Learning from the past ~ lessons for today - Holocaust Education ...

Holocaust Memorial Day 2009
Antisemitism in Ireland during the 1930s and 1940s
The Irish Jewish community has experienced little antisemitism
throughout its history in Ireland. The Irish public has generally
been tolerant and respectful towards the small and law-abiding
Jewish community, but a minority of people has occasionally
worked to its detriment. In the years preceding the Second World
War, there were a few antisemitic forces at work in Ireland.
Some conservative members of the Catholic clergy viewed
Jews as morally dangerous to the Christian population and
believed that Jews were linked to communism and were
therefore a political threat. One, Fr Denis Fahey, wrote that the
Jews were an international people and were contemptuous
towards the patriotic feelings of the natives of the countries
where they lived. Another, Fr Edward Cahill, held the view that
the international press and cinema were controlled by Jews,
who used them to corrupt western society.
The Blueshirts
General Eoin O’Duffy, sacked as Garda Commissioner, became
leader of the Army Comrades Association in 1933, the same year
Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. He renamed the
organisation The National Guard; it would become better known
as the Blueshirts. Under O’Duffy, the Blueshirts took on elements
of Italian Fascism. They rejected comparisons with the Nazi
party. Members were required to be both Irish and Christian.
They wore paramilitary-style uniforms, held rallies and used the
Nazi salute. It is certain that they counted antisemites among
their members. The Blueshirts were outlawed late in 1933 and
never gained widespread public support.
The Irish Christian Rights Protection
Association
Early in 1939 a campaign of intimidation was carried out
against Dublin Jews, which consisted of letters warning Jews
to leave the country. The words ‘Boycott Jews’ were painted
on walls around the city. Gardaí believed that one person,
George Griffin of the Irish Christian Rights Protection
Association, was behind the campaign. It was believed that
Griffin was basically harmless but that he might have been
manipulated by more sinister forces such as the Nazi
presence in Dublin.
There were several other radical Christian organisations in
existence before World War II that carried undercurrents of
antisemitism. The 1916 Veterans’ Association declared
themselves opposed to ‘alien immigration’ and the Irish-
Ireland Research Society warned against the ‘evils
engendered by Jewish propaganda’. The gardaí, after
investigating the latter group, concluded that once again
only one person had been behind it, and may have been
funded by Dublin Nazis.
Antisemitism in Dáil Éireann
In 1943, at the height of the war and the Holocaust, the
undercurrent of antisemitism in Irish culture found its way
into Dáil Éireann. Oliver J Flanagan was elected that year as
TD for the constituency of Laois-Offaly. His Monetary Reform
party, which existed only in that part of the country,
purported to lessen what they saw as excessive Jewish and
Masonic control of Irish banking and finance. During his
maiden speech in the Dáil, as part of a debate on emergency
orders, Flanagan declared: I am very sorry that I cannot
associate myself with this bill…because I have seen that most
of these Emergency Acts were always directed against
Republicanism. How is it that we do not see any of these Acts
directed against the Jews, who crucified Our Saviour nineteen
hundred years ago, and who are crucifying us every day in the
week? How is it that we do not see them directed against the
Masonic Order?
He went on:
There is one thing that Germany did, and that was to rout the Jews
out of their country. Until we rout the Jews out of this country it
does not matter a hair’s breadth what orders you make.
There was no protest to Flanagan’s outburst from any
member of the chamber.
There can be no place in the City of Dublin, which has enjoyed a long and positive
relationship with the Jewish community, for the manifestations of antisemitism such as we
witnessed in recent weeks. Racist behaviour of this sort must serve as a timely wake-up call
for greater vigilance. I call on all members of Irish society to renew their commitment to
embrace a more inclusive and more culturally diverse future together.
Councillor Michael Conaghan, Lord Mayor of Dublin,
Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration, January 2005
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