Is Irelands neutrality stance in WW2 unfairly criticized? (see Mod note 217)

Another poster already debunked the Harry Callan book with links to German records.

German Documents in our archive show, that by the end of August 1944, Irish Chargé d'affaires Con Cremin had successfully acquired the cooperation of the Nazis to extract the Irishmen from Bremen-Farge Arbeitslager: (see letter dated 30th August 1944: Con Cremin to the Irishmen in Farge bei Bremen.)

However the German authority required proof that each of the Seamen to be issued an Irish Passport, qualified for Irish Citizenship before being released from Bremen-Farge Camp.

Following extensive background checks on each of the Seamen to ascertain their Irish Nationality via the German Minister in Dublin Dr Eduard Hempel, in cooperation with Assistant Secretary of the Department of External Affairs Frederick Boland, by October/November 1944 all except 3 of the Irish Born British Merchant Seamen had been confirmed as having Irish Nationality.

Following rechecks within Ireland, by the 22nd January 1945 the final batch of 3 Passports were issued from the Irish Legation in Berlin for Henry Callan, Edward Condon and William Knox including exit visas.

Prisoners declaring they were British, albeit born on the island of Ireland, was of concern to the German authority.

As Harry Callan declared he was of Northern Ireland Nationality/British in early 1943 and refused to sign for an Irish Passport as he deemed himself to be British, until invited to do so again in 1944, and interestingly now signed for an Irish Passport, perhaps he and those Irish Born British Merchant Seamen/Prisoners, who declared themselves to be of British/Northern Ireland/English Nationality, should take responsibility for the delay in obtaining an Irish Passport, which would have led them to being released at the very latest by the end of 1943 from the Bremen-Farge Arbeitslager.

Unfortunately, the efforts of Chargé d'affaires William Warnock to gain the release of all surviving Irish Born British Merchant Navy Seamen held in Bremen-Farge Arbeitslager had been frustrated due to these varying claims of Nationality by Harry Callan and others.

Conceivably, there are some Irishmen who would have been alive had Mr Harry Callan and some of his shipmates cooperated with the Irish Legation in 1943?

Ironically, by January 1945 following the efforts of Irish Chargé d'affaires Con Cremin, Mr Callan and all qualified Irish Born British Merchant Navy Survivors held in the Bremen-Farge Arbeitslager were awarded an Irish Passport.

However, by January 1945, it was too late for some of the Irishmen. Perhaps Mr Callan and others, who since 1945 have directed their approbrium and apportioned blame towards the Irish Legation in Berlin for their continual incarceration in the Arbeitslager Bremen-Farge, should in fact be grateful for the efforts of the Irish Diplomatic Corps, who despite all the difficulties for Neutral Ireland during World War Two, made representations and intervened on behalf of Northern Ireland Born British Merchant Navy Seaman Mr Callan and his Shipmates in the Bremen-Farge Work Concentration Camp, which arguably hastened their return to the SAFETY of their former Camp, Marlag und Milag Nord Westertimke, in April 1945: (Film extract showing the Liberation of Marlag und Milag Nord 28 April 1945 - Imperial War Museum): (Google Map location Prison Camps Germany where Irish Born British Merchant Navy Seamen were held 1941-1945):

Interestingly, Mr Callan confronted former Irish Chargé d'affaires Con Cremin in Dublin many years after the war and accused Con Cremin of doing nothing for the Merchant Seamen held in Bremen-Farge, Cremin never answered Callan's charge.

Mr Callan has also asserted on previous occasions that he was never photographed in the Bremen-Farge Arbeitslager, and had never signed for an Irish Passport. That is UNTRUE: An Irish Passport Application was signed on the 07 April 1944 by Mr Callan which also includes a photograph taken while he was a prisoner in the Bremen-Farge Arbeitslager. It is inexplicable that Mr Callan records in his book that he did sign for an Irish Passport in 1943, yet the German record for the 5 July 1943 shows 5 men refused to complete the Irish Passport Application form sent by then Irish Chargé d'affaires William Warnock, and Prisoner Nr 90882 Harold Callan is recorded in German Archives as one of 5 Irishmen who refused to sign for an Irish Passport stating he was of Northern Irish/British Nationality, which raises concerns as to the reliability of Mr Callan's memory.

Thankfully German records in our archive (Extracts in English follow) have helped to work through the obvious inconsistencies in accounts given by Irish born British Merchant Navy Seamen held as Internees in the Bremen-Farge Arbeitslager 1943-45:

That's the post.

So a poster with a personal gripe or some agenda nit-picks a few typos or dates in a book telling the true story of 32 Irish seamen sent by the Nazis to a slave labour concentration camp? It does not alter the bare bones of the true story.

In 1943, thirty-two Irish POWs refused a Gestapo request to work for Germany. They were sent to a labour camp, where they were starved, beaten and forced to dig the foundations for a Nazi super-structure codenamed Bunker Valentin - an immense U-boat factory. Thousands of the camp's prisoners perished, including five of the Irishmen; bodies fell into the foundations and were never recovered. The surviving Irishmen were saved by the goodwill of decent Germans.Among them was Harry Callan, a Catholic boy from Derry who went to sea at sixteen as a British Merchant Navy seaman. His ship had been captured by a German raider two years before he ended up at the labour camp. Harry was unable to speak about the brutality he experienced for decades after he was liberated. When he finally began to tell his story, his family were shocked by what they heard.In his eighties, Harry agreed to revisit the site of his incarceration. He found local historians had no evidence of the Irish prisoners: they had disappeared from official records. Determined to give his comrades recognition, he began working to preserve their memory. This is the gripping story of Harry's capture, resistance and liberation.But above all, it is the final chapter in his quest to honour the forgotten heroes of Bunker Valentin.

Other records verify the above is true.

Did you read the link? Government records dispute Harry Callans account. You claimed the Irish government abandoned them.

That is a copy of the letter they received from Con Cremin. Included is Harry Callans name.

Why did you ignore what Blake Knox wrote about Con Cremin if you read it?

Please make a credible reply.

*I never claim to read books I haven't read.

Blake Knox was not liberated by Con Cremlin. He was liberated from the Germans by the British army as they moved east through Europe. I did not give a blow by blow account of everything and everyone in the book, nor did I claim to. You will have to buy it for yourself now as you have twice declined my offer of a copy.

You stridently claimed in post 2292 (as well as in others)

They were were abandoned by our government to face Nazi brutality. 44% of the Irish seamen died in the Nazi Concentration camps.

Please explain why you did this this if you had actually read a book which has details of the Irish government caring enough to secure passports and passage for these men?

22 of the 50 Irish seamen dies in the Nazi camps. That is 44%. I think from before you have a problem with maths as that was explained to you before?

The Irish government did not free the men, they were freed by the British army.

So after 26 months, and some dying in the camps, the Germans in the final closing stages of the war transfered them to another camp where they were liberated by Allied troops.

They - those lucky enough not to be killed by the Germans - were still liberated by Allied troops.

The reason it took 26 months was Harry Callan refusing an Irish passport. The were not abandoned by the Irish government like you claimed. How many of the 5 would still be alive if he hadn't? You also seem to have focused on these 33 prisoners but haven't mentioned any of the other Irish prisoners of war. Why is that?

We see from the below how the Nazis treated the Irishmen:

"According to the survivors, the Irish were beaten by SS guards when they arrived at Farge. They were told that, since they were civilians, they were not protected by the Geneva Convention, or the International Red Cross. Their new accommodation was a disused fuel tank buried beneath several meters of solid concrete.

The 32 Irishmen joined more than 10,000 other slave laborers – mainly Russians and Poles – who were working on Project Valentin. This operated on a 24-hour-shift system, with each shift lasting for at least 12 hours. There was one half-hour meal break for soup and black bread: the bare minimum required to keep prisoners alive."

"According to the survivors, the Irish seamen were assigned to some of the hardest work. Usually, this involved lifting, carrying and emptying heavy bags of cement. The prisoners would inevitably inhale some of the dust during the day, and hack it up in wet balls during the night.”

"His colleague James Aldous Furlong, who was born in Wexford also suffered greatly. He wrote: "For refusing to work for the Germans I was sent to Farge SS Camp as a punishment and it was a punishment place, I have seen people being flogged to death and shot and was always afraid my turn would come one day.

"Food was bad, accommodation very bad and there was syphilis in the camp and people were dying all over the place."

Run away from the question all you want.



Why, if you read the book, did you ignore the considerable efforts of the Irish Government to secure these men passports and passage to Sweden(which is all they could practically do for them) to stridently proclaim 'The Irish Government Abandoned them'

I think people can make up their own minds what you were doing and have been doing to unfairly criticise.

The official documents back it up. Why didn't he receive his Irish passport with the rest of them?

There were plenty of Irish people and people from other neutral countries enslaved by the Germans during the war, especially in the early and middle of the war when the Germans were not on the back foot as they were towards the end.

Quote:

"In early 1943 they were again segregated, and thirty-two of them including William were moved by the Gestapo to Bremen Farge. This was one of seven satellite labor camps attached to the large concentration camp at Neuengamme in northern Germany.

According to the survivors, the Irish were beaten by SS guards when they arrived at Farge. They were told that, since they were civilians, they were not protected by the Geneva Convention, or the International Red Cross. Their new accommodation was a disused fuel tank buried beneath several meters of solid concrete."

It has everything to do with the question. You are just diverting from the fact it was British troops who ultimately freed them from the Germans. They did not care what passport anyone had when they liberated the camps.

The Nazis incarcerated and murdered people from almost every nationality in Europe.

The book clearly states nothing of the sort.

The Irish merchant sailors held by the Nazis were freed by the British military. Along with countless numbers in other camps, some of who were freed by other Allies.

It was the seamen, their friends and family who felt they were abandoned. And Ireland's largest newspaper group.

Here is the link:

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/how-irish-seamen-were-abandoned-by-our-government-to-face-nazi-brutality/a/145356452.html

You should buy the book: I offered to buy it for you.