IRA and Nazis WWII

During the war, there were times that the IRA would send Hempel information to be passed on to the Nazi's in Berlin. It was at this point that the IRA even considered their own government an enemy. The IRA at this point started seeking help from England's enemies. This very much included the fascist German state. Collaboration between the IRA and Abwehr during World War II ranged in intensity during the period 1937 - 1943 and ended permanently around 1944. The Irish Republican Army (IRA), a paramilitary body active in Ireland, seeking an end to partition and British influence on the island, shared intelligence with the Abwehr, the intelligence service of Nazi Germany. --------- As the war began, the IRA contacts with Germany began to become more and more frequent. The IRA met with a German, named Oskar Pfaus in 1939. It was determined that there could be a relationship between the Germans and the IRA. Both sides of the issue were in cooperation with one another. It was discussed that an IRA member would accompany Pfaus back to Germany to possibly receiving German weapons. The IRA was to make contacts back and forth to the Germans in order to keep them informed as to what the current state in that part of the world. ---------- In 1940, a German U-boat was supposed to have landed the fugitive IRA chief-of-staff Sean Russell and his colleague Frank Ryan on the coast of Ireland to mount operations against the British. However, shortly after the submarine left Germany, Russell took ill with excruciating stomach pains and died soon afterwards. The cause of his death was a mystery at the time. But MI5 files released to the Public Record Office show that Lt Col Arhim Lahousen, the head of the German sabotage section, the Abwehr II, told Allied interrogators after the war that he believed Russell was poisoned by Ryan. He suggested the "very radical" Ryan had fallen out with his old associate, adding: "Internal political difficulties and political rivalries within the IRA probably played a part in this matter. Apart from the general disruption the Germans hoped the reunited IRA men would cause, they particularly wanted them to help the Luftwaffe bombers attacking England by radioing back weather reports.