{"id":117791,"date":"2024-12-17T17:05:48","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T15:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=117791"},"modified":"2024-12-17T09:57:21","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T07:57:21","slug":"18-05-99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=117791","title":{"rendered":"Ireland: Refuge of WWII Nazis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Ireland: Refuge of WWII Nazis<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

February 14, 2024
\nAuthor:<\/span> Shane Paul<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Following D-Day in June 1944 when the Allies began to attempt to liberate France from its Nazi invaders, the Nazis were pushed back from areas of France they had controlled for four years.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Brittany region, the Nazis had been supported by local fascist Breton paramilitary groupings which hoped to later gain independence from France. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One of these was the fascist Bagadou Stourm<\/strong> paramilitary \u2018stormtroopers\u2019 unit founded and led by a Breton artist and sculptor, one Yann Goulet<\/strong>, aka Yann Renard-Goulet<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Before retreating from towns and villages, the Nazis decided to \u201ccleanse\u201d them of locals suspected of being members of the Resistance and they used the Breton collaborators to identify and detain suspects, not least because Breton paramilitaries spoke the Breton dialect and knew their neighbours.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Breton Captives<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chief among these Nazi collaborators was a local Breton extremist and paramiltary Yann Goulet<\/strong> who had formed and led the Bagadou Stourm<\/strong> in support of the Nazis and in particular the Waffen SS.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
\u201cYou too! Your comrades are waiting for you in the French division of the Waffen SS.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Goulet was also associated with another Breton paramilitary group known as Bezon Perrot<\/strong> named after an extremist Breton Catholic priest previously assassinated by anti-fascists.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The litany of massacres was far from over on July 10, when 18 resistance fighters were shot in Ploumagoar, in the Malaunay woods, after having been savagely tortured.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On July 9, 1944, 300 Germans combed the Bourbriac area.  There are SS people there from Rennes, Bezen Perrot, members of the Selbstschutzpolizei.<\/strong><\/p>\n

More than 10 resistance fighters were arrested: tortured in Uzel, 6 or 7 of them were executed in the Lorge forest on July 14.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The others, a dozen, were taken to Bourbriac and finally murdered in Garzonval-en-Plougonver on July 16.  Among them, we note the name of Albert Torqu\u00e9au, college professor and FTP leader.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the German retreat in August 1944, near the German airfield of Lannion-Servel, 37 bodies of FTP resistance fighters and hostages were found.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Similarly, at Butte-Rouge, in the L\u2019Hermitage-Lorge forest, there were 55 bodies piled up in 11 graves, victims all brought from Uzel before being slaughtered.<\/strong><\/p>\n

La Gestapo Fran\u00e7aise, Philippe Valode, G\u00e9rard Chauvy, 2018<\/cite><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yann Goulet had served the Nazis in Brittany for four years during which he and his fellows identified Jews, Communists, Resistance fighters, Resistance sympathisers and any other \u2018undesirables\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

These were days marked by the pain, the horror, the terror whipped up by the arrival of the Allies, the German troops accelerated the deportations, increased the executions and atrocities against the resistance fighters, the hostages, simple villagers, with the support of Bezen Perrot who actively participated in the raids and interrogations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On June 13, the Gestapo and the Feldgendarmerie of Saint-Brieuc executed 31 hostages in the forest of Boudan en Plestan.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Saint-Vincent sur-Oust, 6 resistance fighters were shot on June 22, 1944, after having been tortured, probably by a group from the Perrot Formation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A German court martial sat in Faou\u00ebt, in the heart of a land of maquis, and pronounced the death penalty for more than sixty resistance fighters between June 23 and August 2, 1944.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In C\u00f4tes-du-Nord alone, there were 12 executions in May 1944, 88 in June, 146 in July, 69 as of Aug 15.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Histoire de la Bretagne et des Bretons, Tome 2, Jo\u00ebl Cornette, 2005<\/cite><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As the Allies\u2019 advance proceeded, Yann Goulet and other Nazi collaborators had to decide \u2013 flee to Germany or else to the Republic of Ireland where he had friends in the IRA movement going back many years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Yann Goulet and a gang of other Nazi collaborators decided to flee to Ireland by way of Wales where they had the support of sympathisers who were members of the Welsh National Party, Plaid Cymru.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Yann Goulet in Bagadou Stourm uniform modelled after the SS Nazi uniform.<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yann Goulet had for many years been a proponent of the association of \u201cCeltic Nations\u201d \u2013 Breton, Cornish, Welsh and Irish \u2013 and had long been an admirer of the IRA.<\/span><\/p>\n

He managed to get to Wales along with his wife and children and from there to Ireland.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yann Goulet was sentenced to death in absentia<\/em><\/strong> for his collaboration with the Nazis, but was safe in the sanctuary of the Irish Republic under the warm gaze of Taoiseach\/Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs Edward\/\u00c9amonn\/\u00c9amon de Valera<\/strong> \u2013 who had himself been sentenced to death by the British after the failed 1916 Irish Volunteer \u2018Rising\u2019 in Dublin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yann Goulet was warmly welcomed by not only the IRA leaders but also by the smaller grouping back then known as Saor Eire<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

He counted a former IRA Chief of Staff (1936) among his close friends \u2013 Se\u00e1n MacBride \u2013 and IRA veteran Con Casey.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
IRA Veterans Con Casey and Se\u00e1n MacBride with their friend Nazi Collaborator Yann Goulet<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Goulet was granted Irish citizenship in 1952 with no objections being raised as to his Nazi background and death sentence passed by Rennes Tribunal of Justice in France.<\/span><\/p>\n

He invited the later President de Valera\u2019s son to his daughter Brigid\u2019s wedding.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yann Goulet was far from the only Breton Nazi Collaborator given sanctuary in the Republic of Ireland \u2013 a whole gang of Breton Nazis settled in Ireland, including leaders of<\/strong> Bezen Perrot<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Note that Yann Goulet (on right in photograph), granted Irish citizenship<\/em>, continued to wear his fascist Bagadou Stourm SS uniform black shirt, white tie and beret \u2013 Goulet never expressed any regret for his collaboration with the Nazis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Goulet managed to resurrect his career in art and sculpture in Ireland counting on guaranteed preferment and advancement by his powerful political \u2018Old IRA\u2019 patrons for whom he produced \u2018Old IRA\u2019 memorial sculptures:<\/span><\/p>\n