1940, DDMA G2/0246.
47. J. J. Walsh, former minister for posts and telegraphs in the Cumann na nGaedheal administration, was a wealthy businessman and pro-Axis activist implicated in the activities of a number of extremist anti-democratic groups. Extract from Garda Síochána DMD weekly miscellaneous report for week ending 2 Sept. 1940, DDMA G2/2777.
48. Garda Síochána DMD weekly miscellaneous report for week ending 8 July 1940, DDMA G2/2571.
49. Extract from Garda Síochána DMD report, 26 July 1940, ibid.
50. Garda Síochána DMD weekly miscellaneous report for week ending 24 July 1940, ibid.
51. This document seems in actuality to have been a pro-German and anti-British leaflet by Liam Walsh entitled 'Who is your enemy?', a thinly veiled plagiarism of a similar handbill, 'We accuse', written by Pfaus shortly before the outbreak of war. Copies of the leaflet had been distributed in the south of the country earlier in the year by a pro-Nazi friend of Brennan-Whitmore's.
52. Specimen copies of these Guth na Fírinne leaflets are contained in NAI JUS 8/791 and DDMA G2/2777.
53. For particulars of Becker's activities, see C. Molohan, Germany and Ireland 1945-1955: Two nations' friendship (Dublin, 1999), pp. 78-9, 83-4.
54. Dillon to Boland, 17 July 1940, NAI JUS 8/791.
55. The practice among leading members of greeting each other with straight-arm salutes was also, no doubt, a contributing factor.
56. Garda Síochána DMD weekly miscellaneous report for week ending 10 June 1940, DDMA G2/2571.
57. Originally a voluntary police organization, the Local Security Force was quickly divided into 'A' and 'B' forces, the former becoming an army reserve (the precursor of today's Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil) and the latter remaining as a police auxiliary. From 1 Jan. 1941, the 'A' body was renamed the 'Local Defence Force'. Eager and Ledwith appear to have been members of this latter group.
58. Garda Síochána DMD weekly miscellaneous reports for weeks ending 12 and 19 Sept. 1940, DDMA G2/2571.
59. Det.-Garda J. C. Kissane, '"Cumann Náisiúnta" or "Irish Friends of Germany"', 4 Oct. 1940, DDMA G2/2988.
60. Wymes to Supt. S. Gantly, 18 Apr. 1941, ibid.
61. Garda Síochána DMD weekly miscellaneous reports for week ending 2 Dec. 1940, DDMA G2/2571.
62. 'Irish born groups', Bryan papers, UCD.
63. Hull, Irish secrets, p. 99.
64. Robert Fisk conflates the PNP with the IFG/CN, an error repeated by Do'nal O' Drisceoil. In reality, relations between the two organizations were always antagonistic. Maurice O'Connor welcomed the defection of the PNP leaders from IFG/CN: 'as Griffin and Moylett had formed a new group the attention of the police would be diverted as they were, according to him, giving a lot of attention to these two individuals. He was glad that this was so as it would give him and others a better chance of getting to work and bringing the members all together.' Mrs Griffin, for her part, denounced O'Connor as a police spy. As the Garda source recorded, ' It can be stated definitely that there is no connection between Griffin's party and the organization in which O'Connor, McCabe, Hann and others were interested.' Fisk, In time of war, p. 434
65. D. Ó Drisceoil, Censorship in Ireland, 1939-1945: Neutrality, politics and society (Cork, 1996), pp. 185-7
66. Garda Síochána DMD weekly miscellaneous reports for weeks ending 8 July and 24 Aug. 1940, DDMA G2/2571.
67. Carroll to Archer, 'Anti-Jewish propaganda, etc. in Dublin', 25 May 1939, DDMA G2/X/0040.
68. Born in Crossmolina, Co. Mayo, Moylett acted as head of the South Mayo Comhairle Ceantar (district council) of Sinn Féin in 1917 and as a go-between for Arthur Griffith and British political figures during the War of Independence. He was associated with a number of prominent anti-Semites, among them J. J. Walsh, the future Senator Jennie Wyse Power, and Jack Sheehan, later of the Irish Hospitals Trust and the National Agricultural and Industrial Development Association. Unpublished Moylett autobiography, P 78, UCD.
69. A. Mitchell, Revolutionary government in Ireland: Dáil Éireann, 1919-1922 (Dublin, 1995), p. 219.
70. Wymes to Gantly, 24 July 1940, DDMA G2/2551.
71. Garda Síochána DMD weekly miscellaneous report for week ending 12 Aug. 1940, DDMA G2/2571.
72. Garda Síochána DMD weekly miscellaneous report for week ending 8 July 1940, ibid.
73. Report by Wymes, 'Activities of George Griffin', 23 Nov. 1940, DDMA G2/X/ 0453. The manifesto proposed to withdraw Irish citizenship from Jews, who would have 'no claim to civil or legal rights'; expel all immigrants admitted after the Easter Rising; expropriate non-citizens without compensation; and establish 'Corporate Councils in every County, representative of all professions and trades'. 'People's National Party for proper national planning', ibid.
74. One of the PNP's financial backers was J. J. Walsh. A photocopy of a cheque written by him in the organization's favour, intercepted by the intelligence service, is contained in DDMA G2/2777.
75. See Nationalist and Leinster Times, 7 Dec. 1940.
76. Joseph Andrews's extraordinary career is described in Duggan, Neutral Ireland, pp. 198-9, and Hull, Irish secrets, pp. 196-9.
77. and Hull, Irish secrets, pp. 196-9.
78. An action that prompted Griffin to issue furious protests to the Taoiseach, the minister of justice, the papal nuncio, the archbishop of Dublin, and the Catholic primate of All Ireland, inter alia.
79. Garda Síochána DMD weekly miscellaneous report for week ending 16 Dec. 1940, DDMA G2/X/0453.
80. T. J. Coyne, assistant controller of censorship, to Det.-Insp. Reynolds, Garda Síochána, 16 Jan. 1941, Department of Justice, Office of the Controller of Censorship 4/45, no. 118, NAI.
81. Coyne to Aiken, 29 Jan. 1941, ibid.
82. All three PNP candidates' nominations were refused when they filed their papers after the specified deadline. Irish Independent, 24 May and 22 June 1943.
83. See Stephan, Spies in Ireland, pp. 67, 69.
84. Undated Córas na Poblachta pamphlet, DDMA G2/X/0251.
85. O'Mullane to Gray, 23 Aug. 1940, RG 84: Ireland: Dublin legation: security segregated records, 1936-49, Entry 2763, 350/61/29/07, Box 2, 800-711.1-824.2, US National Archives, College Park, Maryland.
86. By choosing to take their seats if elected, Córas na Poblachta candidates broke with their erstwhile colleagues of the IRA, which regarded the twenty-six-county state and its institutions as illegitimate.
87. Undated Córas na Poblachta pamphlet, DDMA G2/X/0251.
88. Although the party was not formally launched until 11 Feb. 1941, weekly public meetings had been convened in the Engineers' Hall in Dublin since the previous November.
89. Report by Wymes, 7 Dec. 1940, DDMA G2/X/0251.
90. Petersen declined to appear personally, but provided Córas na Poblachta with the text of a lecture which was read by Joseph Andrews at a meeting of the party on 6 May 1941. Extract from Garda Síochána DMD weekly miscellaneous report for week ending 7 Apr. 1941
91. report by Wymes, 13 May 1941, ibid.
92. Memorandum by Insp. Patrick Breen, Special Branch, 18 Aug. 1941
93. Carroll to Bryan, 19 Aug. 1941, ibid.
94. Report by Wymes, 25 June 1941, ibid.
95. Robert Briscoe, a Fianna Fáil member of parliament and veteran of the War of Independence, was the country's most prominent Jewish politician.
96. P. Mac an Bheatha, Téid focal le gaoith (Dublin, 1967), p. 84.
97. They included such figures as Séamus Ó hInnse, subsequently chief justice of the Supreme Court; Pa'draig O' hUiginn, secretary of the Department of the Taoiseach; and Stiofán Ó Cearnaigh, his counterpart at the Department of Defence.
98. According to the Special Branch, Maurice O'Connor and T. A. O'Gorman of IFG/CN were also involved as 'sponsors' of Aicéin. Memorandum by Wymes, 26 May 1941, DDMA G2/X/0251
99. Garda Síochána DMD weekly miscellaneous report for week ending 16 June 1941, DDMA G2/2988.
100. The word 'aiséirghe' has several variants of spelling, among them the archaic 'aiséirghe' and the more modern ' aiséirí.'
101. Or O'Kelly. Ó Ceallaigh, a sufferer from epilepsy, walked with a limp.
102. Memorandum by Wymes, 22 Dec. 1941, NAI JUS 8/893. Behan's involvement with the YIA came to an end when he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment for attempted murder in April 1942.
103. YIA pamphlet, covered by letter from Major J. P. O'Connell, G2 Southern Command, to Bryan, DDMA G2/X/0946.
104. Memorandum by Wymes, 22 Nov. 1942, ibid.
105. Ó Cuinneagáin had been a planned speaker at two YIA meetings in January and March 1942. Due to pre-emptive action by the managers of the venue in the first instance and the Gardaí in the second, neither gathering took place.
106. Ó Cuinneagáin, 'Fíor-oideachas do chách,' An Glór, 1 (13 Oct. 1941).
107. See, e.g., M. Ó Gráda and S. G. Ó Ceallaigh, Náire náisiúnta, nó Seán Treacy's shame (Dublin, 1942).
108. I.e. Pádraig Pearse and James Connolly, leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising.
109. Torch, 5 (3 Jan. 1942).
110. 'Ireland a missionary-ideological state?', n.d. Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin papers, 1/3, in the possession of Fionán Ó Cuinneagáin, Porterstown, Co. Dublin.
111. For analyses of Irish corporatist and vocationalist thought in mid-century, see D. O'Leary, Vocationalism and social Catholicism in twentieth-century Ireland: The search for a Christian social order (Dublin, 2000)
112. J. J. Lee, 'Aspects of corporatist thought in Ireland: The commission on vocational organization, 1939-1943', in A. Cosgrove and D. McCartney, eds., Studies in Irish nationalism, presented to R. Dudley Edwards (Naas, 1979)
113. and J. Swift, 'Report of commission on vocational organization (and its times, 1930-1940s)', Saothar, 1 (1975).
114. For particulars of the conflict within Conradh, see P. Mac Aonghusa, Ar son na Gaeilge: Conradh na Gaeilge, 1893-1993 (Dublin, 1993), pp. 280..
115. The party's history is the subject of my forthcoming Architects of the resurrection: Ailtirí na hAiséirghe and the fascist 'new order' in Ireland, 1942-1958.
116. For a brief overview of its wartime activities, see A. Ní Lochlainn, 'Ailtiry' na hAiséirghe: A party of its time?' in D. Keogh and M. O'Driscoll, eds., Ireland in World War Two: Neutrality and survival (Dublin, 2004), pp. 187-210.
117. The Catholic Mind's contention that Mussolini's Italy 'provides the one great example of an earnest effort to follow the teaching of Holy Church' was typical. Catholic Mind, Nov. 1933.
118. See, e.g., 'The new German paganism', An tIolar/The Standard, 2 Mar. 1934.
119. Irish Catholic, 7 Jan. 1937.
120. See, e.g., Maud Gonne McBride's speech on the Sudeten question, Irish Press, 26 Sept. 1938
121. letter by 'J. C. M.', Irish Independent, 3 July 1939
122. 'Sceilg' (J. J. O'Kelly), 'Whither Ireland's culture?' Kerryman, 22 July 1939.
123. Catholic Bulletin, 29 (1939), p. 374.
124. Capt. Patrick Giles, Díospóireachtaí Parlaiminte-Dáil, vol. 74, c. 659 (16 Feb. 1939).
125. See, e.g., the issues of 4, 11, and 25 Nov. 1939.
126. De Valera interview with Patrick Herdman, 5/6 July 1940, quoted by B. Girvin, 'The republicanisation of Irish society, 1932-1948', in J. R. Hill, ed., A new history of Ireland, VII: Ireland, 1921-1984 (Oxford, 2003), p. 151.
127. Untitled manuscript note, 8 Jan. 1941, Richard Mulcahy papers P7/a/211, UCD.
128. D. K. Kostal, 'Report on the Situation in Ireland', 31 May 1940, Department of External Affairs file A.8, NAI.
129. B. Barton, The blitz: Belfast in the war years (Belfast, 1989), pp. 271-2.
130. Tom Mageean, Belfast, author interview, 2 Aug. 1999.
131. Betjeman to H. V. Hodson, Empire Division, Ministry of Information, 21 June 1940, NA INF 1/528.
132. L. DeJong, The German fifth column in the Second World War (Chicago, 1956)
133. R. M. Delacor, 'From potential friends to potential enemies: The internment of "hostile foreigners" in France at the beginning of the Second World War', Journal of Contemporary History, 35 (2000), pp. 361-8
134. A. Grynberg, '1939-1940: L'iLternement en temps de guerre: les politiques de France et de la Grande Bretagne', XXe Siécle, 54 (1997)
135. S. Hurlburt, 'Enemy within our gates: The national press and the fifth column scare in Britain, April-June 1940' (BA thesis, Colgate, 2001)
136. A. W. B. Simpson, In the highest degree odious: Detention without trial in wartime Britain (Oxford, 1993).
137. J. Lukács, The duel, 10 May-31 July 1940: The eighty-day struggle between Churchill and Hitler (New York, 1991), p. 191.