Alan Heusaff

Alan Heusaff
Born	23 July 1921 Saint-Yvi
Died	3 November 1999(aged 78) Galway

Alan Heusaff,alsoAlan Heussaff(23 July 1921 inSaint-Yvi,Finistère – 3 November 1999 inGalway) was aBreton nationalist,linguist, dictionary compiler, prolific journalist and lifetime campaigner for solidarity between theCeltic peoples.A co-founder of theCeltic Leaguein 1961, he was its first general secretary until 1984.

A nativeBretonspeaker, he trained as a primary school teacher but in his early twenties joined the separatistBezen Perrotmilitia (1943–44), for which he was sentenced to deathin absentiaat a court martial by the post-World War II French government, but eventually amnestied in 1967. After studying mathematics and physics at theUniversity of Marburg,Germany, he arrived in Ireland in 1950. He continued his studies atUniversity College, Galway,and, on graduation, joined theIrish Meteorological Service,becoming a naturalised Irish citizen in 1955.

An aviationmeteorologist,he devoted his spare time and retirement to peaceful activism, promoting the languages, culture and autonomy of theCeltic countries.Among the honours he received for his work was the 1986Gradam an Phiarsaigh(annual Pearse award) presented by the President of Ireland,Patrick Hillery.In the same year, at the WelshEisteddfod,he was elected as aBardof the WelshGorsedd.He was fluent in all the six modern Celtic languages as well as English, French and German.

Death

Heusaff died on 3 November 1999, at his home nearAn SpidéalinConnemara,Galway.He married Bríd Ní Dhochartaigh in 1953 (died 2 February 2008); the couple had six children, four girls and two boys.

Youth in Brittany

Heusaff was born in 1921 inSant Ivi,nearRosporden,now inKernev(Cornouaille,DepartmentofFinistère). His family originated in nearbyToulgoatand his parents, Sébastien and Mari Heusaff, were native Breton speakers. Heusaff spoke only Breton at the time he was sent to school.(1) When Heusaff was growing up it was estimated there were well over a million native speakers of this Celtic language. In 1925 the French Minister of Education,Anatole de Monzie,made clear the Government policy: "For the linguistic unity of France, Breton must be exterminated".Now banned by law was the teaching of language, literature, history, folklore and anything interpreted as" nationalist ". (2)

Arriving in a French-speaking school in these circumstances profoundly affected the boy. His community's language was openly vilified and children were punished if caught speaking it. Nevertheless, Heusaff had a good ear for languages and eventually joined theÉcole Normalein Kemper (Quimper, Finistère) where he trained as a primary-school teacher. He continued to be acutely aware of the state's policy on Breton. Most native speakers, under these conditions, were made illiterate in their own language by the state. Yet Breton was an old literary language with the first manuscripts in it surviving from a century earlier than such manuscripts in French.(3)

To teach himself literacy in Breton, Heusaff sent for a correspondence course fromSkol-Oberfounded in 1932 byMarc'harid Gourlaouen(1902–1987). As it was not politic to do so openly, he found help from a native speaker who offered the use of his address as a post-restante to receive the lessons. In an interview in 2005 with the historian Daniel Leach, his widow, Bríd Heusaff commented on the effect of his school experience on his life: "I'm fairly certain that if Breton had been taught at school when Alan went there... and if there had been some respect for it, that he would never have become involved in the Breton movement at all. Because his main interest, really, was the language". (4)

In 1938, as a teenager, Heusaff joined theParti National Breton(PNB) which sought to re-assertBreton independence.The crowns ofBrittanyand France had become unified by the marriage ofAnne of BrittanytoCharles VIII of France,as a condition following the defeat of the Breton armies at theBattle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormierin 1488. Following the death of Charles VIII in 1498, Anne was forced to marry his cousin,Louis XII of France,to ensure the French crown's continued control of Brittany. Under theTraité d'Union de la Bretagne à la France,18 September 1532, the Breton Parliament remained in being until theFrench National Assembly,following theFrench Revolution,arbitrarily abolished it in 1790. This caused a complicated situation in Brittany as many Bretons had spearheaded the Revolution as a means of overthrowing the centralist politics of the French monarchy.(5)

Heusaff stated in 1970: "From 1938 onwards I shared the conviction that Brittany could never regain her freedom" by consent "; the French state would use all its strength to prevent that ever happening. I agreed that we should seek external support, wherever it came from, because we were too weak to attain our aims alone. Why should we not do what all free countries do when their freedom is threatened; seek alliances? By doing so we were affirming that we were already free".(6)

Heusaff joined the PNB's uniformed but unarmedBagadoù Stourmand then gravitated to theKadervenngroup of PNB, which believed in direct action. He became convinced that only separation from France would save both the language and the cultural identity, which he believed was dependent on its survival. Like many other Breton nationalists, he was greatly influenced by the Irish example of the 1916Easter Rising.From the experience of their fellow Celts of Ireland during World War I, many young Bretons came to believe that if war were to break out again, then France's difficulty would be Brittany's opportunity.

German occupation

In 1940, German forces overwhelmed France andMarshal of FrancePhilippe Pétainsigned anArmistice.The establishment in July of Marshal Pétain'sFrench collaborationist government in Vichy,however, still gave it legal authority not only in the "unoccupied south" but also in northern and western France occupied by the GermanWehrmacht.Many Breton militants soon realised that Germany was of little support. Rather than help the Bretons achieve their freedom, the German Occupation allowed the French collaborationist government of Vichy to remove a large section of Brittany, the department ofLoire-Atlantique,in 1941. This area included Naoned (Nantes) the capital and seat of the Dukes of Brittany. The transformation of ancient Breton borders was something post-war governments were happy to inherit. With German approval, Vichy suppressed theBreton National Committee(Comité national Breton, CNB, which had been declared by nationalists in 1940) and its journalL'Heure Bretonne.

From 1941, as resistance to the occupiers grew, Breton nationalism became more divided. Moderates adopted aneutralistposition, imitating that of neutral Ireland. But others, including militant activist Célestin Lainé (later known as Neven Henaff), continued to make overtures to the Nazis, hoping for their support for an independent Brittany with ties to Germany. The more supportive nationalists were of Germany, they reasoned, the more likely Berlin would be to abandon Vichy and create a Breton state.(7) The war divide within Brittany as a whole deepened at the same time and members of theMaquis,theFrench Resistance,began to view all Breton nationalists as potentialcollaborators.They allegedly began a policy of assassination of leading Bretons in September 1943.Yann Bricler,a PNB official in Kemper and manager of the PNB magazineStur,was shot dead in his office. Another nationalist,Yves Kerhoas,was also assassinated. On 12 December 1943,Abbé Yann Vari Perrot,the 66-year-old parish priest ofScrignac,was shot dead on the steps of his church. Perrot had been decorated for his services in World War I, but was a native speaker and leading cultural Breton nationalist, playwright and writer, involved in devising a standard orthography for the language.

Célestin Lainéhad led an underground physical force movement,Gwenn-ha-Du(white and black, named after the Breton national flag) from 1930, had organised militant groups such asLu Brezon,renamedBezen Kadoudal,and now saw the opportunity to organise an open, uniformed and armed group – Bezen Perrot. The conditions of this unit was that it would not fight outside the borders of Brittany but remain as "a protective militia" against the French Maquis's attempts to eliminate Breton activists. But as the conflict on the ground intensified and German reprisals became more ferocious, the authorities took the Bezen Perrot and other groups in hand. By 1944, they had provided the unit with uniforms and weapons, and listed them as a unit of the SD,Sicherheitsdienst.Lainé made clear that Bezen Perrot's war was against France and was on behalf of Brittany not Germany. But although he was reported as concerned that the unit should not operate on behalf of the SD it was used by them and mounted guard on the SD interrogation centre inRennes.In the months before and after theD-Day landingsin June 1944, atrocities were reported on all sides of the conflict in Brittany.

Heusaff had been working as a primary school teach atKerien(Querrien) and between 1941 and 1942 he began to write articles about the problems of Brittany under the pseudonym "Mab Ivi" (Son of Ivi, his home village). Others articles appeared inL'Heure Bretonne "and"Arvor.In 1942, he resigned his teaching post. Heusaff had become akerrenour(lieutenant) inBezen Kadoudal,which, in December 1943, became Bezen Perrot and which Heusaff saw as the nucleus of a Breton independence army.(8)

"We were prepared to co-operate with the devil himself, if that would get rid of the French. The French were the greatest enemies of the Breton people".(9)

A fuller account of the Bezen Perrot, including Heusaff's role, is given in Daniel Leach'sFugitive Ireland(Four Courts Press, 2009). Among controversies, Leach deals with some later accusations depicting Heusaff as a member of theLVF,showing them to be unfounded. The main focus of the book is an analysis of why Ireland gaveasylumafter the war to some Bretons and other foreign militants who had collaborated with Axis forces. Controversies on these issues are also elucidated in Leach's article"Irish Post-War Asylum: Nazi sympathy, Pan Celticism or raisons d'etat?"(History Ireland,May/June 2007). (10)

In June 1944, shortly after D-Day, Heusaff was atPloërdut,Morbihan, with members of the Bezen Perrot, when they became involved in a firefight with members of aFree Frenchcommando unit. He was seriously wounded in the shoulder and lung. Two others members of his unit were killed. Locals took Heusaff to hospital where he remained for a few weeks before evacuated to a German hospital inMontabaur,Alsace-Lorraine,where he remained until September 1944.

While in hospital, he was visited byFriedrich Hielscher,the poet, philosopher and journalist. He had connections with theDeutsche Gesellschaft für keltische studien(German Society forCeltic Studies) inBerlinand had been on a research trip to Brittany in 1943. It is suspected that he took this trip on behalf of theAbwehr,or theAhnenerbe,which came under theSS.According to some reports, Hielscher had been involved in a resistance circle to the Nazis since the 1930s, helping Jews and others in danger from the regime. Indeed, Hielsher had contacts with members of oppressed "peuples de culture" since 1927 and some members of his group were arrested as early as 1933. (11)

On leaving hospital in late 1944, Heusaff found Breton contacts inStrasbourgand spent time there. Other Bezen Perrot members were living there under assumed identities. Heusaff joined them and adopted the name Bernhard Heubacher, receiving papers with Hielscher's help.Until 1947, he worked inforestry,It was a frugal existence, sometimes he was forced to live onnettle soup.With Hielscher's help, he entered the university to study Physics and Maths. He remained there until 1950. Then he decided to follow other Breton militants who had sought asylum in Ireland. The Allies had swept throughBrittanyin August 1944, and as the Germans retreated, many of the Bezen Perrot had fled to Germany as well. On 19 September 1944, the Germans on theCrozon Peninsulahad surrendered but pockets inL'Orientand inSaint-Nazairedid not surrender until May 1945.

The former Mayor ofBrest,Dr Le Gorgeu,an opponent of Breton nationalism, had taken over civil administration and started a round-up of Breton nationalists. By November 1944, 2,000 Bretons were arrested including priests, women, children and even Bretons who had fought in the Resistance. Some had purportedly done little more than attend a Breton language class; others died of ill treatment in prison. Prisoners from the Rennes Central Gaol reportedly often appeared before the examining magistrate with broken limbs and bruises.By the end of 1946, 3,000 Bretons had been put in special camps; 300 of them had been sentenced topenal servitudefor varying terms and 60 sentenced to death. Others had been sentenced to terms of "civil degradation", a loss of all civil rights as citizens and removal of qualifications. Of those involved in the Breton movement, 38 had been killed and 9 executed by firing squad, according to contemporary sources such as the Welsh newspaperBaner Ac Amserau Cymru.

Heusaff could not return to Brittany. Like others who went to Ireland for asylum, he was sentenced to deathin absentia,not for war crimes, but for the crime of "attacks upon the integrity of the French State".(14) He was to receive an amnesty in 1967, along with other Breton militants. Heusaff took his wife to Brittany for the first time in 1967 but were forbidden to visit Finistère, his home department. This restriction was lifted in the early 1970s. From then on until his death, Heusaff returned to Brittany on many occasions. His family had in no way supported his wartime activities and, indeed, his brother had served in the French Army and become a prisoner of war.(15)

Meteorology

On 20 May 1950, Heusaff left Marburg under the alias "Bernard Heubacher", and travelled throughBelgiumto England andWales,and then to Ireland, where he enrolled inUniversity College, Galway,to finish his degree. To finance himself, he taught German classes. One of his students was Bríd Ní Dhochartaigh from theFanaid GaeltachtinCounty Donegal.In 1953, the couple married and had six children. He had learned to speak Irish fluently. The couple's two sons and four daughters were raised as an Irish speaking family.(16)

Heusaff joined theIrish Meteorological Servicein 1952, still as Bernard Heubacher, and worked atDublin Airportfor eighteen months before being transferred to Shannon Airport. He became a naturalised citizen under his own name in 1955. In 1958, the Heusaff family moved back toDublin.He worked at Dublin Airport for the rest of his career. Interested in ecological matters, he also spent time researching the history of weather patterns as recorded in Irish annals and documents from earliest times. After his death, Brendan McWilliams, director of the service, and a well-knownIrish Timescolumnist, wrote:

Alan spent his entire working life in aviation meteorology... In addition to his operational duties, he made brave efforts over a period of 15 years to bring the ancient climate of our island into focus, delving into historical documents to identify and record whatever mention might be made of the weather. He found many such references, and unearthed nearly 1,000 useful records extending over 1,400 years from AD 490 to 1829 which, collectively, have added significantly to knowledge of the Irish climate in the centuries gone by.

McWilliams adds: "He was a meticulous and conscientious meteorologist, and I personally remember him as always cheerful, courteous and eager to help to solve whatever operational problems might arise." (17)

The Celtic League

The formation of The Celtic league is regarded as Heusaff's major achievement. The modern philosophy ofPan-Celticism,of co-operation between the six modern Celtic nations (the Irish, Manx, Scots, Welsh, Cornish and Bretons) had first been given published form byCharles de Gaulle(1837–1880), a Breton language poet. The League was born in a meeting at the Eisteddfod atRhos,nearLlangollen,in North Wales in 1961.(18) The principal aims were then: (1) to foster co-operation between the national movements in the Celtic countries, particularly in efforts to obtain international recognition and to share the experiences of their struggles and exchange constructive ideas. (2)

Heusaff was elected general secretary, a position he held until 1984–85. An existing magazineCeltic Voicewas offered as a means of propagating the League. By the second annual meeting on 30 September 1962, the League had branches in all six Celtic countries, as well as in London.The League then launched its own quarterly journalCeltic News,initially edited by Welsh historian Dr.Ceinwen ThomasofUniversity College, Cardiff.From 1963 until 1971, an annual volume was also published constituting up to 180 pages.Celtic Newscontinued under various editors until a more professionally produced journal,Carn,was launched in the Spring of 1973, with Frank Thomson, a Scottish writer and journalist, as its first editor. Still published quarterly,Carncarries articles in all six Celtic languages, as well as in English and French.

Gwynfor Evans MP continued as president until 1972, while Vice-Presidents consisted of leaders of the main political national parties, such as DrYann Fouéréof theMouvement Pour l'Organisation de la Bretagne;DrRobert McIntyreof theScottish National Party(and its first Member of Parliament) andRobert Dunstone,the president of the Cornish movement,Mebyon Kernow.However, by 1972, it was decided that conflicts of interest were arising and that the League should elect its own independent president and officials.Such a conflict had arisen in 1969 at the League's annual meeting it Dublin when Gwynfor Evans used his League office to speak of Plaid Cymru policies which conflicted with attitudes in other Celtic countries.Pádraig Ó Conchúirbecame the first "chairman" replacing Gwynfor Evans. Later the officer of "chairman" was replaced by "convenor".

Under Heusaff, the League gave evidence to theEuropean Commission of Human Rightsin 1963 concerning the persecution of the Breton language. This aroused media attention. The League sent an official delegation to the 14th Congress of theFederal Union of European Nationalities(representingethnic minorities), and in November 1965, the League delivered a 62-page memorandum, arguing the case for self-government for the Celtic countries to the United Nations Organization and distributed it in 1966 to members of theCouncil of Europe.

The League also took a leading part in other campaigns, for example, monitoring submarine activity in theIrish Seawhere they refused to surface, snaringfishing netsand causing the loss of boats and lives. Ensuing publicity over the years to these incidents brought the League into the mainstream. Another success was the League's spearheading of a campaign to transfer the ownership of the bird island sanctuary, theCalf of Man,from theEnglish National Trustto theManx National Trust.The League soon made the idea of Pan-Celticism a public issue and forced the academicCeltic Congressinto actions such as adopting a "Charter of Cultural Rights". In 1979, aCeltic Film and Television Festivalwas inaugurated and in 1981UNESCOlaunched their permanent "Project for the Study and Promotion of Celtic Cultures". Conferences, book fairs, television programmes, and an International Federation ofCeltic Wrestlingwas formed.

The burgeoning of the Celtic idea came from Heusaff's original vision. Although he resigned office around 1985, he continued to work for the League. As a tribute to his work, The Celtic League published that year afestschriftin his honourFor A Celtic Future,of essays by many leading Celticists, and edited byCathal Ó Luain,who had become convenor of the League.

Upon his retirement from the Meteorological Service in 1986, Alan and Bríd moved to Seanadh Gharráin, near Spidéal,County Galway,where he concentrated on hislexicographicalwork, kept up a voluminous correspondence with his Celtic contacts, and remained involved in the League. In July 1990, Heusaff wrote of the future of the League:

The Celtic League has a role to play in stimulating Inter Celtic contacts, Inter Celtic solidarity, which could express itself in contributing to pressure on politicians and international/European institutions to steer developments in Europe towards full recognition of the rights of our nations including languages. Other Inter Celtic organizations exist (i.e. Celtic Congress), also Inter Celtic events (Film and Television Festival. Celtic Congress of Writers etc.) – but we are the only association so far working on a continuous or permanent basis. We need to think about what contribution the Celtic peoples and their cultures can make to the development of European unity, to formulate proposals and suggestions, disseminating them, instead of adopting an aloof sort of attitude. We lack people to do this work. Many European peoples have something like an attachment to Celtic matters. I believe we should appeal to them to help to get recognition and the freedom we need to realize our national aims. Our problem is to bring young people to join in the work. The cosmopolitanization of culture, which now rules supreme, the control of the media by the agents of uniformity, are great obstacles to our progress. (19)

Before he died, it was arranged that all Heusaff's papers connected with the Celtic League should be deposited in theNational Library of WalesatAberystwyth,and are classified as681, Celtic League Archive.

Irish language activist

Heusaff and his wife were members ofConradh na Gaeilgeand involved inNa Teaghlaigh Ghaelacha,an organisation for Irish speaking families. Bríd became a member of the Executive of Conradh na Gaeilge and was very active in Irish language activities. Heusaff took part in Irish language campaigns such asCearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachtaand was the first person to refuse, on principle, to pay a television licence because ofRaidió Teilifís Éireann's (RTÉ) neglect of Irish language programmes. This campaign ultimately resulted in the establishment of Teilifís na Gaeilge (laterTG4) in 1996.

In 1986 Irish President,Patrick Hillery,presented him with theGradam an Phiarsaighannual award for promoting the ideals ofPatrick Pearse.Later that year, he was elected as aBardof the WelshGorsedd,as "Gwenerzh" (Muse) as having made a distinguished contribution to the Welsh nation, language and culture.(20)

Breton language scholar

While working for the language and culture of his adopted country, Heusaff never ceased to promote theBreton languageand the struggle of his native country for independence. He taught Breton language classes in his spare time in Dublin and became a prolific journalist in Breton, editingArgoad,a Breton language news bulletin, with an English editionBreton News,which he founded in 1959. He also contributed to Breton language magazines in Brittany such asHor Yezh,Galva,Breman,Gwalarn,Arvor,Ar Bed Keltiek,An AmzerandAl Liamm.The first all-Breton dictionary,Geriadur Brezhoneg,published byAn Herein 1995, cited Heusaff as a major contributor. This provoked some protest given renewed controversies in Brittany over his and others' wartime background. Heusaff also published a dictionary of his own dialect of Sant Ivi asGeriaoueg Sant Ivi,initially in the magazineHor Yezhbetween 1962 and 1973. A revised version of the work was issued in book form in 1996.(21)

References

• (1)Irish Times,13 November 1999; Carn #108), Winter, 1999–200;Irish Democrat,December/January 1999 – 2000.
• (2)Breton Separatism,M.J.C. O'Callaghan, Dyllansow Truran, 1983.Breton Nationalism(foreword byGwynfor Evans), Plaid Cymru, c. 1946; "The Sons of the Ermine: A History of Brittany", Jean-Pierre Le Mat,An Clochán,Belfast, 1996.
• (3) Oldest surviving mss is Leiden MS, Vossianus Latin fo.96A;see also entries on Breton language and literature inCeltic Culture: A Historical Encyclopaedia,ed. John C. Koch, 5 Volumes, ABC Clio, USA, 2006.
• (4) Daniel Leach, interview with Bríd Heusaff, 19 June 2005 – copy of mss.
• (5)Sons of Ermine,op. cit.
• (6)Les nationalistes Bretons sous l'Occupation,Kristian Hamon, An Here, 2001.Fugitive Ireland: European Minority nationalists and Irish political asylum 1937–2008,Daniel Leach (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2009); chapter 5.
• (7)"Bezen Perrot: The Breton Nationalist unit of the SS 1943–45"Archived11 December 2010 at theWayback Machine,Daniel Leach, E-Keltoi,Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies,University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Vol. 4, ISSN 1540-4889. See alsoLe Bezen Perrot 1944: des nationalistes Bretons sous l'uniforme allemand,Kristian Hamon, Yoran Embanner 2004.
• (8)Bretons against France: ethnic minority nationalism in the Twentieth Century,Jack E. Reece, University of North Carolina Press, 1977.
• (9) Interview on Welsh language current affairs programme "Y Byd ar Bedwar", S4C (ITV) 1989/I.
• (10) "The Breton Movement and the German Occupation 1940–44 – Alan Heusaff and Bezen Perrot: A Case Study", Klask: online, University of Rennes (George Broderick); also "Irish Post-War Asylum, Dan Leach,History Ireland,May/June 2007 ";" Distortions, Fabrications and Lies – The Scholarship of George Broderick ", Cathal O Luann,Carn115, Autumn, 2001; Alan Heusaff – The Truth! Bríd Heusaff,Carn115, Autumn 2001.
• (11)Der Herr des Feuers: Friedrich Hielscher und sein Kreis zwischen Heidentum, neuem Nationalismus und Widerstrand gegen den Nationalsozialismus,Ina Schmidt, SA Verlag, Koln, 2004.
• (12)The Turn of the Ermine: An anthology of Breton Literature,Jacqueline Gibson and Gwyn Griffiths, Francis Boutle Publishers, London, 2006. p. 183.
• (13–14) Leach,History Ireland.op. cit. p. 39.
• (15–16) Bríd Heusaff interview with Leach. op. cit.
• (17) "An Altered Ego with a Celtic Passion: Alan Heusaff Remembered", Brendan McWilliams,Magazine of the Irish Meteorological Service,1999; see also "Breton Who Enriched Our Climate", Brendan Williams,The Irish Times,6 December 1999.
• (18–19)The Celtic Dawn; A History of Pan Celticism,Peter Berresford Ellis, Constable, London, 1993 (chapter 8 – The Celtic League & seq.) revised edition in paperback from Y Lolfa, Wales, 2002. See alsoFor A Celtic Future,ed. Cathal Ó Luain, Celtic League, 1983. See also "Alan Heusaff: Fondateur animateur la Liga celtique", Hervé Person,Le Peuple Breton,No 340, April 1992.
• (20)Beathaisnéis 8,1983–2002: Máire Ní Murchú & Diarmuid Breathnach (An Clóchomhar, 2003).
• (21)Geriaoueg Sant Ivi,edited by Alan Heusaff, Hor Yezh, 1996.

See also

• Celtic League (political organisation)