blackisthelight

Nazi Germany is typically seen as a monolithic ethnic entity that attempted to destroy any minorities within its borders as part of its genocidal death drive. The realities of attempting to fight a multi-front war, sometimes with conflicting aims, led to some alliances which were less obvious than an initial understanding of a German invasion might suggest. As part of the attempted takeover of Europe by the Nazi Third Reich, minority ethnicities in rival powerful countries were frequently targeted with propaganda declaring German support for greater autonomy for ethnic minorities, trying to collaborate with far right nationalist movements where possible. This tactic used often legitimate grievances against states such as France, Belgium or the USSR to undermine solidarity and weaken the defence against the German invasion. The resulting consequences were often disastrous for the national liberation movements as they came to be associated with the Nazis as collaborators and often faced severe repression once the war was over. This was a pattern that appeared in several places, notably Brittany, Flanders and Ukraine and to some extent Ireland. Following the war, as the collaborators were targeted for reprisals from the liberated areas, many fled, and Ireland became a destination of choice for several notable groups.

Perhaps the most influential of the groups of people who fled Europe after the war were the Bretons, about twenty of whom settled in Ireland. Breton nationalism had been greatly inspired by Irish nationalist struggles and histories, and a vision of pan-Celtic comradeship led many of them to believe Ireland could provide a warm welcome. Breton attempts to gain autonomy from French control had long been hampered by Paris governments, with repressive action being taken against cultural and political movements engendering mutual hostility and suspicion. Following the invasion by Germany in June 1940, the movement split with some adopting a neutralist stance, ambivalent about the fate of a repressive French state, while some chose to collaborate with the Germans, believing co-operation with the invaders might lead to more autonomy.

A young militant named Célestin Lainé (or Neven Hénaff) and Hervé ’Bob’ Helloco had set up a group called Gwenn-ha-Du (White and Black) in 1930 and published a manifesto called Irlande et Prusse, nos deux bases (Ireland and Prussia: Our Two Bases) which proposed a model for Breton nationalist movement – the revolutionary aims of Fenianism combined with the authoritarianism of Prussian militarism. They also began to draw on the successful fascist movements taking hold across Europe. Louis Le Roux, a prominent Breton nationalist leader had Irish links which influenced the direction of the movement. Le Roux had helped form the Breton Nationalist Party (PNB) in 1911 but had left France and travelled to Ireland during the First World War where he enlisted in the British Army. Serving in Ireland from June 1916 to September 1917 he became acquainted with Irish nationalism and published one of the first biographies of Pádraig Pearse in 1932 which had a significant impact on the Breton nationalist movement. Dan Breen’s book My Fight For Irish Freedom had been translated into French by Helloco, the Gwenn-ha-Du chief of operations, who was involved in gun running in 1938 in an operation named ‘Casement’. The Fenian maxim that Britain’s difficulty was Ireland’s opportunity was adopted into a French/Breton context and links were established between the cultural movements of the various Celtic regions and also with Flemish and Alsacian nationalist groups.

Lainé, who had studied chemistry and Irish at the Sorbonne, and the Gwenn-ha-Du group began a bombing campaign against symbols of French occupation. Lainé drifted towards the more esoteric end of Nazism, indulging in pan-Celtic and Nordic paganism and celebrating the German-Celtic-Nordic races as superior to the Mediterranean Latins. Several paramilitary groups were set up including Kadervenn, Lu Brezon, Service Spécial and Bagadou Stourm modelled on the IRA. Arms and assistance was acquired from Nazi Germany before the war and by the time of the invasion the groups were well placed to assist the German occupation. The Breton nationalist movement, already struggling with a generational divide amid questions of militancy, split on the issue of collaboration and Lainé and others were incorporated into the occupation machinery. 1943 saw the creation of another paramilitary group called Bezen Kadoudal which in 1944 was renamed Bezen Perrot and incorporated into the Waffen SS as Bretonische Waffenverbande der SS ‘Bezen Perrot’. It contained about 80 Breton nationalists willing to ally themselves with German occupation to attempt to further their cause of independence.

Bezen Perrot members engaged in fighting with communist aligned Résistance groups and acted in concert with occupying forces, rounding up Jews, guarding prisoners, and using their knowledge of the Breton language to disrupt resistance efforts. Many Bretons took part in resistance efforts, pitting the collaborating nationalists against Bretons fighting an occupying foreign power. This collaboration resulted in predictable brutality and mass killings, including at least three large scale massacres in Breton villages and numerous murders of captured prisoners during the six months the group was active in France. Bezen Perrot members retreated eastwards in the face of the advancing Allied forces following D-Day, trying to avoid repercussions for their activities. In the aftermath of the war, 27 Breton nationalists were executed following French tribunals for collaboration and Lainé himself was sentenced to death in absentia. After the war the French state used the collaboration of Bezen Perrot as a reason to repress the Breton nationalist movement in its entirety.

In December 1947, Lainé and another Bezen Perrot member Louis Feutren landed in Ireland to be followed by several more Bezen members in dribs and drabs. Breton nationalists had long been inspired by the Irish struggle for independence. Lainé changed his name to his Breton version, Neven Hénaff, and himself and Feutren settled in Galway, while others found homes on the east coast. Another leading member of the Bezen Perrot, Alan Heusaff, also sentenced to death in absentia, arrived in Galway in 1950. Lainé/Hénaff remained unrepentant following the revelations of the extent of the Holocaust. George Broderick recalls a 1975 meeting in Dublin where Hénaff said:

Hitler was the best thing that happened to the Breton Movement (his actual words). He added they were in no doubt they had done the right thing in co-operating with the Germans.

Lainé /Hénaff lived in Ireland until his death in 1983, and Heusaff likewise until he died in 1999. The Irish state offered little direct assistance at the time of their arrival but was willing to accommodate the fugitives if they kept their heads down. However individual help was forthcoming from some prominent Irish citizens. Frank Gallagher, a journalist and IRA member active during the War of Independence, was one of the first points of contact for the Bretons and later sponsored Lainé/Hénaff for citizenship. Gallagher was a confidant of Eamon DeValera and served as the Director of the Government Information Bureau 1939-48 and 1951-54.

Louis Feutren, who had acted as internal security for the Bezen Perrot, moved to Dublin where he was employed as a French teacher at the prestigious St. Conleth’s Secondary School in Ballsbridge between 1956 and 1985. One of his students was the Argentinian writer Uki Goñi, son of a diplomat assigned to Dublin. Goñi has written extensively about the international ratlines that allowed Nazi war criminals such as SS Oberscharführer Feutren to escape justice. Feutren’s students recall a sadistic violent man prone to physical and mental abuse of his students during his decades long tenure at the school. Even by the brutal corporal punishment standards in Irish schools at the time, Feutren stood out as a sadist, beating and burning students with impunity. The school was well aware of Feutren’s SS past and his death sentence passed by the French courts. A past student, poet Mark Granier wrote about him:

Now he has lost patience and swoops to wrench some slowcoach from his desk. I am in his sights and will be next. Because of (or despite) whatever he fled, he teaches excellent French

Another Breton nationalist of note was Leon Mill-Arden who lived in Killarney and Dublin from the early 1930’s. Mill-Arden was considered the principal early contact between the IRA and the German Abwehr and was routinely surveilled by intelligence units. Mill-Arden’s application for citizenship was later sponsored by the Ceann Comhairle Frank Fahy. Many of the Bretons based in Ireland became involved in political activities in later years, active in both Breton and Irish causes and a newsletter for Breton exiles Argouad appeared in the 1950s.

Yann Goulet, a sculptor and cultural nationalist had led another collaborationist paramilitary group named Bagadou Stourm which was also taken under the wing of the SS. Goulet was, like the others, sentenced to death in absentia by a French court for his wartime activities. Goulet settled in Bray and continued to advocate for Breton independence, publishing propaganda for the paramilitary Front de la Liberation de la Bretagne in the 1960’s. Goulet went on to have a prolific artistic career in Ireland, was commissioned to create several significant public monuments and gained a professorship at the Royal Hibernian Academy. He was rewarded for his artistic contributions and made a member of Aos Dána, in 1982 and died in 1999.

Goulet and Heusaff (who had been badly injured in fighting after D-Day) were both active in the Celtic League. Heusaff and yet another Breton nationalist sentenced to death for collaboration, Yann Fouéré, were among the founders of the League. Fouéré had been a member of the Breton council that co-ordinated with the Vichy regime, fled France after the war, and received Irish citizenship with the assistance of future president Cearbhall Ó’Dálaigh in the early 1950’s. One of his principal ideas, Europe of 100 flags, (L'Europe aux Cent Drapeaux, 1968), proposed a European federation of small ethnostates and has been widely adopted by the Identitarian movement.

The Celtic cultural connections along with Ireland’s wartime neutrality and proximity led the island to become a place of safety and sanctuary for many Bretons who had served in military forces with the SS that had carried out atrocities and war crimes. They hid in plain sight, unmolested by any ideas of international justice and several became respected and lauded members of society, sheltered and protected by Irish politicians willing to ignore their crimes.

References

Broderick, George (2020) Alan Heusaff and Bezen Perrot Univeristät Mannheim

Fanning, Bryan (2016) Jewish, Catholic and Collaborator Refugees in Ireland, Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review , Autumn 2016

Grydgren, Jens (ed.), (2018) The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right New York: Oxford University Press

Leach, Daniel (2007) Irish Post-War Asylum: Nazi Sympathy, Pan-Celticism or Raisons d'Etat? History Ireland Volume 15, Issue 3 May-Jun, 2007

Leach, Daniel (2008) Bezen Perrot: The Breton nationalist unit of the SS, 1943-5 e-Keltoi Volume 4: 1-38 Nationalism

Leach, Daniel (2009) Fugitive Ireland – European Minority Nationalists and Irish Political Asylum 1937-2008 Dublin: Four Courts Press

O'Callaghan, Michael and Christopher, John (1982) Separatism in Brittany, Durham theses, Durham University

Yann Goulet Obituary, The Guardian, 6 September 1999

Yann Fouéré Obituary, Irish Times, 29 October 2011

Uki Goñi on Feutren https://twitter.com/ukigoni/status/1584512261925654528

Mark Granier, former St. Conleth’s pupil on Feutren http://markgranier.blogspot.com/2011/12/french-teacher.html