Recently, several television programmes have been discussing Nazi associations with Ireland after the second World War.
Interestingly, a newly written study by RM Douglas, associate professor of history at Colgate University, New York, also reveals the activities of what the author describes as pro-Axis societies in wartime Ireland.
Douglas depicts such groups as evidence of an alienated section within Irish society which "consisted on the one hand of young people of the 'generation of 1939', who were disillusioned by the failure of their elders to satisfy the exaggerated expectations to which the achievement of Irish independence had given rise, and on the other hand of middle-aged activists who had played some part, though rarely a prominent one, in the national struggle and who likewise considered that their efforts had been for nothing and their patriotic ideals betrayed by their political leaders".
In a 28-page article in a recent issue of the Cambridge-published Historical Journal, Douglas draws a necessary distinction between the anti-democratic but lawful organisations of the 1930s and "the frankly subversive and pro-Axis movements" that initially appeared in 1940. The switch to outright subversion began with "the establishment of a loosely organised network of overlapping pro-Axis societies" bearing names such as "Irish Friends of Germany", "Cumann Náisiúnta" and "Clann na Saoirse". William J Brennan-Whitmore, a former British soldier who had participated in the Easter Rising, later served in the Free State army and later still became involved in the Blueshirt movement, was one of the key figures associated with the founding of Clann na Saoirse in March 1940.
Among others associated with this organisation were Liam D Walsh, former secretary of the Blueshirt League of Youth, and Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin, a 30-year-old language enthusiast and tax consultant from Belfast whose Dublin business office hosted the group's inaugural meeting. Ó Cuinneagáin, who assumed overall leadership in May of that year, wrote of it being "a group of young men from widely separated parts of Ireland, who have banded themselves to work to break down the existing appalling apathy among the general public in regard to matters of vital national movement".
An eight-point programme addressing concerns such as partition and emigration and advocating the replacement of the existing political system with "the Irish principle of government by leadership" was produced. It also contained the following extraordinary declaration: "The English language is the mortal enemy of Irish nationality and must therefore be ruthlessly extirpated by every means at the disposal of the state. As a preliminary measure its use must be unconditionally prohibited in every sphere of public life including all governmental, educational and other public institutions."
The Irish Friends of Germany (apparently later styling itself Cumann Náisiúnta) also appeared at this time. Among those associated with this group were Eoin O'Duffy, infamous Blueshirt leader and former Garda commissioner, Alec McCabe, former Cumann na nGaedheal TD and Blueshirt activist, and Patrick McCartan, a prominent republican and former Sinn Féin TD. John Holden, another key member, wrote to Liam Walsh in May 1940, announcing his intention to place O'Duffy "on the map everywhere - because I am convinced that with a few good men at his side, he will lead the whole outfit to unity and victory".
At one such gathering of Cumann Náisiúnta attended by an army NCO, the lecturer, a former Blueshirt named George Griffin, spoke on the subject of the perceived Jewish influence in Ireland: Ireland, he said was "Jew-ridden. . .An Taoiseach's father was a Portuguese Jew. Erskine Childers's grandmother was a Jewess. Mr Ruttledge has Jewish connections by marriage and 'Jew' was written all over the face of Sean Lemass." Alec McCabe was convinced from the outset that the Germans were going to be victorious, and he "thought it very essential to show that the mass of the people here were not antagonistic to Germany".
Another organisation calling itself the People's National Party was apparently created by Patrick Moylett, a former Sinn Féin member whom Michael Collins had bluntly characterised as an "unutterable fool". George Griffin, however, quickly assumed leadership and the 12 points of its political manifesto were, according to Griffin, "taken by him from the twenty-five originally expounded by Herr Hitler". He went on to state "that the party's first aim would be to spread National Socialist ideas and that coming second was the Jewish problem which was all important".
As far as key political commentators were concerned, Eamon de Valera regarded the Irish people in 1940 as being "pro-German" and Richard Mulcahy noted in agreement that much of the available evidence suggested that "mass opinion [ was] setting pro-German" in 1941. DK Kostal, consul-general of the Czech government in exile, reported of Ireland in 1940:
"For the ordinary Irish person who does not know Germany it is sufficient that Germany is striking the English. Of anything further he does not meditate and does not wish to meditate."
What, then, became of the extremist groups which appeared in Ireland during the 1940-1945 period? Although most failed to thrive for very long, one notable exception, Ailtirí na hAiséirghe (Architects of the Resurrection), emerged in 1942 and later succeeded in winning nine seats in the June 1945 local government elections. It was founded by the aforementioned Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin.
While it is nonetheless fair to say that the Irish "pro-Axis underground" was always marginal, the above evidence suggests that a sizeable number of Irish people would nevertheless have welcomed a successful German invasion.