My Life For Ireland — Nazi Germany’s Strange Irish ‘History’ Movie
Much has been made of the state of German cinema under the Nazi regime of the 1930s and 40s. While it grew in both size and level of output, at its heart the industry chiefly served as Nazi government propaganda under the Jossef Goebbels-run propaganda ministry. Films such as Triumph of the Will and the Eternal Jew have become infamous for pushing Nazi agendas of cultivating the cult of personality around Hitler and spreading antisemitism. Then upon the breakout of World War 2 in 1939 Nazi filmmakers unsurprisingly became eager to produce more anti-British content. And where did they turn to provide inspiration for these stories? Britain’s closest neighbour: Ireland.
A bit of historical context: Since the 12th Century Ireland had been under British rule. Following various armed attempts at overthrowing British governance of the country, the majority of the island left the UK in 1921 following a republican victory in a guerilla-style conflict known as the Irish War of Independence. With Nazi Germany ever looking for movie material to make their enemies look bad they would turn to stories of the Irish struggle for independence in a bid to convey their British world war opponents as the ultimate bad guys. The most significant piece of cinema produced through this line of thinking was 1941's Mein Leben für Irland (My Life for Ireland), and the result is simply bizarre. It tells the story of Irish revolutionaries in Ireland, yet all the actors are German, speaking in German with their German accents. The film was directed by Goebbel’s brother-in-law Max Kimmich, who seemingly had no connection to Ireland himself.
The film opens up in 1903 when an act of rebellion from Irish republicans results in the execution of rebel leader Michael O’Brien. In reality no such event took place in 1903. Moving then to 1921, the son of the executed rebel leader (also named Michael O’Brien) is in a British-run school. His status as the son of a martyred revolutionary has resulted in him being put in this specific school with aristocratic English boys in order for him to ‘think English’ and forget any sense of Irish republicanism that may be running through his veins. This is one of the main themes of the film; the idea of British erasure of Irish identity through the indoctrination of the country's youth. This being highly ironic given the Nazi’s own indoctrination of children through groups such as the Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls.
The film culminates with Michael O’Brien Jr. fulfilling his destiny by taking control of a young group of rebels and leading an attack on a British stronghold. When speaking of the relationship between Ireland and Nazi German cinema, scholar Angela Vaupel makes the point that whilst the film is presented as a story of Irish heroism, it actually is an imploration to the targeted young German audience, with My Life for Germany being a far more appropriate title. Any sense of Irishness is purely an artificial means of conveying a message of how young men should be fighting and giving their lives for their country, in this case Germany and ideally in conflict with the British enemy. That’s an important thing to remember. A film such as this was never made with the intent of shining a light on Irish history or celebrating it. It was there to push a narrative about the contemporary events of World War 2 and glorify taking part in it.
My Life for Ireland has a very dark place in movie history given the motivations and people behind it. However it has lived on due to its comical lack of cultural realism, with the film barely trying to hide the shallow reasoning behind its own existence. It just goes to show that not only did the Nazis make evil movies, but stupid ones as well.
