Frank Ryan (Irish republican)
Encyclopedia
Frank Ryan was a prominent member of the Irish Republican Army, editor of An Phoblacht
, leftist
activist and leader of Irish
volunteers on the Republican
side in the Spanish Civil War
.
. From then on he was devoted to the restoration of the Irish language.
He studied Celtic Studies
at University College Dublin
, where he was a member of the Irish Republican Army
(IRA) training corps. He left before graduating in order to join the IRA's East Limerick Brigade in 1922. He fought on the Republican side in the Irish Civil War
, and was wounded and interned
. In November 1923 he was released and returned to University College Dublin
. He was active in a number of Irish-language societies (in 1924 he won the Cumann Gaedhealach's gold medal for oratory in Irish) and wrote for Irish-language publications - he briefly edited An Reult . He formed the University Republican Club and led it on demonstrations. He graduated in 1925.
After graduating he taught Irish at Mountjoy School (a Protestant
school in Dublin), but journalism was his vocation. His day job was editing Irish Travel for the Tourist Board, while he also edited An tÓglach for the IRA. Evenings were devoted to teaching Irish at Conradh na Gaeilge
, lecturing in history and literature, and leading the occasional céilidh
.
In 1926, he was appointed adjutant of the Dublin Brigade and given the job of reorganising it. He was always an anti-imperialist
, and Peadar O'Donnell
believes the biggest influence on Ryan's thinking in those days was the anti-Imperialist Congress in Paris, which he attended with Donal O'Donoghue
, as delegates of the IRA, in 1927.
In 1929 Ryan was appointed editor of the Republican newspaper An Phoblacht, where he worked alongside Geoffrey Coulter, his assistant. Together they turned it into a lively political paper and boosted the readership substantially. In this year he was elected to the Army Executive, the body below the IRA Army Council
.
In May 1930 Ryan spent several weeks in the US, addressing Irish conventions, where he witnessed the start of the Great Depression
. In 1931 he was imprisoned for publishing seditious articles in An Phoblacht. Later that year, he was again imprisoned for contempt of court.
and Peadar O'Donnell, proposed the establishment of a new left-republican organisation to be called the Republican Congress
. This would form the basis of a mass revolutionary movement appealing to the working class and small farmers. At an IRA Army Convention, they narrowly failed to gain approval for the proposal. Ryan and his allies left the IRA to set it up, with Ryan becoming editor of its eponymous newspaper. The IRA leadership reacted by suspending them to await courtmartial, while IRA volunteers who supported the Congress were stood down.
For months arguments raged both within the IRA and between the IRA and various left-wing organisations on how to deal with Government pressure, the growing Fascist tendency of Fine Gael, and whether to participate in elections, but the IRA leadership managed to keep to its traditional path, though it did actively confront the Blueshirts. In 1935, Ryan established two publishing concerns, the Cooperative Press and Liberty Press, to circumvent the difficulties in publishing left-wing material. During strikes in the first half of that year (butchers' shops in January, a tram and bus strike in March) and agitations for release of prisoners the IRA (which was still torn between a left-wing and a conservative faction and under tremendous pressure from the Government) and the Republican Congress worked together with other left-wing groups. However from June on disputes arose between the IRA and the Congress, which the following year ran into debt due to election expenses and folded.
organising an Irish Brigade
to fight with the Fascists, and in open letters to the papers criticised Cardinal McRory for raising funds at church collections to support Franco. The Congress started publicising the Spanish Republican cause in public meetings. This was no easy task, given the strength of pro-Franco
feeling at the time, which was whipped up by sections of the Catholic Church and the Irish Independent
. Pro-Republican meetings were frequently challenged, and on one occasion Ryan had to climb up a lamp-post to escape from a crowd which attacked a meeting he was addressing in York Street.
O'Donnell due to his age and Gilmore with a broken leg were not in a position to return to Spain to fight. Despite his deafness in late 1936 Ryan travelled to Spain with about 80 men he had succeeded in recruiting to fight in the International Brigades
on the Republican side. Ryan's men are sometimes referred to as the "Connolly Column
".
He served in the Lincoln-Washington Brigade, rising to Brigadier. He was attached to the staff of the 15th International Brigade in charge of publicity - writing, broadcasting and visiting the front line to see conditions first-hand. He fought in a number of engagements - at the Battle of Jarama
(February 1937) he took over command of the British Battalion (the Irish were split between this and the Lincoln Battalion) after it suffered heavy losses. He was seriously wounded in March 1937, and returned to Ireland to recover. He took advantage of the opportunity of his return to launch another left-republican newspaper, entitled The Irish Democrat. On his return to Spain, he again served in the war until he was captured by Italian troops fighting for the Nationalists in March 1938. He was accused of murder, court-martialled, and sentenced to death before being incarcerated in Burgos
Prison in 1938. He was under the death sentence for 16 months. During this time he expressed his disagreement with the IRA bombing campaign in England. His sentence was later commuted to thirty years hard labour in January 1940.
. Kerney hired a lawyer for Ryan, (Jaime Michel de Champourcin, paid for by the Irish government), but in spite of all his efforts, he could not secure Ryan's release. It was through de Champourcin's contacts with Abwehr
(a German military intelligence organisation) chief Wilhelm Canaris
, and within the Franco Government that saw Ryan released into Abwehr hands on 15 July 1940. The handover took place on the Spanish border at Irun-Hendaye. A cover story that Ryan had "escaped" was released at the time. Ryan was taken to the Spanish border by Madrid-based Abwehr agent Wolfgang Blaum and handed over to Sonderführer Kurt Haller. From the border, Ryan was first taken to the resort town of Biarritz
then on to Paris
where he received several days hospitality courtesy of the Abwehr. He was then transported to Berlin
, and met up with Seán Russell
on 4 August 1940.
Dr. Edmund Veesenmayer
. Veesenmayer, as part of his roving SS and German Foreign Ministry brief, was intimately involved in the planning of all Abwehr operations in Ireland during 1940 - 1943, particularly those involving Russell and Ryan. The day after arriving, Ryan was asked by Russell to accompany him to Ireland as part of Operation Dove
("Unternehmen Taube" in German
). Although Ryan had not been involved in the training or preparation for Dove both he and Russell departed aboard U-65 on 8 August 1940. When Russell became ill and died during the journey (of a perforated ulcer), Ryan asked the Captain of U-65, Hans-Jerrit von Stockhausen, to cable Germany and ask for fresh instructions before proceeding. The mission was subsequently aborted and Ryan returned to Germany via Bordeaux
.
After the failure of Operation Dove, Ryan remained in Berlin. Between Autumn 1940 and January 1943 he lived in a "large gloomy flat" in Berlin with an acquaintance from Ireland, Helmut Clissmann, and Hans Ritter, both of whom were Abwehr
assets
. Clissmann was married to Elizabeth "Budge" Mulcahy of Sligo, a friend of both Ryan and Leopold Kerney. As an exchange student in Dublin in the 1930s Clissmann had known Ryan and other republicans and socialists well, and before Hitler came to power had been a member of a left-wing student organisation. Ryan was not in good health, as a result of his wound and treatment in the Spanish prison, and at one stage he had a stroke, but he remained convivial and drew around him a small circle of friends. He had to remain incognito and in general did not discuss politics. He grew increasingly deaf (though his friends suggested that he sometimes feigned deafness in order to avoid uncomfortable conversations with the German authorities) so that he could not be left alone at night - he could not hear the anti-aircraft sirens. He later had to spend his days outdoors or in cafés (where he became friendly with Francis Stuart
, whom he had known from Dublin) so that people could see him if the sirens sounded. To Stuart he took Irish newspapers and, being in a position to get extra rations, shared them generously with his friends. In return Stuart took Ryan, who had a lot of time on his hands, on trips to the countryside and on outings with his students. Stephen Hayes (Irish Republican), Chief of Staff of the IRA, claimed that Ryan and Stuart were carrying out propaganda work among Irish prisoners of war. This was untrue. They visited a camp for Irish prisoners who signified their intent of joining an "Irish Guard". Ryan and Clissmann also visited a camp containing some men who intended setting up this Guard. Ryan had nothing to do with this and the scheme came to nothing. Ryan regretted visiting the camp and told Stuart that the whole scheme disheartened him - he only had sympathy with men who were, like he and his comrades had been, in prison camps.
Ryan was given the cover name "Richard II" (Russell had been "Richard I"), and he was listed in the Abwehr (Intelligence) files as "Frank Richard". This protected him from the Gestapo, who might have been very interested in a former officer of the International Brigades, but they had no access to the Intelligence files until 1944.
Around the end of 1940, a "Where is Frank Ryan?" campaign began in the Irish Press. In response to this Frank Ryan wrote a letter to Leopold Kerney, Irish Minister in Madrid, explaining his whereabouts. Abwehr II's war diary records that the Government of the Republic of Ireland ('Éire
'), (the territory formerly known as the Irish Free State
), was made aware of Ryan's whereabouts between 11 December and 19 December 1940 by Elizabeth ("Budge") Clissmann who had hand-delivered the letter on Ryan's behalf. Ryan instructed Clissmann not to tell Kerney that Russell had died on board U-65 although this information appears to have already been leaked.
In May 1941 Abwehr Operation Whale
("Unternehmen Walfisch" in German), a plan to land a seaplane on a lake in Ireland, was expanded to include resupply of the IRA with money and a transmitter. Ryan was to contact the IRA. After these changes to the plan it became known as Operation Sea Eagle
("Unternehmen Seeadler" in German). Ryan was asked for his co-operation in the planning for Operation Sea Eagle. The written proposal for Operation Sea Eagle gives some supposedly biographical details for Ryan composed by Veesenmayer. It is not known whether Ryan lead Veesenmayer to include these statements in the proposal or whether Veesenmayer added them to increase the chances of Operation Sea Eagle being sponsored; either way Veesenmayer did not stress Ryan's Communist sympathies and included a number of inaccuracies and embellishments:
Although Operation Sea Eagle was first postponed after being shown to Hitler on 6 September 1941 and then ultimately cancelled, Ryan's part in planning continued up to its cancellation.
Ryan had also been nominated for inclusion in Operation Osprey
"Unternehmen Fischadler", an Abwehr plan to engineer resistance and sabotage amongst the Irish in the event of a feared American invasion. Osprey was planned to work in conjunction with a suite of German Intelligence operations devised by then Brigadeführer
Walter Schellenberg
, Director of Office VI, Foreign Political Information Service, Reichs Security HQ.
using No.1 SS. Special Service Troop. Ryan's role in the plan was to get De Valera and the IRA to work together. There was little realism in that part of the plan (as Ryan realized), but Ryan's main objective, after being four years out of Ireland and in increasingly bad health, was to get home.
The IRA under its new Chief of Staff, Stephen Hayes, now regarded Ryan as its "representative" in Germany. Ryan felt that, through circumstances beyond his control, he was the only European representative of the IRA. However, "he had no illusions about his old friends or his new friends". In a coded letter that was smuggled to Gerald O'Reilly, a member of Clan na Gael
in the Bronx, New York, in May 1941, the writer (which O'Reilly understood was Ryan) explained the situation: despite their differences over the previous six years, he had been happy to meet Sean Russell; before his death, Russel had entrusted him with important papers that should be returned to the IRA; that he had a "free hand and was fully trusted"; that success (for the IRA) would depend on the left wing of the IRA working with the leadership, and that if this happened the IRA would emerge stronger after the war. A few weeks later O'Reilly was arrested by the FBI (they were looking for Sean Russell, who had skipped bail) who obtained the letter. They said they were aware of Ryan's "anti-Fascist credentials" and although due to his contacts and knowledge of languages would be useful to "the enemy" (the US was not yet in the war), they did not he believe he would work for Fascism. The leaders of Clan na Gael did not believe the letter.
As far as the evidence goes, Ryan did not change his political views after his release from the Spanish prison; Francis Stuart and the Clissmanns agreed on that. According to the Clissmanns he remained "an Irish Republican and a Connolly Socialist" all his life. However he was frustrated because he could do nothing for Ireland. After the Summer of 1941 he was concerned with defending Ireland's neutrality and he sided with De Valera on that point. There was also the shortage of arms in Ireland to defend itself - Churchill had prevented any supplies of arms to the Republic because Ireland would not give up the ports, and the Americans would not contravene the embargo. Churchill had also hinted at an invasion of the south of Ireland should it be required - there was a lot for all concerned to ponder about in those troubled times.
In 1941 Ryan wrote a number of letters to Irish Minister Leopold Kerney in Madrid. This was facilitated by the Germans in order to monitor events in Ireland and understand Ryan's position, as after the invasion of the Soviet Union the need to keep Ireland neutral grew, and Ryan was becoming increasingly important in their eyes (ironically, this invasion made Ryan even more suspicious of German intentions). In most, if not all, these letters he expressed his desire to return to Ireland. In November 1941 he wrote that he was treated as a "distinguished guest", a "non-party neutral", in Germany, and added:
Once a feared invasion of Éire by US Troops stationed in Northern Ireland
in 1942 failed to materialize, Ryan was dropped as a possible mission specialist in further covert Abwehr and Foreign Ministry plans and operations. He was approached late 1943 for his opinion on the feasibility of a "Geheimsender" (secret transmitter) propaganda operation in Ireland for broadcast to the United States
, but the plan never reached fruition. It is also known that he discussed Francis Stuart's radio broadcasts with him prior to their commencement.
He died in June 1944 at a hospital in Loschwitz
in Dresden
. His funeral in Dresden was attended by Elizabeth Clissmann and Francis Stuart. Clissmann eventually forwarded details of Ryan's fate to Leopold Kerney in Madrid. According to Stuart and Clissmann, the cause of death was pleurisy
and pneumonia
.
, German Democratic Republic
. Three volunteers of the International Brigades, Frank Edwards
, Peter O'Connor and Michael O'Riordan
travelled to East Germany as a guard of honour to repatriate Ryan's remains in 1979. On 21 June his remains arrived in Whitefriar St.
church - his local church when he was in Dublin. The church was packed with all shades of Republican and left-wing opinion, as well as those from his past such as the Stuarts, the Clissmanns, Peadar O'Donnell (who spoke at the service), George Gilmore, and ex-comrades and sympathizers from all over the world. The cortege on its way to Glasnevin Cemetery
halted at the GPO
in memory of the dead of 1916. His coffin was borne to the grave in Glasnevin Cemetery by Irish veterans of the Spanish Civil War, Frank Edwards, Peter O'Connor, Michael O'Riordan and Terry Flanagan. Con Lehane
delivered the funeral oration while a piper played "Limerick's Lamentation".
An Phoblacht
An Phoblacht is the official newspaper of Sinn Féin in Ireland. It is published once a month, and according to its website sells an average of up to 15,000 copies every month and was the first Irish paper to provide an edition online and currently having in excess of 100,000 website hits per...
, leftist
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
activist and leader of Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
volunteers on the Republican
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
side in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
.
Early life
His parents were National School teachers at Bottomstown (parish of Knockainey) with a taste for Irish traditional music, and they lived in a house full of books. He attended St. Colman's College, FermoyFermoy
Fermoy is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is situated on the River Blackwater in the south of Ireland. Its population is some 5,800 inhabitants, environs included ....
. From then on he was devoted to the restoration of the Irish language.
He studied Celtic Studies
Celtic Studies
Celtic studies is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to a Celtic people. This ranges from linguistics, literature and art history archaeology and history, the focus lying on the study of the various Celtic languages, living and extinct...
at University College Dublin
University College Dublin
University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
, where he was a member of the Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
(IRA) training corps. He left before graduating in order to join the IRA's East Limerick Brigade in 1922. He fought on the Republican side in the Irish Civil War
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
, and was wounded and interned
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
. In November 1923 he was released and returned to University College Dublin
University College Dublin
University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
. He was active in a number of Irish-language societies (in 1924 he won the Cumann Gaedhealach's gold medal for oratory in Irish) and wrote for Irish-language publications - he briefly edited An Reult . He formed the University Republican Club and led it on demonstrations. He graduated in 1925.
After graduating he taught Irish at Mountjoy School (a Protestant
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
school in Dublin), but journalism was his vocation. His day job was editing Irish Travel for the Tourist Board, while he also edited An tÓglach for the IRA. Evenings were devoted to teaching Irish at Conradh na Gaeilge
Conradh na Gaeilge
Conradh na Gaeilge is a non-governmental organisation that promotes the Irish language in Ireland and abroad. The motto of the League is Sinn Féin, Sinn Féin amháin .-Origins:...
, lecturing in history and literature, and leading the occasional céilidh
Céilidh
In modern usage, a céilidh or ceilidh is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing. It originated in Ireland, but is now common throughout the Irish and Scottish diasporas...
.
In 1926, he was appointed adjutant of the Dublin Brigade and given the job of reorganising it. He was always an anti-imperialist
Anti-imperialism
Anti-imperialism, strictly speaking, is a term that may be applied to a movement opposed to any form of colonialism or imperialism. Anti-imperialism includes opposition to wars of conquest, particularly of non-contiguous territory or people with a different language or culture; it also includes...
, and Peadar O'Donnell
Peadar O'Donnell
Peadar O'Donnell was an Irish republican and socialist activist and writer.-Early life:Peadar O'Donnell was born into an Irish speaking family in Dungloe, County Donegal in northwest Ireland, in 1893. He attended St. Patrick's College, Dublin, where he trained as a teacher...
believes the biggest influence on Ryan's thinking in those days was the anti-Imperialist Congress in Paris, which he attended with Donal O'Donoghue
Donal O'Donoghue
Donal J. O'Donoghue was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. A teacher by profession, he was first elected as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála at the 1944 by-election for the Kerry South constituency. The by-election was caused by the appointment of Fionán Lynch as a Judge. He was defeated at the 1948...
, as delegates of the IRA, in 1927.
In 1929 Ryan was appointed editor of the Republican newspaper An Phoblacht, where he worked alongside Geoffrey Coulter, his assistant. Together they turned it into a lively political paper and boosted the readership substantially. In this year he was elected to the Army Executive, the body below the IRA Army Council
IRA Army Council
The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The council had seven members, said by the...
.
In May 1930 Ryan spent several weeks in the US, addressing Irish conventions, where he witnessed the start of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. In 1931 he was imprisoned for publishing seditious articles in An Phoblacht. Later that year, he was again imprisoned for contempt of court.
Republican Congress
In 1933, Ryan, along with George GilmoreGeorge Gilmore
George Gilmore was a Protestant Irish Republican Army leader during the 1920s and 1930s. During his period of influence the Republican movement moved significantly to the left...
and Peadar O'Donnell, proposed the establishment of a new left-republican organisation to be called the Republican Congress
Republican Congress
The Republican Congress was an Irish republican political organisation founded in 1934, when left-wing republicans left the Irish Republican Army. The Congress was led by such IRA veterans as Peadar O'Donnell, Frank Ryan and George Gilmore. It was a socialist organisation and was dedicated to a...
. This would form the basis of a mass revolutionary movement appealing to the working class and small farmers. At an IRA Army Convention, they narrowly failed to gain approval for the proposal. Ryan and his allies left the IRA to set it up, with Ryan becoming editor of its eponymous newspaper. The IRA leadership reacted by suspending them to await courtmartial, while IRA volunteers who supported the Congress were stood down.
For months arguments raged both within the IRA and between the IRA and various left-wing organisations on how to deal with Government pressure, the growing Fascist tendency of Fine Gael, and whether to participate in elections, but the IRA leadership managed to keep to its traditional path, though it did actively confront the Blueshirts. In 1935, Ryan established two publishing concerns, the Cooperative Press and Liberty Press, to circumvent the difficulties in publishing left-wing material. During strikes in the first half of that year (butchers' shops in January, a tram and bus strike in March) and agitations for release of prisoners the IRA (which was still torn between a left-wing and a conservative faction and under tremendous pressure from the Government) and the Republican Congress worked together with other left-wing groups. However from June on disputes arose between the IRA and the Congress, which the following year ran into debt due to election expenses and folded.
Involvement in Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939
With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Peadar O'Donnell and then George Gilmore went to Spain on behalf of the Congress to report on proceedings, and returned enthusiastic supporters of the Spanish Republicans. Ryan was incensed at quasi-Fascist Blueshirt leader Eoin O'DuffyEoin O'Duffy
Eoin O'Duffy was in succession a Teachta Dála , the Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army , the second Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, leader of the Army Comrades Association and then the first leader of Fine Gael , before leading the Irish Brigade to fight for Francisco Franco during...
organising an Irish Brigade
Irish Brigade (Spanish Civil War)
The Irish Brigade , fought on the Nationalist side of Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War. The unit was formed wholly of Roman Catholics by the politician Eoin O'Duffy, who had previously organised the banned quasi-fascist Blueshirts and openly fascist Greenshirts in Ireland...
to fight with the Fascists, and in open letters to the papers criticised Cardinal McRory for raising funds at church collections to support Franco. The Congress started publicising the Spanish Republican cause in public meetings. This was no easy task, given the strength of pro-Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
feeling at the time, which was whipped up by sections of the Catholic Church and the Irish Independent
Irish Independent
The Irish Independent is Ireland's largest-selling daily newspaper that is published in both compact and broadsheet formats. It is the flagship publication of Independent News & Media.-History:...
. Pro-Republican meetings were frequently challenged, and on one occasion Ryan had to climb up a lamp-post to escape from a crowd which attacked a meeting he was addressing in York Street.
O'Donnell due to his age and Gilmore with a broken leg were not in a position to return to Spain to fight. Despite his deafness in late 1936 Ryan travelled to Spain with about 80 men he had succeeded in recruiting to fight in the International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
on the Republican side. Ryan's men are sometimes referred to as the "Connolly Column
Connolly Column
The Connolly Column was the name given to the Irish volunteers who fought for the Second Spanish Republic in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. They were named after James Connolly, the executed leader of the Irish Citizen Army...
".
He served in the Lincoln-Washington Brigade, rising to Brigadier. He was attached to the staff of the 15th International Brigade in charge of publicity - writing, broadcasting and visiting the front line to see conditions first-hand. He fought in a number of engagements - at the Battle of Jarama
Battle of Jarama
The Battle of Jarama was an attempt by General Franco's Nationalists to dislodge the Republican lines along the river Jarama, just east of Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War...
(February 1937) he took over command of the British Battalion (the Irish were split between this and the Lincoln Battalion) after it suffered heavy losses. He was seriously wounded in March 1937, and returned to Ireland to recover. He took advantage of the opportunity of his return to launch another left-republican newspaper, entitled The Irish Democrat. On his return to Spain, he again served in the war until he was captured by Italian troops fighting for the Nationalists in March 1938. He was accused of murder, court-martialled, and sentenced to death before being incarcerated in Burgos
Burgos
Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...
Prison in 1938. He was under the death sentence for 16 months. During this time he expressed his disagreement with the IRA bombing campaign in England. His sentence was later commuted to thirty years hard labour in January 1940.
'Escape' from Burgos Prison 1940
In October 1938 Ryan was visited in Burgos Prison by the Irish Minister to Spain, Leopold KerneyLeopold H. Kerney
Leopold H. Kerney was the first Irish Minister Plenipotentiary to be appointed to Spain and remained at this post from 1935 until his retirement in 1946...
. Kerney hired a lawyer for Ryan, (Jaime Michel de Champourcin, paid for by the Irish government), but in spite of all his efforts, he could not secure Ryan's release. It was through de Champourcin's contacts with Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
(a German military intelligence organisation) chief Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Franz Canaris was a German admiral, head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944 and member of the German Resistance.- Early life and World War I :...
, and within the Franco Government that saw Ryan released into Abwehr hands on 15 July 1940. The handover took place on the Spanish border at Irun-Hendaye. A cover story that Ryan had "escaped" was released at the time. Ryan was taken to the Spanish border by Madrid-based Abwehr agent Wolfgang Blaum and handed over to Sonderführer Kurt Haller. From the border, Ryan was first taken to the resort town of Biarritz
Biarritz
Biarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....
then on to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
where he received several days hospitality courtesy of the Abwehr. He was then transported to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and met up with Seán Russell
Seán Russell
Seán Russell was an Irish republican who held senior positions in the IRA until the end of the Irish War of Independence...
on 4 August 1940.
Activities in Germany 1940 - 1944
On his arrival in Berlin Ryan was introduced to SS ColonelColonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Dr. Edmund Veesenmayer
Edmund Veesenmayer
Edmund Veesenmayer was a German politician, officer and war criminal. He significantly contributed to The Holocaust in Hungary and Croatia...
. Veesenmayer, as part of his roving SS and German Foreign Ministry brief, was intimately involved in the planning of all Abwehr operations in Ireland during 1940 - 1943, particularly those involving Russell and Ryan. The day after arriving, Ryan was asked by Russell to accompany him to Ireland as part of Operation Dove
Operation Dove (Ireland)
Operation Dove also sometimes known as Operation Pigeon, was an Abwehr sanctioned mission devised in early 1940...
("Unternehmen Taube" in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
). Although Ryan had not been involved in the training or preparation for Dove both he and Russell departed aboard U-65 on 8 August 1940. When Russell became ill and died during the journey (of a perforated ulcer), Ryan asked the Captain of U-65, Hans-Jerrit von Stockhausen, to cable Germany and ask for fresh instructions before proceeding. The mission was subsequently aborted and Ryan returned to Germany via Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
.
After the failure of Operation Dove, Ryan remained in Berlin. Between Autumn 1940 and January 1943 he lived in a "large gloomy flat" in Berlin with an acquaintance from Ireland, Helmut Clissmann, and Hans Ritter, both of whom were Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
assets
Asset (intelligence)
In intelligence, assets are persons within organizations or countries that are being spied upon who provide information for an outside spy.There are different categories of assets, including people...
. Clissmann was married to Elizabeth "Budge" Mulcahy of Sligo, a friend of both Ryan and Leopold Kerney. As an exchange student in Dublin in the 1930s Clissmann had known Ryan and other republicans and socialists well, and before Hitler came to power had been a member of a left-wing student organisation. Ryan was not in good health, as a result of his wound and treatment in the Spanish prison, and at one stage he had a stroke, but he remained convivial and drew around him a small circle of friends. He had to remain incognito and in general did not discuss politics. He grew increasingly deaf (though his friends suggested that he sometimes feigned deafness in order to avoid uncomfortable conversations with the German authorities) so that he could not be left alone at night - he could not hear the anti-aircraft sirens. He later had to spend his days outdoors or in cafés (where he became friendly with Francis Stuart
Francis Stuart
Henry Francis Montgomery Stuart was an Irish writer. His novels have been described as having a thrusting modernist iconoclasm. Awarded the highest artistic accolade in Ireland before his death in 2000, his unwillingness to take a clear moral stance with regard to his years spent in Nazi...
, whom he had known from Dublin) so that people could see him if the sirens sounded. To Stuart he took Irish newspapers and, being in a position to get extra rations, shared them generously with his friends. In return Stuart took Ryan, who had a lot of time on his hands, on trips to the countryside and on outings with his students. Stephen Hayes (Irish Republican), Chief of Staff of the IRA, claimed that Ryan and Stuart were carrying out propaganda work among Irish prisoners of war. This was untrue. They visited a camp for Irish prisoners who signified their intent of joining an "Irish Guard". Ryan and Clissmann also visited a camp containing some men who intended setting up this Guard. Ryan had nothing to do with this and the scheme came to nothing. Ryan regretted visiting the camp and told Stuart that the whole scheme disheartened him - he only had sympathy with men who were, like he and his comrades had been, in prison camps.
Ryan was given the cover name "Richard II" (Russell had been "Richard I"), and he was listed in the Abwehr (Intelligence) files as "Frank Richard". This protected him from the Gestapo, who might have been very interested in a former officer of the International Brigades, but they had no access to the Intelligence files until 1944.
Around the end of 1940, a "Where is Frank Ryan?" campaign began in the Irish Press. In response to this Frank Ryan wrote a letter to Leopold Kerney, Irish Minister in Madrid, explaining his whereabouts. Abwehr II's war diary records that the Government of the Republic of Ireland ('Éire
Éire
is the Irish name for the island of Ireland and the sovereign state of the same name.- Etymology :The modern Irish Éire evolved from the Old Irish word Ériu, which was the name of a Gaelic goddess. Ériu is generally believed to have been the matron goddess of Ireland, a goddess of sovereignty, or...
'), (the territory formerly known as the Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
), was made aware of Ryan's whereabouts between 11 December and 19 December 1940 by Elizabeth ("Budge") Clissmann who had hand-delivered the letter on Ryan's behalf. Ryan instructed Clissmann not to tell Kerney that Russell had died on board U-65 although this information appears to have already been leaked.
In May 1941 Abwehr Operation Whale
Operation Whale
Operation Whale was the name of two separate German Intelligence plans conceived in 1940.*" Unternehmen Walfisch" was an aborted plan to land a seaplane on a lake in Ireland...
("Unternehmen Walfisch" in German), a plan to land a seaplane on a lake in Ireland, was expanded to include resupply of the IRA with money and a transmitter. Ryan was to contact the IRA. After these changes to the plan it became known as Operation Sea Eagle
Operation Sea Eagle
Operation Sea Eagle sometimes referred to as Operation Dove II was a German Foreign Ministry plan conceived in May 1941 after the collapse of planning around Operation Whale .The operation was to involve landing a seaplane on a lake in Ireland to supply the Irish Republican...
("Unternehmen Seeadler" in German). Ryan was asked for his co-operation in the planning for Operation Sea Eagle. The written proposal for Operation Sea Eagle gives some supposedly biographical details for Ryan composed by Veesenmayer. It is not known whether Ryan lead Veesenmayer to include these statements in the proposal or whether Veesenmayer added them to increase the chances of Operation Sea Eagle being sponsored; either way Veesenmayer did not stress Ryan's Communist sympathies and included a number of inaccuracies and embellishments:
"... he is one of the leading Irish nationalists [and] has been for many years a member of the leader's council of the Irish Republican Army, and a participant in numerous fights against England."
"In 1929 the [British] Secret Service carried out an unsuccessful assassination attempt against him and he has often been in jail since."
"He has extensive connections with the Irish republican circles up to de Valera'sÉamon de ValeraÉamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
closest entourage and with de Valera himself, as well as to the Irish regular army, the nationalist Irishmen in Northern Ireland and especially the leading Irishmen in America."
Ryan had also been nominated for inclusion in Operation Osprey
Operation Osprey
Operation Osprey was a plan conceived by the German Foreign Ministry and Abwehr II. mid 1942. The plan was an enlargement of Operation Whale...
"Unternehmen Fischadler", an Abwehr plan to engineer resistance and sabotage amongst the Irish in the event of a feared American invasion. Osprey was planned to work in conjunction with a suite of German Intelligence operations devised by then Brigadeführer
Brigadeführer
SS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
Walter Schellenberg
Walter Schellenberg
Walther Friedrich Schellenberg was a German SS-Brigadeführer who rose through the ranks of the SS to become the head of foreign intelligence following the abolition of the Abwehr in 1944.-Biography:...
, Director of Office VI, Foreign Political Information Service, Reichs Security HQ.
RSHA
The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacities as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS...
using No.1 SS. Special Service Troop. Ryan's role in the plan was to get De Valera and the IRA to work together. There was little realism in that part of the plan (as Ryan realized), but Ryan's main objective, after being four years out of Ireland and in increasingly bad health, was to get home.
The IRA under its new Chief of Staff, Stephen Hayes, now regarded Ryan as its "representative" in Germany. Ryan felt that, through circumstances beyond his control, he was the only European representative of the IRA. However, "he had no illusions about his old friends or his new friends". In a coded letter that was smuggled to Gerald O'Reilly, a member of Clan na Gael
Clan na Gael
The Clan na Gael was an Irish republican organization in the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries, successor to the Fenian Brotherhood and a sister organization to the Irish Republican Brotherhood...
in the Bronx, New York, in May 1941, the writer (which O'Reilly understood was Ryan) explained the situation: despite their differences over the previous six years, he had been happy to meet Sean Russell; before his death, Russel had entrusted him with important papers that should be returned to the IRA; that he had a "free hand and was fully trusted"; that success (for the IRA) would depend on the left wing of the IRA working with the leadership, and that if this happened the IRA would emerge stronger after the war. A few weeks later O'Reilly was arrested by the FBI (they were looking for Sean Russell, who had skipped bail) who obtained the letter. They said they were aware of Ryan's "anti-Fascist credentials" and although due to his contacts and knowledge of languages would be useful to "the enemy" (the US was not yet in the war), they did not he believe he would work for Fascism. The leaders of Clan na Gael did not believe the letter.
As far as the evidence goes, Ryan did not change his political views after his release from the Spanish prison; Francis Stuart and the Clissmanns agreed on that. According to the Clissmanns he remained "an Irish Republican and a Connolly Socialist" all his life. However he was frustrated because he could do nothing for Ireland. After the Summer of 1941 he was concerned with defending Ireland's neutrality and he sided with De Valera on that point. There was also the shortage of arms in Ireland to defend itself - Churchill had prevented any supplies of arms to the Republic because Ireland would not give up the ports, and the Americans would not contravene the embargo. Churchill had also hinted at an invasion of the south of Ireland should it be required - there was a lot for all concerned to ponder about in those troubled times.
In 1941 Ryan wrote a number of letters to Irish Minister Leopold Kerney in Madrid. This was facilitated by the Germans in order to monitor events in Ireland and understand Ryan's position, as after the invasion of the Soviet Union the need to keep Ireland neutral grew, and Ryan was becoming increasingly important in their eyes (ironically, this invasion made Ryan even more suspicious of German intentions). In most, if not all, these letters he expressed his desire to return to Ireland. In November 1941 he wrote that he was treated as a "distinguished guest", a "non-party neutral", in Germany, and added:
There might also be a situation (I was always a pessimist) in which I might be asked to do something I don't like. Such a situation is - soberly speaking - highly improbable. But if the unlikely were ever to happen...I won't do the dirty. And when you plant my tombstone, let it be of granite (like my stubborn cranium) contents. (Not for nothing did I earn the nickname of "The Mule" in my schooldays!)
Once a feared invasion of Éire by US Troops stationed in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
in 1942 failed to materialize, Ryan was dropped as a possible mission specialist in further covert Abwehr and Foreign Ministry plans and operations. He was approached late 1943 for his opinion on the feasibility of a "Geheimsender" (secret transmitter) propaganda operation in Ireland for broadcast to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, but the plan never reached fruition. It is also known that he discussed Francis Stuart's radio broadcasts with him prior to their commencement.
He died in June 1944 at a hospital in Loschwitz
Loschwitz
Loschwitz is a borough of Dresden, Germany, incorporated in 1921. It consists of ten quarters :Loschwitz is a villa quarter located at the slopes north of the Elbe river...
in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
. His funeral in Dresden was attended by Elizabeth Clissmann and Francis Stuart. Clissmann eventually forwarded details of Ryan's fate to Leopold Kerney in Madrid. According to Stuart and Clissmann, the cause of death was pleurisy
Pleurisy
Pleurisy is an inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs. Among other things, infections are the most common cause of pleurisy....
and pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
.
Events after Ryan's death
In 1963, historian Enno Stephan located Ryan's grave in DresdenDresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
. Three volunteers of the International Brigades, Frank Edwards
Frank Edwards (Irish Communist)
Frank Edwards was a teacher and prominent Irish communist.Edwards's parents were Belfast Catholics who relocated to Waterford. His father served, and died, in the British Army during the First World War. His elder brother, Jack Edwards, was the Waterford organiser of the one-day general strike...
, Peter O'Connor and Michael O'Riordan
Michael O'Riordan
Michael O'Riordan was the founder of the Communist Party of Ireland and also fought with the Connolly Column in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War.-Early life:...
travelled to East Germany as a guard of honour to repatriate Ryan's remains in 1979. On 21 June his remains arrived in Whitefriar St.
Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church
The Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church is a Roman Catholic church in Dublin, Ireland maintained by the Carmelite order. The church is noted for having the relics of Saint Valentine, which were donated to the church in the 19th century by Pope Gregory XVI from their previous location in the cemetery...
church - his local church when he was in Dublin. The church was packed with all shades of Republican and left-wing opinion, as well as those from his past such as the Stuarts, the Clissmanns, Peadar O'Donnell (who spoke at the service), George Gilmore, and ex-comrades and sympathizers from all over the world. The cortege on its way to Glasnevin Cemetery
Glasnevin Cemetery
Glasnevin Cemetery , officially known as Prospect Cemetery, is the largest non-denominational cemetery in Ireland with an estimated 1.5 million burials...
halted at the GPO
GPO
-Organisations:*General Post Office **General Post Office UK*German Patent Office, *United States Government Printing Office, a federal government agency*Green Party of Ontario, a policial party in Ontario, Canada...
in memory of the dead of 1916. His coffin was borne to the grave in Glasnevin Cemetery by Irish veterans of the Spanish Civil War, Frank Edwards, Peter O'Connor, Michael O'Riordan and Terry Flanagan. Con Lehane
Con Lehane (Irish republican)
Con Lehane was a left-wing nationalist, a 1930s member of the IRA Army Council, solicitor, and Dáil Éireann representative, elected in the 1948 general election for one term for Clann na Poblachta for the Dublin South Central constituency. He lost his seat at the 1951 general election...
delivered the funeral oration while a piper played "Limerick's Lamentation".
In popular culture
- Irish singer Christy MooreChristy MooreChristopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...
's song Viva La Quince Brigada is in large part a tribute to Frank Ryan and his efforts in the Spanish Civil War. - The character Liam Devlin in the Jack HigginsJack HigginsJack Higgins is the principal pseudonym of UK novelist Harry Patterson. Patterson is the author of more than 60 novels. As Higgins, most have been thrillers of various types and, since his breakthrough novel The Eagle Has Landed in 1975, nearly all have been bestsellers...
1975 thriller The Eagle has LandedThe Eagle Has LandedThe Eagle Has Landed is a book by Jack Higgins set during World War II. It first published in 1975. It was made into a film of the same name in 1976 starring Michael Caine...
seems to be based on Frank Ryan. Higgins's Devlin, like Ryan, is an IRA man who has fought on the Republican side in Spain, was captured and was afterwards passed on to the Germans - but in the book he is then recruited to join a (fictional) commando raid into England, aimed at capturing Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
.
Sources and further information
- Frank Ryan, The Search for the Republic, Seán CroninSeán CroninSeán Cronin was a journalist and former Irish Army officer and twice Irish Republican Army chief of staff.Cronin was born in Dublin in 1920 but spent his childhood years in Ballinskelligs, in the County Kerry Gaeltacht....
, Repsol: Dublin, 1980 ISBN 0-86064-018-3 - The IRA, Tim Pat Coogan, Fontana, 1971.
- In Green and Red: The Lives of Frank Ryan, Adrian Hoar, Kerry: Brandon. 2004. ISBN 0-86322-332-X.
- Connolly Column: The story of the Irishmen who fought for the Spanish Republic 1936-1939, Michael O'RiordanMichael O'RiordanMichael O'Riordan was the founder of the Communist Party of Ireland and also fought with the Connolly Column in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War.-Early life:...
, Torfaen: Warren & Pell. 2005 (2nd edition). ISBN 0-9548904-2-6. - Irish Secrets. German Espionage in Ireland 1939-1945, Mark M. Hull 2003 ISBN 0-7165-2756-1
- Spies in Ireland, Enno Stephan 1963 ISBN 1-131-82692-2 (reprint)
- Major Frank Ryan: Some recollections of conversations with him during our internment at De Burgos Penitentiary and suggestions as to how he escaped and later died in Germany Written by Welsh vol. Tom Jones in 1975.
- The Shamrock and the Swastika Carolle J. Carter 1977 ISBN 0-87015-221-1
- "Hitler's Useful Idiot", IndyMedia.ie 2 January 2005
- Ireland and the Spanish Civil War
- "Frank Ryan - patriot or collaborator". Review by Manus O'Riordan of a recent book on Ryan. Linked to several other reviews.
- New web site about L Kerney and WW2 - site reviewed by Manus O'Riordan.
- Leopold H. Kerney Website
See also
- Irish Socialist Volunteers in the Spanish Civil WarIrish Socialist Volunteers in the Spanish Civil WarIrish Socialist volunteers in the Spanish Civil War describes a grouping of IRA members and Irish Socialists who fought in support the cause of the Second Republic during the Spanish Civil War. These volunteers were taken from both Irish Republican and Unionist political backgrounds but were bonded...
- IRA Abwehr World War II - Main article on IRA Nazi links
- Friesack CampFriesack CampFriesack Camp or Camp Friesack is a name commonly used to refer to a special World War II POW camp where a group of Irishmen serving in the British Army volunteered for recruitment and selection by Abwehr II and the German Army. The camp was designated Stalag XX A and located in the Friesack...
- John CoddJohn CoddJohn Codd was an Irish national who, after being captured as a British Army corporal during World War II, went on to serve in the German Intelligence service and SS Intelligence.-Early life:...
- Liam DevlinLiam DevlinLiam Devlin is a protagonist and recurring character in the novels of Jack Higgins. "Liam Devlin" is a pseudonym and his real name is never revealed.-Background:...
- Fictional character inspired by Frank Ryan.
External links
- Photo of Frank Ryan from Fifteenth International Brigade Photographic Unit
- Indymedia Article on images of Frank Ryan
