One of Britain’s most important libraries has been severely criticised for accepting money from a Nazi collaborator.
The Welsh government is leading the attack on its national library for taking £300,000 along with papers and tapes left to it by Louis Feutren.
Feutren was a member of Breton movement Bezen Perrot, which worked with the Nazis during the occupation of France in the second world war. After the war he fled and travelled through Wales before settling in Ireland.
Feutren died in 2010 and left money and other material to the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. After researching his activities, the board decided to accept the bequest despite concerns about the benefactor’s past.
The library’s president, Lord Wigley, said: “This is a notable collection that includes material of significant historical importance. Though I utterly condemn his political leanings and activities during the war, we had no right, as board members, to allow our feelings to interfere with our decision.”
The library researched how Feutren got the money and concluded that he had not profited from the activities of Bezen Perrot during the war.
A report to the board revealed he had arrived in Ireland as a fugitive with few if any possessions. The most valuable asset in his estate was a house that he bought with a mortgage in 1964.
The library sought legal advice about taking the money and was told there could be adverse publicity “arising from public awareness of Louis Feutren’s connection with a Nazi SS unit and possibly also atrocities committed during the second world war”. The board was also told it could be criticised if it did not take the money and papers.
It concluded that its duty to collect and ensure the public had access to “material of Celtic interest” meant it should accept the bequest. A portion of the funds received will be allocated to projects associated with the destructive effects of war and fascism.
The Welsh government was approached about the matter and its view sought. It made it clear to the library that it had no problem with the papers and tapes being accepted – but strongly felt the money should not be taken.
The Welsh heritage minister, Huw Lewis, said: “I made our position perfectly clear that we felt the acceptance of this bequest could affect the reputation of the National Library of Wales, one of our most respected cultural institutions.
“Louis Feutren was a Nazi collaborator and a member of the SS. That is an abhorrent fact of history. I am therefore disappointed by the decision of the National Library to accept these funds and do not believe that anyone in Wales would have challenged them if they had chosen not to accept the bequest.
“I now very much hope that this legacy can be used in a suitable fashion. I feel that the creation of an educational resource for children in Wales that will highlight the terrible impact of war, intolerance and fascism would be an appropriate use for this funding.”
According to Australian academic Daniel Leach, an expert on the Nazi occupations, members of Bezen Perrot wore SS uniform – a paper by Leach on the e-Keltoi journal of Celtic studies website features an image of Feutren. The unit took part in raids on resistance networks and guarded the interrogation centre in Rennes. Breton-speaking operatives were valuable to the SS as many resistance networks communicated in the language.
But Leach said Bezen Perrot rejected the notion that they were collaborators, preferring to see themselves as a separatist force continuing Breton military resistance against France.