'Anti-fascist' group beheads IRA memorial

The family of a former IRA leader who requested Nazi German aid were today said to be devastated after his memorial was broken and defaced by youths claiming to be anti-fascists.

A statue of IRA Chief of Staff Sean Russell, who died on a German submarine during the Second World War, was beheaded in an attack two weeks ago.

Sinn Féin councillor Christy Burke slammed the removal of the head and right arm of the memorial in Dublin’s Fairview Park, and rubbished claims that Russell was pro-Nazi.

A group claiming responsibility for the damage stated that, as Europe prepares to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps, “citizens of this state can no longer tolerate the shameful presence of a memorial to the Nazi collaborator Sean Russell in a public park in our nation’s capital city”.

The Irish National Graves Association (INGA), which takes care of the memorials of republicans across the country, said it had received many letters of outrage and donations over the desecration.

Mr Burke said: “I think it was an outrageous and malicious attack on a statue of Sean Russell, who at the end of the day was the Chief of Staff of the IRA. It was there to commemorate that and he still has standing in the North Strand area.

“I wouldn’t consider Sean Russell pro-Nazi. He went to Germany to seek financial aid or weapons in the struggle to remove British Forces from Northern Ireland. From a republican point of view it doesn’t say he agreed with their policies.”

Mr Burke added it was clear that Russell was trying to seek weapons and aid without supporting any other administration, as had been done throughout republican history.

“What the Nazis were doing at the time was absolutely appalling and I don’t believe any right-minded person could support their policies,” he said.

Russell’s role in early republicanism is still well-regarded by many and newly elected Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald spoke at a rally to commemorate him in the north Dublin park in 2003.

Matt Doyle, secretary of the INGA, said the association was working to repair or replace the badly damaged memorial with the support of the family.

However, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Paris, the world’s largest Jewish human rights organisation, called for it to be left unrestored as a symbol of Ireland’s “shame” for its neutral status in the Second World War as thousands of Jews were put to death.

Russell travelled to Germany during the Second World War to request Nazi German aid to mount an IRA invasion of Northern Ireland to remove the British military.

He was travelling back to Ireland on a German U-boat in an attempt to foster a coup in the Irish Republic when he died from an alleged perforated ulcer 100 miles off the coast on August 14, 1940.

Mr Doyle said the people who carried out the attack were not aware of the true facts. He added that it had come out on many occasions that Russell was “no Nazi”.

The INGA said the vandalism had occurred due to a “throwaway” remark during the elections for the European Parliament last year.

“The family were obviously upset. Russell was buried at sea so there is no grave, so this gave some solace to the family,” Mr Doyle said.

Mr Burke said there absolutely no documentation to show that Russell agreed with German policies, including the extermination of Jews, at the time.

“No-one has got anything to say he sat down with Hitler and discussed their policies, there is nothing to say he agreed with that,” he said.

Nuremburg War Crimes Trial witness Erwin Lahousen, who had been the key figure in an aborted pre-war plot to assassinate Hitler, said Russell completely disagreed with Nazi philosophy and had blasted their attempts to convert him.

Mr Lahousen said the republican leader wanted help to achieve independence but stressed there must be no strings attached.