#OnThisDay 1944 Frank Ryan, IRA republican died in Nazi Germany. Ryan, a student in UCD from Limerick fought in the Irish Civil War with the Anti-Treaty IRA where in 1929 he was elected to the Army Executive.
Ryan joined the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil Wars and supported the Anti-Fascist side. Captured and imprisoned, he was handed over to German intelligence, the Abwehr in 1940, where questions remain over his exact role there.
Some say he actively supported the Nazi regime and the possibility of a German invasion into Ireland, others say he didn’t support the Nazis or their Operation Green plan but just wanted to get back to Ireland.
The Irish at War 