January 15, 2005
IT'S ONLY FUNNY WHEN WE USE IT:
There are real Nazi lovers here: the IRA (Kevin Myers, 16/01/2005, Sunday Telegraph)
Poor Prince Harry. How could he have foreseen that the kitsch Nazi imagery that has made The Producers such a smash-hit in the West End would cause such ructions when he playfully adopted it himself? Such a naïve and unworldly youngster could not possibly have guessed that the same fancy dress that is hilarious on a London stage, when worn at a private party would embroil him in an international scandal.No matter. For he could certainly be forgiven if he pointed an accusing finger at the Government, which does business with people who clearly do not feel about the Nazis as others do. Eighteen months ago, Sinn Fein held a rally in Dublin at the statue to honour the IRA man, Sean Russell, a collaborator who died on board a U-boat as he travelled to Ireland to foment a pro-Nazi rising in 1941.
The statue was erected by the IRA in the Fifties. It is a measure of how little this wretched peace process has affected the presiding ethos of Sinn Fein-IRA that they arranged a rally at the statue, to pay homage to a quisling who would be reviled anywhere else Europe. Naturally, the leaders of the republican movement managed to fit this bit of Nazi-reverence in between trips to No 10. So who precisely is showing true disregard for the realities of the Third Reich: a youngster at a party, or a government which eagerly does business with those who honour a Nazi puppet?
Heck, the Left compares Republican America to the Third Reich so often that kids are bound to grow up thinking the Nazis were just conservatives in funny outfits. Meanwhile, it seems pertinent that Harry, though a dope, was dressed as a man who helped try and assassinate Hitler and paid for it with his life,
The (Nazi) Party Prince, or Harry's Wardrobe Malfunction (Andrew Gumbel,
January 14, 2005, LA Times)
It's been a while since the word "Nazi" was associated with a member of the British royal family. But obviously it has not been long enough. Thursday, London's best-selling newspaper, the Sun, splashed a photograph of 20-year-old Prince Harry at a costume party wearing the uniform of Nazi Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps, complete with swastika armband, and the whole of Britain went instantly berserk.Posted by Orrin Judd at January 15, 2005 9:54 PM
Harry is a "naïve and unworldly youngster"?
Wow.
Posted by: Randall Voth at January 16, 2005 7:34 AMIrish Catholics honoring Nazis, and this is a surprise to anyone who follows American politics and history for precisely what reason?
Harry is just a nitwit, but given the intellectual vacuity of both of his parents this should not be surprising. Mrs. Windsor is better off giving the crown to one of the family Corgis, than to any of her inbred, brain-dead progeny.
Posted by: Bart at January 16, 2005 7:52 AMIf he'd shown up in a Che T-shirt and beret with red star, no one would have said a thing.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at January 16, 2005 1:23 PMThe IRA honoring a member who was willing to work with the Nazi's to liberate the Six Counties is no different than if the Finns decided to honor Mannerheim who was willing to work with the Nazi's so he could win back land lost to the Soviet Union. You work with the enemies of your enemies.
I am not surprised that the statue visit angered the Brits since WWII was a life and death struggle for them. But how much of this IRA honor is actually do to any pro-Nazi sympathies as opposed to Irish nationalism? I'm guessing the answer is zero.
I do not know the particulars of Sean Russell and his aborted 1941 Rising, but I suspect that in the context of Irish history, it was pro-Nationalist, not pro-Nazi.
That said, it would have had the same effect to the Brits in 1941, but if you're impugning the beliefs of Irish nationalists, then you have to consider the context in which they view the man in or you're otherwise condemning people for something they do not believe.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at January 17, 2005 12:57 PM