3rd Officer John
Joseph Ryan / Carpenter Dennis Murphy
3rd Officer John
Joseph Ryan of 89 Waterloo Terrace Waterford, and Carpenter (Chippy)
Dennis Murphy from Inniscarra, County Cork, were crew members
onboard the British registered vessel
SS Empire Ranger when she
was attacked by Junkers Ju 88 aircraft on the 28 March 1942 on
passage with
Convoy PQ13 from the Clyde to Murmansk and sunk in
the Arctic Sea. The German Z Destroyers which had sailed following
a sighting report, rescued the survivors late that same day. 3rd
Officer Ryan and Dennis Murphy along with the surviving crew of
Empire Ranger were put ashore in occupied Norway and located in
Stalag 322/Elvenes. Held in Kirkenes for three weeks, Ryan and
Murphy along with their shipmates were forced onto cattle-carrying
rail wagons and moved to
Rovaniemi Prison Camp in the central area of Finland which
housed mainly Russian prisoners. They were then entrained and
arrived at Hanko, a German held port in the Gulf of Bothnia where
they embarked on a ferry bound for Stettin, in North Germany. At
Stettin the merchant seamen were transported to the Kreigsmarine
Barracks at Wilhelmshaven for interrogation, and in June 1942
relocated to
Milag Nord, Stalag XB, Sandbostel. On the 20 June
1942 John Joseph Ryan and Dennis Murphy who was now suffering from
stomach cancer, were relocated to Milag Nord Stalag XB Sandbostel.
On the 08 August 1942 the surviving crew of the SS Empire Ranger
were relocated to the new
Milag Nord Merchant Seamen’s Internment
Camp in Westertimke:
NOTE:
(Although Dennis Murphy was born in the Republic of Ireland he was
not selected by the Gestapo to be removed from Milag Nord
Internment camp and relocated to Bremen-Farge Work Concentration
Camp. It is apparent that the Gestapo selection process was
determined not only by where you were born but also your current
address. In the case of Dennis Murphy his US address was the
likely reason he was not selected by the Gestapo).
1943: Irishmen in Bremen-Farge
Arbeitslager:
On the 27th January 1943, 32 Irish born British Merchant Seamen,
including 3rd Officer John Joseph Ryan from County Waterford, were
removed from
Milag Nord Internment Camp by the Gestapo and taken
to an aircraft factory in Bremen, where over several days attempts
were made to persuade the Irishmen to become free workers for the
Nazi regime. The Irishmen refused to sign up as free workers and
were then moved to Hamburg. In Hamburg the Nazis tried again to
persuade the Irishmen to work-frei on German Merchant Ships. Again
the Irishmen refused to work-frei for Nazi Germany.
In February 1943, the 32 Irishmen were relocated from Hamburg to
the Arbeitslager Bremen-Farge located on the River Weser and
forced to work as slave labourers involved in the construction of
the "UBoat Bunker "VALENTIN".
On the 31st March 1943 Gestapo Bremen wrote to the Reich Main
Security Office, Foreign Workers Section, Berlin SW 11, asking for
other instructions to send the Irishmen to a concentration camp (Neuengamme).
The RHSA (Reich Main Security Office/SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner) advised that the Irishmen be kept in Bremen-Farge
Arbeitslager and await further instructions.
Circa 6th April 1945,
the Irishmen, including 3rd Officer John Joseph Ryan SS Empire
Ranger, and less the 5 men who died, were returned from Bremen-Farge
Arbeitslager to their former camp,
Milag Nord (Merchant Seamen's
Internment Camp) located in Westertimke.
On the 26/27 April 1945 Milag Nord was liberated by
the Guards Armoured Division which included members of the Irish
Guards.
(Film extract showing the
Liberation of Marlag und Milag Nord 27 April 1945
- Imperial War Museum): Of the 5 Irishmen who died in
Bremen-Farge, 4
were reburied (1957)in the
Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery
in Rheinberg,
Germany.
UBoat Bunker "VALENTIN":
In April 1943 construction of the largest Kreigsmarine
project, the
UBoat Bunker "VALENTIN"
was begun, located on the River Weser. In less than two
years a bunkered shipyard would arise to build
submarines of the latest type. The completion of the first submarine was scheduled
for March 1945, and from the autumn of 1945 every other
day, a boat was to be launched and put into service.
32 Irish born British merchant seamen who refused
to workfrei for the Nazis were relocated to Bremen-Farge
Arbeitslager circa 06th February 1943 and forced to work
as slave labourers on soil removal and the construction of
the mud banks that now surrounds the Bunker to prevent the
Weser flooding the site. The Irishmen also worked laying
the foundations for the UBoat Bunker, and were the first
group of slave labourers to work on the Bunker Valentin
from 1943, 5 Irishmen died in Bremen. See
Bremen-Farge War
Crimes Trial in Hamburg 1947/48.
Built to withstand aerial bombing with up to seven metre
thick ceilings and walls, what now remains of the
Bunker "VALENTIN"
is a unique and unmistakable relic of Nazi armaments for
naval warfare, a lasting place of memory and a visible
reminder of crimes of the Nazi regime.
Bunker Valention:
Drone footage:
Imposing Concrete Hideout is Where Nazi U-Boats Were Once
Built: This imposing concrete structure in the German city
of Bremen is 1400-feet long, 300-feet wide, and 90-feet
high, and looks every inch the secret Nazi facility that
it is. Its purpose was to build and test U-Boats.
https://fb.watch/cdYfNm3osz/
28 April 2010:
Commemoration Milag Nord Westertimke Germany:
Organised by the Irish Seamen’s Relatives Association
(1939-46) a
Commemoration was held at the location of the former
merchant seamen’s prison camp (Milag Nord) in Westertimke,
in remembrance of prisoners who lost their lives during
world war two: Pipe Major David Johnson, from Northern
Ireland, ex Irish Guards, former Pipe Major, Queens Royal
Irish Hussars and currently Pipe Major, Crossed Swords
Pipes and Drums, Germany, Piped the lament. Pipe Major
Johnson placed a wreath in remembrance of members of Irish
Guards killed in action. Wreaths were also placed on
behalf of the Irish Seamen’s Relatives Association
(1939-46), British Merchant Navy Association and the Royal
Naval Patrol Service Association in Lowestoft.
29 April 2021: Commemoration Stalag XB Sandbostel Germany:
On the occasion of the
76th anniversary of the liberation of prisoners of war and
concentration camp prisoners in Stalag XB Sandbostel, a
Commemorative film published online includes a section
remembering IRISH VICTIMS OF THE NAZIS:
Sandbostel76 Virtual Memorial:
29th April 1945: Liberation of Stalag XB Sandbostel Germany:
On the 29th
of April 1945, members of the
Irish Guards led by Lieutenant John Gorman were involved in
the
liberation of Stalag XB Sandbostel (Film Extract: Imperial
War Museum): Sandbostel is also where
Irish born British merchant seamen were held from 1941-1942:
Former
Ulster Unionist MP Sir John Gorman, spoke of witnessing the
"barbarous" treatment of prisoners at Sandbostel concentration
camp. Sir John recalled "We were trying to do something to keep
some of the dying people alive."A hole had been dug to put dead
bodies in. "The people running the camp behaved in a barbarous
way". By the end of the war, more than 313,000 prisoners from
around the world had passed through the camp complex of
Stalag XB Sandbostel. Their treatment was regulated by
international treaties, but systematic violations were common.
The Wehrmacht denied the Soviet soldiers any protection under
international law. Thousands of them died of hunger and
diseases, the exact number, is not known. In April 1945, about
9,500 prisoners from the
Neuengamme concentration camp, which had been evacuated
shortly before, and some subcamps in the Bremen area arrived at
Sandbostel. Despite the desperate efforts of the International
Prisoner of War Resistance Committee to help the concentration
camp prisoners in the days before liberation, thousands died of
disease, exhaustion, and direct violence at the hands of the
guards. The British Army liberated 14,000 POWs and 7,000
concentration camp prisoners on April 29, 1945. The soldiers
found catastrophic conditions, especially in the area where the
concentration camp prisoners were housed. After the liberation,
the
British Royal Army Medical Corps,
(No 10 (British) Casualty Clearing Station), tried to
help the liberated concentration camp prisoners, but more than
500 concentration camp prisoners still died of exhaustion,
emaciation, and infectious diseases. The dead were initially
buried in mass graves around the camp. These graves were opened
between 1954 and 1956.
Irish Merchant
Navy Memorial - Alrewas - UK:
Sponsored (2001) by the
Irish Seamen's Relatives
Association (1939-46), the Irish Merchant Navy Memorial Plaque
and Plinth uniquely embossed with the Irish flag
commemorating those crews lost on neutral Irish registered vessels
during world war two (including an oak tree) is now on view in the
Merchant Navy Convoy Section of the
National Memorial Arboretum
currently managed by the Royal British Legion, and located in
Alrewas, Staffordshire, England. The Irish memorial is also listed
on the website of the
British Merchant Navy Association. On the 22 June 2017,
following completion of loan in Germany, the Bremen-Farge Memorial
Plaque which commemorates 5 Irish Born British Merchant Seamen who
lost their lives in the Bremen-Farge Work Concentration Camp
during world war two, and originally fixed to the front of the
plinth, was donated to the
Mayo Peace Park, Garden of Remembrance,
Lannagh Road, Castlebar, County Mayo
(Google
Map Location), for
permanent display. This memorial plaque was unveiled on Saturday
26 August 2017 at 14.30hrs by a relative of the O’Hara family in
honour of their Father, Grandfather,
Radio Officer Gerald O'Hara.
(Article: Gerald O'Hara (1893-1944)
An Irish Seaman of the British Merchant Navy):
The Irish Merchant Navy Memorial
Plaque/Plinth, along with
the Bremen-Farge Memorial Plaque: is listed by the
National Memorial Arboretum UK,
listed in the UK War Memorials Register/Imperial War
Museum, London at
Neutral Irish Registered Vessels Memorial,
and recorded in British Commonwealth and International War
Graves in Ireland, Published 2007 by the Irish Government
Stationery Office, Dublin: The Merchant Navy Association UK, have
included the Bremen-Farge Memorial Plaque now located in the Mayo
Peace Park, Garden of Remembrance, Castlebar, County Mayo, on
their website record of
Merchant Navy Memorials Worldwide. (Additional Publications:
Merchant Navy Association UK, Newsletter, 11 August 2017:
Unveiling Ceremony Mayo Peace Park, Garden of Remembrance;
Western People Newspaper, Monday 04 September 2017:
'Ballina's
Gerald O'Hara is Remembered': Merchant Navy Association UK,
Newsletter, 12 September 2017:
Unveiling Ceremony Mayo Peace Park, Garden of Remembrance):
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