Letter from Colonel Dan Bryan to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin)
(Personal and Secret) (G2/3666)

The following information concerning Charles Bewley, formerly Irish Minister at Berlin, has recently been received.

The report alleges that Bewley used the alias of Dreher; that he lived at Via Porta Pinciana 4 and later at Albergo Reale, Rome; that he received a salary of 1000 Marks per month directly from Berlin; that he had contacts in the Vatican and advised on German propaganda in the Vatican and in Ireland; and that he also had contacts in Ireland.

One of his missions allegedly was to arrange for Professor Hale or Hales¹ to go from Genoa or Turin to Ireland for the German Intelligence Service. The person who told this story does not know if Bewley was successful in doing so, but says that he brought another agent, name unknown, to Ireland who worked during the period 1941-42. Bewley was transferred to the jurisdiction of Amt. VI. after its formal constitution in 1943.

Amt. VI. as you may be aware was the section of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RHSA) Himmler's Security Organisation which dealt with the collection of secret political intelligence in countries abroad. The more important items of information went to Himmler himself after evaluation and some of it was passed to the Foreign Office for comment. In conjunction with this work the agents of Amt. VI. promoted Fifth Column activities in the various countries to which they were assigned and acted as intermediaries between the German Government and its sympathisers abroad.

The Professor Hale or Hales mentioned is evidently Mr. Daniel Joseph Hales about whom you wrote us under Reference - 201/63 dated 20th October, 1942. According to reports in our records Hales visited this country in 1938 or 1939 and spent his vacation in Bandon. He was alleged to be a personal friend of Mussolini. He met General O'Duffy² while here. He was a pro-Fascist and it is alleged that his propaganda was responsible for the formation of a fascist group in Bandon, which, however, died for want of support.

The opinion is that, while there is little doubt Bewley was working for the German Intelligence Service and Amt. VI. in Rome and was being regularly paid by them, it is doubtful whether the information about Hales coming to Ireland on a mission for Bewley is correct. The possibility of Bewley actually having sent anyone here at all may be regarded as remote in the extreme.