Ryan and IRA relations with Germany On his imprisonment in Berlin, Ryan was introduced to
SS Colonel Edmund Veesenmayer. Veesenmayer, as part of his roving SS and German Foreign Ministry brief, was intimately involved in the planning of all Abwehr operations in Ireland during 1940 – 1943, particularly those involving Russell and a mission code-named
Operation Dove. When Russell became ill and died during the journey (of a perforated ulcer), the mission was subsequently aborted and Ryan returned to Germany via
Bordeaux. After the failure of
Operation Dove, Ryan remained in Berlin. Between Autumn 1940 and January 1943 he lived in a "large gloomy flat" in Berlin with an acquaintance from Ireland,
Helmut Clissman. Clissmann was married to Elizabeth "Budge" Mulcahy of
County Sligo, a friend of both Ryan and
Leopold Kerney. As an exchange student in Dublin in the 1930s Clissmann had known Ryan and other republicans and socialists well; before Hitler came to power, he had been a member of a left-wing student organisation. Ryan was not in good health as a result of his wound and treatment in the Spanish prison, and at one stage he had a stroke, but he remained convivial and drew around him a small circle of friends. He had to remain incognito and in general did not discuss politics. He grew increasingly deaf (though his friends suggested that he sometimes feigned deafness to avoid uncomfortable conversations with the German authorities) so that he could not be left alone at night – he could not hear the anti-aircraft sirens. He later had to spend his days outdoors or in cafés (where he became friendly with
Francis Stuart, whom he had known from Dublin) so that people could see him if the sirens sounded. He took Irish newspapers to Stuart and, being in a position to get extra rations, shared them generously with his friends. In return, Stuart took Ryan, who had a lot of time on his hands, on trips to the countryside and on outings with his students.
Stephen Hayes, Chief of Staff of the IRA, claimed that Ryan and Stuart were carrying out propaganda work among Irish prisoners of war, but that claim is disputed. Ryan and Stuart visited a camp for Irish prisoners, who signified their intent of joining an "Irish Guard". Ryan and Clissmann also visited a camp containing some men who intended setting up this Guard. Ryan had nothing to do with this and the scheme came to nothing. Ryan regretted visiting the camp and told Stuart that the whole scheme disheartened him; he only had sympathy with men who were, like he and his comrades had been, in prison camps. Around the end of 1940, a
"Where is Frank Ryan?" campaign began in the
Irish Press. In response, Frank Ryan wrote a letter to Leopold Kerney, Irish Minister in Madrid, explaining his whereabouts. The Government of
Éire was made aware of Ryan's whereabouts between 11 and 19 December 1940 by Elizabeth "Budge" Clissmann, who hand-delivered the letter on Ryan's behalf. Ryan instructed Clissmann not to tell Kerney that Russell had died on board
U-65, although this information appears to have already been leaked.
Spying in Occupied Europe In May 1941, Abwehr's
Operation Whale (
"Unternehmen Walfisch" in German), a plan to land a seaplane on a lake in Ireland, was expanded to include resupply of the IRA with money and a transmitter. Ryan was to contact the IRA. After changes to the plan it became known as
Operation Sea Eagle (
"Unternehmen Seeadler" in German). Ryan was asked for his co-operation in the planning for Operation Sea Eagle. The written proposal for Operation Sea Eagle gives some supposedly biographical details for Ryan composed by Veesenmayer. It is not known whether Ryan led Veesenmayer to include these statements in the proposal or whether Veesenmayer added them to increase the chances of Operation Sea Eagle being sponsored; either way Veesenmayer did not stress Ryan's Communist sympathies and included a number of inaccuracies and embellishments: "... he is one of the leading Irish nationalists [and] has been for many years a member of the leader's council of the Irish Republican Army, and a participant in numerous fights against England." "In 1929 the [British] Secret Service carried out an unsuccessful assassination attempt against him and he has often been in jail since." "He has extensive connections with the Irish republican circles up to
de Valera's closest entourage and with de Valera himself, as well as to the Irish regular army, the nationalist Irishmen in Northern Ireland and especially the leading Irishmen in America." Although Operation Sea Eagle was first postponed after being shown to Hitler on 6 September 1941 and then ultimately cancelled, Ryan's part in planning is unsubstantiated. A few weeks later O'Reilly was arrested by the FBI (they were looking for Sean Russell). They said they were aware of Ryan's "anti-Fascist credentials" and although due to his contacts and knowledge of languages would be useful to "the enemy", they did not believe he would ever work for Fascism. According to left-wing IRA man Seán Cronin (citing Francis Stuart and the Clissmanns), Ryan did not change his political views after his release from the Spanish prison. According to the Clissmanns, he remained "an Irish Republican and a Connolly Socialist" all his life. However he was frustrated because he could do nothing for Ireland. After the Summer of 1941 he was concerned with defending Ireland's neutrality and he sided with De Valera on that point. There was also the shortage of arms in Ireland to defend itself – Churchill had prevented any supplies of arms to the Republic because Ireland would not give up the ports, and the Americans would not contravene the embargo. Churchill had also hinted at an invasion of the south of Ireland should it be required – there was a lot for all concerned to ponder about in those troubled times. In 1941, Ryan wrote a number of letters to Irish Minister Leopold Kerney in Madrid. The Germans facilitated this to monitor events in Ireland and understand Ryan's position, as after the invasion of the Soviet Union the need to keep Ireland neutral grew, and Ryan was becoming increasingly important in their eyes (ironically, this invasion made Ryan even more opposed to German intentions). In most, if not all, of these letters he expressed his desire to return to Ireland. In November 1941 he wrote: There might also be a situation (I was always a pessimist) in which I might be asked to do something I don't like. Such a situation is – soberly speaking – highly improbable. But if the unlikely were ever to happen...I won't do the dirty. And when you plant my tombstone, let it be of granite (like my stubborn cranium) contents. (Not for nothing did I earn the nickname of "The Mule" in my schooldays!) Once a feared invasion of Éire by
US troops stationed in
Northern Ireland in 1942 failed to materialise, Ryan was dropped as a possible mission specialist in further covert Abwehr and Foreign Ministry plans and operations. He was approached late 1943 for his opinion on the feasibility of a
"Geheimsender" (secret transmitter) propaganda operation in Ireland for broadcast to the United States, but the plan never reached fruition. It is also known that he discussed Francis Stuart's radio broadcasts with him prior to their commencement. He died in June 1944 at a hospital in
Loschwitz in
Dresden. Elizabeth "Budge" Clissman attended his funeral in Dresden. and
Francis Stuart. Clissmann eventually forwarded details of Ryan's fate to Leopold Kerney in Madrid. According to Stuart and Clissmann, the cause of death was
pleurisy and
pneumonia. ==Funeral==