Whereas it’d sound like a fictional story of wartime intrigue, veteran investigative journalist Kevin Magee uncovers the actual double lifetime of Irish language scholar Dr. Ludwig Mühlhausen.
In “Nazi sa Ghaeltacht,” to be featured on Eire’s TG4 on June 22 at 9:30 pm, Magee investigates what Mühlhausen, a Nazi occasion member and German linguist, was actually doing within the Donegal Gaeltacht in 1937 within the run-up to the Second World Warfare.
Within the one-hour documentary, made by Macha Media with help from Northern Eire Display screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund, Magee follows Mühlhausen’s journey – ostensibly within the Gaeltacht to gather folklore however secretly gathering info that will be exploited by the Third Reich.
Professor Mühlhausen perfected his data of the Irish language within the tiny Irish-speaking hamlet of Teileann and used it to broadcast German propaganda into Eire throughout World Warfare Two. In a exceptional journey, Magee traces the professor’s footsteps again to Berlin and divulges the surprising reality in regards to the German scholar who turned the Gaelic Lord Haw Haw and a adorned SS officer.
Magee had heard tales of a Nazi spy who operated in Teileann in South Donegal ever since he himself began visiting the realm over 40 years in the past. Like Magee, Mühlhausen had additionally gone there to excellent his Irish, however the locals have been all the time suspicious of the German’s actual causes for visiting.
Mühlhausen made no secret of the actual fact he was a dedicated Nazi and overtly expressed his despair at how the locals weren’t enterprising, lacked German effectivity, and didn’t exploit the land and sea round them as he thought they need to.
Magee mentioned: “I wished to seek out out if the story of the Nazi within the Gaeltacht was true, so I started investigating, speaking to locals, asking questions, and analyzing an entire number of sources. Piece by piece I used to be capable of pull this exceptional story collectively.
“Once I started my journey, I had no thought I might uncover simply how dedicated Mühlhausen was to your complete Nazi undertaking. The plot reads like a World Warfare Two thriller, besides this story is for actual.
“One of many first issues he did in Teileann after he’d discovered someplace to remain was dangle a big image of Hitler on his bed room wall. He took images in all places he went and measured the depth of Teileann Bay by dropping lead weights into the tide. Locals later speculated he was scouting the place out as a possible touchdown website for Nazi U-boats.”
Kevin Magee on the Reichstag constructing in Berlin, Germany
Two years after his go to, the identical native individuals who had facilitated his keep in Teileann have been amazed to listen to him broadcasting Nazi propaganda in Irish from a radio station in Berlin, urging the Irish to maintain their neutrality and reminding them of atrocities the English had carried out in Eire.
On this hour-long documentary, Magee brings a beforehand untold piece of Donegal historical past to life by listening to from historians, native folks in Teileann, and navy specialists.
He begins his journey on the Slieve League cliffs in Donegal and travels to the Navy Archives in Dublin the place he uncovers a secret file the Irish intelligence service compiled on Mühlhausen in the course of the battle. From there, the path takes him to Berlin the place he uncovers beforehand unseen paperwork that reveal the German’s efforts to form a Nazi plan for Eire.
The deeper Magee will get into the investigation, the extra extraordinary and sinister the story turns into.
Even on the finish, with the Nazis defeated and Mühlhausen in a prisoner of battle camp, he made one final determined plea for assist.
“Nazi sa Ghaeltacht” debuts on Eire’s TG4 on Wednesday, June 22 at 9:30 pm.
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