Screenshot from On this day in Irish History, June 18 (ireland-calling.com)

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Hebrews 13: 2

There was once a somewhat sectarian Irish saying “Catholic and Irish”. It inferred that only Catholics could be truly Irish. Were non-Catholic “outsiders” really capable of loyalty and patriotism to Ireland? Protestants (and Jews) were once very aware of their second-class citizenship, albeit for divergent reasons.

Many Protestants positively contributed to Irish politics, arts, collegiate life and more: Douglas Hyde, W.B. Yeats, Erskine Childers, Kathleen Lynn et al. “Prods” eventually got grudgingly accepted into Irish society, albeit with the discriminatory appellation – “West Brit”. (1)

We no longer hear such trope typecasting. The arrival of many migrants from multi-ethnic religious minorities get warmly welcomed by government officials and politicians.

Can Jews be truly Irish?

Jews have been fully involved in political, academic & cultural Ireland: Robert Briscoe, Mervyn Taylor, Gerald Goldberg, Alan Shatter, Estelle Solomons, Louis Marcus, June Levine et al. (2)

These days it’s tricky for Irish Jews to put their heads “above the parapet”. Ugly tropes are back in fashion. “Filthy Zionist” has become a new Irish sectarian slur. How welcome are Jews in Irish society now?

Seeing the Athe Augusta Bender Room of Ancient Asiatic Art at the Collins Barracks Museum in Dublin, I wondered, with that unusual non-Irish name, could there possibly be Irish Jewish association?

My speculation was proven correct. Albert Maurice Bender (1866–1941) son of Philipp Philip Phineas Bender (c.1831–1901) emigrated to America at the age of 16. His uncle, William H. Bremer, a shipping and insurance broker, gave him work. By the age of 20, Albert set himself up as an independent insurance agent. Over time Bender got wealthy and became interested in collecting modern and Asian art. (3)

Bender sought to express his affection for Ireland by gifting 260 Oriental artefacts to the Irish Museum in 1932. A friendly correspondence occurred between Bender and the Keeper of Irish Antiquities, Austrian expatriate Adolf Mahr.

Bender and Mahr exchanged over 100 letters between 1922 and 1939. By the mid-1930s, Mahr’s messages surprisingly took on a personal dimension, referring to family illness, gifts and hopes for a personal meeting. (4)

Mahr was a closet Nazi member and head of the Irish division of the Auslandsorganisation – a German organisation linking fascist groups across Europe. He sent secret reports on Irish developments to Berlin during his stay in Ireland. (5)

In “neutral” Ireland the authorities turned a blind eye to his Nazi activities. Our country had a curious political affection for Aryan fascists in that existential era. (6)

1938 Mahr resigned as leader of the Irish Nazi group in July, on the grounds that it might cause conflict with his civil-service position. He and his family left Ireland for Germany in 1939, never to return. (7)

He found employment in the German Foreign Office next. With his insider knowledge of Irish life and culture, he submitted a detailed plan for radio propaganda directed against Ireland.

On 27 May 1951 Mahr died of a heart attack.

Side Note: Though Mahr despised “world Jewry” in typical Nazi protocol – he apparently managed to get some individual Jews out of Germany in the existential 1930’s Aryan era.

How should we view Mahr’s life and actions in the light of that anomaly? Perhaps he possibly might have been like the “curate’s egg” – good in parts?

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