Nazi Teacher at St. Conleths

MrMusician18

The story of Louis Feutren a teacher of French at St Conleths college has been making the front pages of the various news websites this week. It turns out that Feutren was a Breton nationalist that sided with the Axis during WW2 and he was an SS officer. After the war, he escaped to Ireland and served as a teacher in St Conleths college for 30 years. He seemingly had a penchant for violence and humiliating students but was also considered a "legend" among pupils too.

His nazi past came out after his death and now some former students (amongst them, the son of a former Argentinian ambassador of all places) are seeking an apology from the school.

This is interesting because it speaks to how we deal with wrongs that were carried out in or by institutions in the past but where current management had no hand act or part in it. Should we expect people to apologize for the sins or failures of people they were not responsible for?

Gregor Samsa

It's a fair question.

But the general idea in cases like this is that it's the institution that makes the apology (via the Board of Management), not any person in an individual capacity.

The problem, of course, is that the institution could then leave themselves open it being interpreted as an admission of neglect or wrongdoing, which could have legal consequences.

donaghs

Yeh, unless anyone involved is still alive, it seems like one of those stories where you can't do much without a time machine.

I think it would be good form for the school to apologize for their predecessors having hired him, and how he behaved, but I don't really seem them now as responsible.

Interested in other opinions though. Also, how did it take so long for this to come out?

Gregor Samsa

Remember that under law, the school itself (or the Board) is a "legal person", and that "legal personality" has existed since the school was founded. It has had and continues to have legal responsibility for the actions of the school, and is separate from the "natural persons" that make up, or previously made up, the staff or board members.

magicbastarder

it'd be a bit silly if an organisation could wipe their hands of any responsibility by simply changing board members. it wouldn't be that an apology would be an admission of wrongdoing by any one of the sitting board members.

Calahonda52

What is the alleged failure?

The brutality piece was common so if it's that then grand.

However is there any credible evidence that he was indoctrinating the kids with Nazi propaganda etc or branding their arses etc?.

The Nazi piece is getting the headlines.

magicbastarder

wouldn't be the first time a purported nazi has had a hand in ireland's education system!

nolivesmatter

I thought for sure the title was hyperbole. An actual Nazi, I'm surprised.

They're seeking an apology, but how worthwhile really is an apology after it's been requested.

thegame983

Everyone is so precious now.

How were they supposed to know he was a Nazi? This is an interesting story more than anything.

derb12

It was known. There were 3 Breton nationals who worked with the SS in uniform and were wanted men in France after the war (one was sentenced to death in absentia, later commuted) who were given refuge in Ireland for some reason. Mad stuff. Feutren was on of these.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121198612#Comment_121198612

Known by who and when?

Your post suggests it goes beyond the school then. The school may or may not have known about the SS past but the State did?

The school as an entity are culpable if he was allowed to abuse his position.

donaghs

Actually, it seems like some people knew about it before then!

2011: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-15990524.amp

and the Irish Indo reported on the Welsh Library story in 2011 too, and mentioned the Conleth’s connection. So why didn’t it get more attention then? Why now?

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/furore-over-librarys-gift-from-nazi-collaborator/26803192.html

this article from this week also claims he told some pupils about this Nazi past, and acted proud of it:

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41239870.html

riffmongous

Was he partly the inspiration for the Nazi priest-teacher in the first Ross O' Carroll-Kelly book I wonder? It was always such a random character, that this would actually make sense now

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121199618#Comment_121199618

Castlerock Uber Alles!

clampedusa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058316908/nazi-teacher-at-st-conleths

no.

whisky_galore

"...had a penchant for violence and humiliating students.."

So, not much different to many teachers of that era, but for being a Nazi.

Peregrinus

Need to disentangle a few issues:

Should the school apologise for abusive behaviour by Feutren while he was a teacher at the school? Yes. Also the school may have a legal liability here. But note that, for most or all of Feutren's time teaching at the school, corporal punishment was (lawfully) practiced at St. Conleth's. Feutren's behaviour, and therefore the school's liability, will be judged (legally speaking) according to the standards that prevailed at the time. Note that Feutren's history as Nazi is irrelevant here; what he did at St Conleth's is neither excused nor exacerbated by anything he did in France/Germany in 1940-45.

Second, should the school apologise for hiring a Nazi fugitive? Yes, if they knew he was a Nazi fugitive. But it's unlikely to be something he advertised, and in those distant, pre-internet days it's not something that would have been easily discovered. It wasn't the practice in the 1950s to seek any kind of police clearance or do any kind of background checks in hiring.

Thirdly, should the school apologise for Feutren's participation in the SS, or for anything he may have done while in the SS? No.

Duckworth_Luas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121197966#Comment_121197966

You're telling me!

My high-infants múinteoir had us rhyming off

"Roly poly, roly poly, amach, amach, amach,

roly poly, roly poly, isteach, isteach, isteach,

roly poly, roly poly, amach, amach, amach,

roly poly, roly poly, ein volk, ein reich, ein führer"

Andy-Pandy

My old school. I started the year he retired, it was no secret that he was a nazi. It was common for us to be hit with the biffer if we misbehaved , I got it a few times when I was a kid. Twas more ceremonial than the infliction of pain though, was used lightly. I've only good memories from Conleths, it was a great place to go to school.

tayto lover

Drop the 'Nazi' bit and then every school should be apologising for the brutal regime they ran. In the Primary school i attended we had a headmaster who took great satisfaction in beating the crap out of young lads.

growleaves

A language teacher...a literal Grammar Nazi.

hoodie6029

OT now but this guy must have been the basis for the Father Fehily character in the Ross O’Carroll-Kelly books. Catholic priest, Nazi sympathiser, ties with France going back to the war, the character humiliated teachers in front of the school to protect the rugby guys rather than the real horrors these children experienced.

Paul Howard, being a south side private school guy, the correct age and moving in those circles too must have heard the horrific stories from his peers in that school.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121200413#Comment_121200413

Just because that was commonplace doesn't mean it was right.

Hotblack Desiato

Making kids strip off in front of the class, guy was a perv too by the sounds of it

corner of hells

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121200426#Comment_121200426

Well played , sir. Excellent.

tayto lover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121200942#Comment_121200942

Who said it was right?

Montage of Feck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121198057#Comment_121198057

It was no secret that he was a Nazi and member of the SS.

jmayo

Well if we are looking for apologies and the like.

I want a refund of the money my parents spent, hell I want the money I spent, on books that the dept. of education has forced us to buy from a company owned and run by a Belgian Nazi, one my Albert Folens.

An odious man that not alone volunteered and served on the Eastern front in a Flemish SS legion, but then after being wounded returned to work in the hated gestapo.

Of course according to himself he was just an interpreter for the Gestapo.

Could someone remind us again how they got people to talk.

So where is my apology.

Also it is the one of the most ironic things I have heard in some time that someone from Argentina is looking for an apology for having to deal with a nazi.

Their country was full of some of the absolute worst ones.

Have they ever apologised to Israel I wonder ?

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121202315#Comment_121202315

Nobody, but let's not allow the 'it was everywhere back then' thing to minimise child abuse.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121202481#Comment_121202481

I'd like a refund on all of the Irish and religion books which were a complete waste of money. 👍️

It's 20-fùcking-23 and my youngest child (well, us) is still obliged to pay for a religion book for a class he is opted out of, in a secular school, owned and run by the Irish state.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121202481#Comment_121202481

It's 2023, my youngest is enrolled in a secular school owned by the Irish state. We still have to buy and pay for a religion book he will never use. You can opt out, kinda, but still have to pay the purveyors of nonsense.

He'll waste many more hours in Irish class but that's another thing... but yet intimately bound up with the god botherers of the first thing.

kowloonkev

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121203983#Comment_121203983

Is it a book that explores all religions?

Of course if you opt out he can spend the time worshipping the doctrine according to Hotblack Desiato.

tayto lover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121203974#Comment_121203974

How would saying 'it was everywhere' actually minimise it? It would maximise it surely.

Wanderer78

sounds like a right fcuking cnut! good podcast on him....

https://player.fm/series/in-the-news-2930202/how-a-nazi-fugitive-became-a-french-teacher-in-a-prestigious-dublin-school

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121204062#Comment_121204062

What exactly is your problem here? Do you think that children who are not religious should be forced to study religion?

The school offers Ethics as an alternative, which is kinda funny. Do people who are religious not need to know about ethics? Maybe if bishops and cardinals had studied ethics they'd know it was wrong to shield child rapists from justice.

Feisar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121199618#Comment_121199618

I was just thinking the same thing. I had put it down to the church being seen to support the Nazi's at times.

walshb

Nazi or not. A vile sadist is what he was. Plenty more like him through the school years here..

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121198612#Comment_121198612

I knew one of them years ago, lovely fellow.

He was a native Breton speaker and wanted independence for his country.

France's difficulty was that opportunity and he took the chance that presented itself.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209410#Comment_121209410

You didn’t have to be a Nazi to be a teacher, but it helped.

donaghs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209208#Comment_121209208

do you want to setup a separate thread about having to buy a religion book?

it seems a little unfair, but…

Strumms

No apology should be forthcoming…. It was decades ago… unless he committed terrible acts while a teacher, no apology…the context of his employment was not as a Nazi.

im sure Nazis went on to become doctors, nurses, painters, chefs , bus drivers………. and led mostly normal existences post war… doing ‘ normal people’ stuff