one with strong Irish nationalist or pro-German sentiments, might assist with their plans. A number of religious orders were contacted before Hoven had success with the Society of African Missions in Rome. The Superior agreed to one of his young priests, Thomas O’Shaughnessy, being seconded to Friesack for a six-month period with salary and costs being paid by the German government. O’Shaughnessy seems to have been selected because he was studying German at that time.42 Hoven may have assumed from this that the priest had pro-German sympathies, but, if so, he was again mistaken. O’Shaughnessy was not at all pleased with the arrangement. He suspected the motives of the Germans and feared he might end up as their captive rather than their employee. Although assured by Hoven that there was no military or political scheme afoot, he was not convinced. Before departing, he told his Superior that he would use a code in his letters to Rome. In the event of there being no problem, he would state that he was ‘studying German’, but if he found the camp was a ‘political racket’, he would write that he was ‘studying Italian’. In the latter event, he expected that he would be immediately ordered to return to Rome. While in Friesack, he wrote a number of times, repeatedly emphasising that he was ‘studying Italian’, but his Superior, who had apparently forgotten the conversation about the codes, was merely impressed with his young charge’s commitment to expanding his capability with languages.43
O’Shaughnessy, like McGrath earlier, was appalled at what he saw when he entered the camp. It seemed to him that the men were in rags: presumably their only clothing was the uniforms they had been wearing when captured. The men also viewed him with suspicion at first, some believing that he was an IRA agent disguised as a priest.44 McGrath was also cautious initially, although the two men were soon to become good friends and allies. Most of the prisoners worked outside the camp during the day, so the two of them spent a great deal of time in each other’s company. Together they successfully lobbied for the delivery of Red Cross parcels and achieved other improvements, which endeared them to the prisoners. It helped also that news spread about angry words being exchanged between the priest and a despised academic whose role was to propagate the virtues of National Socialism in lectures delivered to camp inmates.
McGrath took O’Shaughnessy into his confidence and they became allies in their secret endeavours to frustrate the Germans’ intentions. Both men tried to counter the ceaseless propaganda inflicted on the inmates. Apart from lectures, a loudspeaker system broadcast news of repeated German success on the battlefield. The invasion of the Soviet Union had begun shortly before O’Shaughnessy arrived, and each victory announcement was preceded by a trumpet fanfare.45 Tracts, believed to have been written by Lord Haw-Haw, were distributed. Although all this was a source of annoyance to the men, the seeming invincibility of the enemy was affecting morale. McGrath tried to convince the men that they would win in the end and to ignore their propaganda although, for a time, even he had his doubts.46 There were a number of escape attempts from Friesack which both McGrath and O’Shaughnessy were likely to have been privy to or have aided.47 These only led to short periods of freedom, but even this was seen as a victory of sorts over the ‘Boche’.
When the time came for O’Shaughnessy to return to Rome, McGrath prepared a five-page briefing document for British intelligence which the priest agreed to hide on his person. The document contained information about the camp and the names of persons being trained by the Germans. It seems McGrath was making certain that none of them would succeed in any sabotage operations. The document had an added importance for the Irish officer in that it would provide proof of his continued loyalty. O’Shaughnessy, at some risk to himself, smuggled the report to Rome. McGrath had asked that it be delivered to the British envoy to The Holy See, D’Arcy Osborne, but instead he met with the Irish Ambassador, Thomas Kiernan, and showed him, or perhaps just told him about, McGrath’s document. O’Shaughnessy soon travelled to Lisbon via Spain and managed to get on a flight to London where he briefed a British Intelligence agent about Friesack. He told him about the document in his possession which he intended to deliver to Irish officials when he reached Dublin. There he met with Joseph Walsh, the Secretary of the Department of External Affairs, and senior Irish Intelligence officers. He also met with the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, who seemed more interested about conditions in Lisbon than in hearing about Friesack.48
In Rome, information about the existence of the document had somehow become known to the Germans. The Irish Ambassador sent a coded message to Dublin containing information about O’Shaughnessy’s visit and McGrath’s report and it seems the Germans had broken the code.49 As a consequence, McGrath was arrested by order of the head of Abwehr II, Erwin von Lahousen.50 A search of his room seemed to provide evidence that he was gathering information on those being trained by the Abwehr, although McGrath insisted that all they found was a list of recipients of Red Cross parcels.51 He was handed over to the Gestapo in November 1942 for in-depth interrogation.52 He was stripped and his uniform, even his shoes, were ripped apart, presumably in the hope of finding documents or other incriminating items. When nothing was found, he was taken to Sachsenhausen and deposited in a cell in the camp’s prison. His future prospects were dim. His action in smuggling out details about Friesack would have been viewed by the Germans as espionage, for which the death penalty applied.
By this stage, any hopes the Abwehr had for the Irish camp were rapidly fading. Apart from the escape attempts, a riot had occurred in which loudspeakers were disabled and propaganda posters torn down and burnt.53 The Abwehr decided to abandon the project and the inmates were dispersed to other camps. Walsh, Cushing, Murphy and O’Brien were deemed to know too much and, after a period of Gestapo detention, they too were sent to Sachsenhausen, although to a different section than McGrath. His position was more serious. He was being accused of having espionage contacts outside Friesack54 and was threatened with execution unless he named them.55 He was, as he later said, ‘locked up in an ordinary prison cell, with not even the privileges of a convict. I was now under the S.S. for whom I have not a good word to say.’56
Beyond this terse statement, McGrath never recounted his experiences in the Sachsenhausen bunker. Judging by the experience of others, he would have been kept in solitary confinement and manacled to the wall or floor during the night. He would have been subjected to a process of ‘intensified interrogation’, kept in isolation and deprived of sleep.57 McGrath, although physically diminished, survived the ordeal. He may have been spared execution due to news of his presence in Friesack being made known to the British and Irish authorities thanks to Father O’Shaughnessy. The Germans were anxious to keep secret their executions of prisoners, not least a citizen of a country the Germans wished to remain neutral.
McGrath would have suffered most from being isolated. A naturally gregarious person, his only human contact was with his ever-present guards, but as he didn’t speak German he, unlike Payne Best, wouldn’t have been able to establish any meaningful communications with them. Payne Best and Stevens were in the same bunker at that time, although they were kept apart and he never met them there, although McGrath caught a glimpse of the former on one occasion. The Irishman continued to be deprived of all home contacts. His father had died in 1936, but he didn’t know if his mother was alive or dead. In fact she was alive, and writing to the war office expressing her concern about not hearing from her son for over a year. She died in October 1944 without ever knowing if her son was alive or dead.
John McGrath spent ten months in solitary confinement in the Sachsenhausen bunker before being taken to Dachau. The reputation of his new abode would have been known to him and he would have journeyed there with some trepidation. He was not to know it then, but his relocation was to result in some improvement in his conditions.
We will encounter McGrath again. In the meantime, we will focus on the misadventures of other military figures who were later to become his colleagues in the Prominenten. Among them, his former charges in Friesack – Cushing, Walsh, Murphy and O’Brien – who were located in a special section of Sachsenhausen, sharing accommodation with two notable Soviet prisoners.
CHAPTER THREE
THE DEATH OF STALIN’S SON
Near
