WILL THE REAL NAZIS PLEASE STAND UP

"If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons."

This is what Winston Churchill said regarding the Soviet Union being suddenly thrown on the side of Britain by Hitler's invasion of Russia. It is quite apt and worth bearing in mind when reading or hearing the usual Orangeman's diatribe about the Irish during the Second World War.

The Vanguard Bears website yesterday carried the usual disinformation about Ireland during WWII. The piece was written by somebody calling himself General Schomberg, who decides to regurgitate the same old lies that have been peddled for years. These include the lie that Ireland allowed German U-Boats to refuel in Irish ports and the ridiculous story that the Irish kept their lights on at night to guide German bombers to Liverpool etc. They must have been really strong lights!

The reality is that, although Ireland was ostensibly neutral, the Irish government actually worked closely with Britain against the Nazis. This included the forwarding of intelligence information, the allowing of Britain to enter Irish airspace and waters and the drawing up of plans in the event of a German invasion of Ireland. Plan W, as it was called, detailed the sending of troops from Britain to fight, along with the Irish, against the invaders.

In point of fact, many Irishmen volunteered to fight in the British army against the Nazis and Irish coastal areas suffered destruction from German bombing raids that had overshot their targets. (So much for them being guided in by Irish lights!)

Contrast this with the behaviour of another neutral country, Switzerland. Although the Swiss stayed out of the war they provided banking services for the Nazis, with no questions asked. Bank vaults were filled with stolen treasures, money stolen from Jewish businesses and even gold gleaned from the fillings of Jewish extermination camp victims. But, then, Switzerland is a Protestant country so the Orangemen will gloss over any infractions of that particular nation.

Meanwhile in South Africa, a British Colony, which joined the war on the side of the Allies, members of the Dutch Reformed Church, a Calvinist Presbyterian church like the Church of Scotland, formed the Ossebrandwag to oppose South African participation in the war and to support Nazi Germany. Members of this organisation openly attacked soldiers in the street and even caused a riot in which many soldiers were seriously injured. The Ossebrandwag also had a paramilitary wing, called the Stormjaers, who carried out a campaign of terrorism in South Africa, including bombings, to disrupt the war effort. There was even an attempt to assassinate Jan Smuts, the Prime Minister.

So while the neutral Irish Catholics were helping the British war effort, Presbyterian British citizens in South Africa were waging a campaign of terror on behalf of the Nazis!

The bile on the Vanguard Bears page continues with the story of Sean Russell, an IRA man that died aboard a German U-Boat. What the piece fails to mention, however, is that the IRA was actually outlawed in Ireland during this period and Russell was regarded as a renegade even in IRA circles. Before he visited Germany Russell went to the USA to drum up support for his terrorist campaign, which did not have the full support of the IRA. At any rate, his Nazi credentials are pretty much non-documented and his eagerness to work with the Nazis can be attributed to the same sentiments as those expressed by Churchill, which I quoted above.

General Schomberg, on Vanguard Bears, tells us gleefully that there is a statue of Russell in Dublin. What he fails to mention is that the statue has been repeatedly vandalised by Irish anti-fascists. This fact would not fit in with the myth of the whole of Ireland being in league with the Nazis.

He also details how a visit by the Israeli football team to Ireland resulted in the team being spat upon while Nazi salutes and chants were aimed at them. Such actions are to be deplored and the Irish government spoke out against these idiots, as well as some members of the Garda, who seemingly turned a blind eye. I did not hear such condmnation from any quarters, however, when Rangers supporters behaved in the same way towards the Israeli team and its fans. The old excuse of the 'Red Hand Salute' was trotted out, even though such an explanation was ridiculous in the extreme, especially in the circumstances.

He, rather disingenuously, mentions the Limerick Pogrom (or Boycott) of 1904. The way he presents it, this was an isolated incident in a world of tolerance and enlightenment. On the contrary, however, it has to be seen in the whole context of European anti-semitism. Hitler's ideas were not original; he learned them on the streets of Vienna and the undercurrent of anti-semitism was always there throughout Europe, ready to bubble to the surface at any time. Prime examples are the attacks on Jews in Whitechapel during the Jack the Ripper murders and the formation of the British Brothers League in London at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. Of course, such attacks on Jews in England were never called 'pogroms' but an attack by Irish Catholics on Jews had to be made as dramatic as possible to feed the anti-Irish zeitgeist.

The piece then goes on to outline anti-semitic attitudes in Ireland after the war. Again, this is being extremely selective and Jews throughout the Western World would recognise these attitudes still prevailing well into the post-war period. A worthwhile film to see regarding this is 'Gentleman's Agreement' made in 1947 and starring Gregory Peck. A perusal of the speeches made by Senator Joe McCarthy and much of the work of the House Committee on Un-American Activities also shows an underlying strain of anti-semitism.

There is no denying that Ireland no doubt had its share of Nazi sympathisers during the War, but so did every other country, including Scotland. Equally, Ireland is not the only country where neo-Nazism and modern-day anti-semitism is to be encountered. To state, or even imply, that this is the case is merely to serve the same ends as the Nazis that the writer purports to hate.