Sean Russell's Statue - Vandalism

http://nga.ie/news1.htm

Seán Russell (1893 14 August 1940) was an Irish republican who held senior positions in the IRA until the end of the Irish War of Independence. From 1922 until his death he remained a senior member and chief of staff of the IRA, while it divided and was outlawed, and removed itself to the political fringe of Irish society.

Dublin has a long history of vandalism or destruction of public statues, dating back to the 1700s and ending with the blasting of Nelson's Pillar in 1966. The subjects were generally associated with the period of British rule before 1922. The vandalism on Russell's statue is notable and unique in that it has endured for decades and as the subject was a republican. After the memorial was erected, the raised right arm was broken off by right-wing activists. They explained the vandalism by claiming the arm had been raised in a communist salute rather than oratorical pose. Following this the damaged arm was replaced posed downward instead of raised.

The 31 December 2004 attack saw the decapitation of the memorial by an unnamed allegedly anti-fascist group. The memorial's right forearm was also removed.

Bronze of Seán Russell erected in May 2009.The missing pieces of the memorial have not yet been recovered. A spokesman for The National Graves Association announced that the memorial to Seán Russell will be rebuilt in more permanent bronze to deter vandals. In May 2009 the plinth was cleaned and the new bronze was erected. The new statue allegedly has alarms to detect attempted vandalism and a GPS tracker.

The plinth of the memorial was again vandalised on July 9th 2009 with graffiti proclaiming Russell to have been a Nazi.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Sean
• Russell
• Nazi
• German
• Fascist
• Communist
• Russia
• IRA
• Commander
• Republican
• James
• Connolly
• Statue
• Vandalism
• Semetic

[jes79a]

What you naturally didn't mention is that Russell died on board a Nazi U-boat towards Ireland with the specific aim of conducting a bombing campaign having recieved traing from the German secret service, the Abwehr.

Shame on you.

[godbrother10]

@jes79a I do not shy away from the fact ... yes he was seeking aid from Britain's enemy - but no more or less. He could be accused of naivety but in no way was he a Nazi or a facist - he was an Irish Republican doing what Roger Casement had done before him.

[jes79a]

@godbrother10 Kristallnacht had happened, Hitler had annexed Austria, Poland, France, the low countries, Scandanavia, had introduced anti-semetic laws and would almost certainly have done the same had he successfully invaded Britain in 1940. There was little idologically speaking in his mind that would have prevented him from invading Ireland.

Having a statue of Sean Russell deserves to be seen as being every bit as unacceptable as a statue to Sir Oswald Moseley.

[godbrother10]

@jes79a I do not doubt that Hitler had that in mind. But Sean Russell was a good man - doing what he thought was right, unlike Moseley he was not anti-semetic or facist he was mearly prepared to use arms (provided by whoever) to free his country

[thehotash1]

what about  the facists in israel ?, butchers of childeren , backed by the gud oul usa and europe , hypocrites .

[thehotash1]

who are the backers of puppet states around the globe today ?.

[HEED1916]

@jes79a So what you are telling us is that the British never banned the wearing of Green and introduced anti-catholic laws in Ireland?

[HEED1916]

@jes79a You seem to forget - the British empire had the same effect to Ireland that the Nazis had to occupied Europe. It is an actual fact that Sean Russell did not allow 1 million to die in a created famine. Unlike Sean Russell, Cromwell killed a quarter of the Irish population.

[jratt2]

Russell was not a Nazi sympathiser. However the fact that the IRA had their Plan Kathleen makes them and Russell guilty of treason against the neutral Eire and its people.

[franreilley]

@godbrother10 , and dont forget when Sean died on the sub , Frank Ryan was with him , are we to believe Frank was also a Nazi ,

[HEED1916]

@trant711

I'm sorry, what are you talking about?

[HEED1916]

@daccord1853

Where is the evidence that Sean Russell hated Jews or actually "collaborated" with the Nazis? Sean Russell was active as operational assist to Robert Briscoe( a Jewish IRA Volunteer) who was in the IRA during the Irish war of independence.

Sean Russell only sought aid at all to Free his country. The Nazis never killed a quarter of the Irish population nor starved Ireland for profit. The British empire did.