Anti-Semitism in Ireland

After Israel closed its embassy in Ireland, Israel’s supporters have been describing Ireland and its people as antisemitic because of its support for the Palestinians and bringing up examples of what they see as anti-semitism in Ireland, there is also the idea that Ireland's wartime prime minster Eamon de Valera expressed sympathy to Germanys representative in Ireland at the death of Hitler. Many of these examples of alleged antisemitism can be easily debunked.

It would be naive and dishonest to say that there is not, and never has never been antisemitism in Ireland, there was the Limerick boycott of 1904 and there have been Irish religious and political leaders who have made antisemitic outbursts.

Figures from the University of Tel Aviv showing antisemitic incidents in a number of European countries in 2023 show that Ireland is one of the least antisemitic countries in Europe. There were five antisemitic incidents per million inhabitants in Ireland compared to an average of 17.3 in the other countries where figures were available. 

There is an often repeated story that Ireland was 'pro-nazi' during the Second World War, this ignores the fact that over 133,000 Irish served in the British armed forces, over 66,000 personnel from the Irish Republic and some 64,000 from Northern Ireland. At the same time the zionist terrorist group The Stern Gang was offering to collaborate with the German Nazis as they were waging war in Europe and murdering six million Jews. Yitzhak Shamir, a former leader of the Stern Gang (and later Israeli prime minister), so admired the way the Irish were fighting the British he used the name ‘Michael’ naming himself after Irish republican leader Michael Collins. 

When Eamon de Valera, Prime minister of Ireland during the Second World War, visited  Eduard Hempel the German governments representative in Dublin to - supposedly - offer his condolences on the occasion of Adolf Hitlers death in 1945 this is often given as an example of antisemitism and Irelands sympathy with Nazi Germany. 

Why did de Valera visit Hempel? Ireland was neutral during World War II, (although it discreetly aided the allies see below) and according to David McCullagh de Valera “was doing what neutrality demanded”. The Department of Foreign Affairs had advised de Valera not to visit Hempel but he had visited David Gray, the US Minister in Dublin (a Minister is a diplomat one rank below an ambassador) when President Roosevelt had died three weeks earlier “to do less on this occasion would be an insult to Hempel personally" writes McCullagh" "and a rejection of the diplomatic doctrine that relations are between states, not governments. He made a mental distinction between the personality of Hitler and the German people as a whole.” The meeting also took place at the Hempel’s home in Dublin and not at the Legation (a legation is a diplomatic mission that ranks below an embassy) presumably to keep the visit more personal and low-key.

In his book Ireland’s Secret War Marc McMenamin writes that Hempel had a “close relationship with de Valera” and was “well regarded by the Irish political establishment as it was perceived that he had afforded more respect to the Irish state than American envoy David Gray”* (see below for more about Gray). Hempel was an unenthusiastic member of the Nazi party, on his arrival in Dublin he was not a member but was “pressured to join the Nazi party in 1938.”

Karen Devine of Dublin City University writes that “De Valera's visit was an act of courtesy, rather than a call of condolence…….it appears that although Hitler's death prompted the visit, it was not the focus of it.” 

Liv Hempel, daughter Eduard Hempel, said “I believe that the reason De Valera called to the house was out of friendship. He and my father were personal friends: it wasn’t simply a case of prime minister and diplomat. There was more than that. He visited because he knew my father, and the condolences were to my father because his position [as envoy to Ireland] was finished.”

In a letter to Robert Brennan (see below), the Irish minister in Washington, de Valera wrote: “So long as we retained our diplomatic relations with Germany to have failed to call upon the German representative would have been an act of unpardonable discourtesy to the German nation and to Dr. Hempel himself. During the whole of the war Dr. Hempel's conduct was irreproachable. He was always friendly and invariably correct…It would establish a bad precedent. It is of considerable importance that the formal acts of courtesy paid on such occasions as the death of the head of a State should not have attached to them any further special significance, such as connoting approval or disapproval of the policies of the State in question or of its head.” (Full text below).

It is  also a popular belief that de Valera signed a book of condolence although there is no evidence of this. Belfast newspaper The Northern Whig said that “Mr de Valera accompanied by Mr JP Walshe, Secretary to the Department of External Affairs, called on the German minister in Dublin, Dr Eduard Hempel" The Belfast News-Letter and the Londonderry Sentinel also give mention to de Valera’s visit to Hempel but neither of these newspapers mention the signing of a book of condolence. Recall that de Valera visited Hempel at his residence in Dublin and not at the legation. If there was a condolence book then it would surely have been kept at the German Legation and not at the Hempels residence.

In the House of Commons de Valera’s actions were condemned by many MPs who believed that he had offered condolences to Hempel.  Emrys Evans, Under-Secretary for Dominion Affairs, also criticised de Valera but he made no mention of a book of condolence. David McCullagh writes that de Valera “did not sign a book of condolences, no such book existed”.

De Valera actually has a forest named after him in Israel near Nazareth. The Éamon de Valera forest was founded in 1966 by Irish Jews as a tribute to the former prime minister, the Irish constitution of 1937 gave protection to Jews at a time when antisemitism was on the rise in much of Europe. A message from the then Israeli prime minister Levi Eshkol said the planting of the forest was a “fitting expression of the traditional friendship between Ireland and Israel, which have so much in common”

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* De Valera had “become increasingly irritated by David Gray US Minister in Dublin “Gray detested de Valera, and the feeling was entirely mutual.” As an allied victory became inevitable Gray “demanded that the German Legation in Dublin be handed over to him”, De Valera refused to do so.

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This memorandum from Joseph P. Walshe, Secretary of the Department of External Affairs, gives an idea of the help given to the allies by the Irish government

As well as the above - and amongst other things - the British & Irish governments cooperated in forming Plan W, a plan for British soldiers to enter the Republic of Ireland in the event of a German invasion of Ireland. Allied airmen who crashed landed in Ireland were taken to Northern Ireland while German air crew were interned, Irish firefighters were sent to Northern Ireland to tackle blazes caused by German air raids and the Irish provided meteorological information to the allies which was important for planning the D-Day landings. A team led by Richard J. Hayes of the Irish intelligence service G2 intercepted and decoded radio traffic from the German Legation and passed the information to the allies.

Such was the assistance given by G2 during the war that when a fleet of German U-boats formally surrendered in May 1945 at Lisahally in Derry, Dan Bryan, the head of G2, was invited to attend. Marc McMenamin writes that "His invitation to the surrender was an unofficial recognition of the tremendous role he and G2 had played in defeating Hitler's Nazi forces."

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Full text of Eamon de Valera's letter to Irish minister in Washington Robert Brennan.