Interest in the Irish Republic by Nazi Germany

   
Ireland offered a fruitful source of anti-British propaganda to the Nazi ideologues. Many Germans had demonstrated their sympathy for oppressed Ireland during the First World War, sometimes to the extent of running guns to Irish nationalists. Ireland was neutral and anti-British when the war broke out in 1939, and the republic stuck to this course until 1945.

Nazi publishers released enormous numbers of pamphlets and books dealing with the British oppression of Ireland. One particular Nazi pamphlet pronounced " For centuries the Irish people has fought a desperate battle for it's vital rights in it's own land against the robbery and murder of British greed " German propagandists went on say  that British policy typified England's long history of violation of the rights of small nations.