No. 256  NAI DFA 205/108

Minute from Frederick H. Boland to Sheila Murphy (Dublin) concerning radio
broadcasts by Francis Stuart from Germany

DUBLIN, 30 December 1942

I spoke to the German Minister about Francis Stuart's1 broadcast on the 2nd December in which he referred to Hugh McAteer and two other men recently convicted by a Belfast Court.2

I told Herr Hempel that, while it was quite true to say that large sections of opinion in this country resented and protested against the imprisonment by the Six County authorities of men for activities arising out of the crime of Partition, it might be regarded, even by the same sections of opinion, as quite a different thing for Germany to champion the cases of such men. Hugh McAteer was said to be a member of the I.R.A. In a recent I.R.A. leaflet he was described as Chief of Staff of that organisation and his name was on the list of men wanted by the police here in connection with the murder of Detective Sergeant O'Brien.3 That being so, the holding up of McAteer on the German radio as a hero was likely to be resented by many people here and to furnish a concrete example for use by those who charged Germany with aiding and abetting the I.R.A. against the Government.

Herr Hempel said he quite saw the point and agreed with what I said. He thought it very probable that neither Francis Stuart nor anybody else in Germany knew who Hugh McAteer was. I gathered he would draw Berlin's attention to the point.

1 Francis Stuart (1902-2000), Irish writer domiciled in Germany during the Second World War. Stuart broadcast to Ireland via the Irland-Redaktion service and had links with the IRA and German intelligence.

2 Hugh McAteer (1917-72), Chief of Staff of the IRA (1941-2). In November 1942 he was sentenced to fifteen years in jail on the charge of treason. His co-sentenced were John Graham and David Fleming.

3 Detective Sergeant Denis O'Brien (1898-1942), a member of the Special Branch, was shot dead on 9 September 1942 by three members of the IRA outside his home in the Dublin suburb of Rathfarnham.


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