Just feast your eyes on that cover. A real book, and one Leentje has laboured over as a labour of love but also an important statement about her father.
The book is available to readers in Europe here, and to those outside Europe, and particularly in the USA here
When you look into it, Albert had it hard for most of his life. He had a relatively happy early childhood in his native village of Bissegem in Flanders and benefitted from a marvellous early primary school teacher who stimulated his curiosity and taught him so much. Not so good the French-speaking nuns in upper primary who would have done credit to a Magdalene Laundry. And then secondary school with the De la Salle brothers whose ranks he joined in a fit of God knows what. That slowly turned into a claustrophobic psycho-cell in which he was clearly a misfit, though he did enjoy most of his teaching time in the order.
Then the Germans invaded Belgium (1940) and the world turned upside down. Albert had reached the point of leaving the order, which he did, but there were no jobs available to him. He ended up, through naïveness and completely accidentally, joining the German army and only narrowly escaped combat, and certain death, on the Russian front when his health collapsed. His nerves gave him ulcers and that did for him as far as the prospect of combat was concerned.
After a spell in hospital, he was assigned to the Gestapo as an interpreter in Brussels but talked his way out of that and into a translating job for the German Security Service, a purely desk job. This was later to haunt him as malicious forces in Ireland refused to believe this humble role and made him out to be a brutal Nazi war criminal, a perception that still lurks in some quarters to this day.
Today's occasion is the fruit of at least four years hard work by Leentje. It is a triumph and a liberation of Albert from the ghosts that haunted him and the Irish demons that pursued him down the years, even after his death.
I collaborated with Leentje on some of this book and for me too, today is an emotional day. It is the public vindication of my first French teacher who has been viciously maligned here over the years. See me here in my wedding suit (son's wedding) and in full anti-covid gear.
And where better to have the event than in the Teachers' Club, Club na Múinteoirí, just across the road from Coláiste Mhuire, where Albert got his first permanent Irish teaching job.
But that's enough of that and it's Leentje's day. So let's get on with it.
Bob Neilsen did the needful as MC and made sure everyone had their phones turned off, on silent, or in the airplane. He then introduced Leentje whose moment had come.
Leentje was visibly thrilled and emotional as she started by thanking all who came. And it was a wonderfully diverse audience of about sixty people, including her daughter Juliette, her granddaughter Lucienna Rose (in picture), her friends, workers from the early days of Folens Publishing, and even former pupils of Albert's from the late 1950s and early '60s. And the date, her Daddy's birthday.
She explained how the book came about. She described how, particularly following a nasty TV programme about her father in 2007, she had become increasingly affected by negative criticism of her father. She became the Nazi criminal's daughter and was not allowed to forget it in some of her social circles, from which she had to withdraw in order to cope. She knew her father was a good man but she had no ammunition to counter this negativity.
Photo courtesy Andrew WatchornShe describes how she became involved in a Liveline programme in 2016 in which Joe Duffy made minced meat of her and her father. She was ill prepared for the onslaught and came out of it badly.
Leentje then found a tape of her father's and this is what started her writing the book in earnest. Her aim was to portray her father as the good man he really was and in the course of this to counter the public perception of him as a Nazi. She had piles of stories from her parents and from her father's odd recordings and writings but she could not corroborate any of this. However, she knew what she knew and she ploughed ahead.
She thought the book was finished in 2022 and was about to send it to the printers when she got access to the court records of her father's trial for treason and collaboration in 1947. This was a game changer and parts of the book went back to the drawing board. Now many of Leentje's stories had the backing of official court documents and there was a wealth of new material which showed Albert in a very positive light indeed.
Leentje is now satisfied that this is an amazing book about two extraordinary people.
She explained her choice of the three charities to benefit from some of the profits from the book: MSF because they save lives without regard to creed or colour; RNLI because they were volunteers who also saved lives at sea and were admired by her mother who was a non-swimmer; and Threshold because they help to house families in crisis.
And I can't let this go without drawing attention to Lucienna's job for the day. Carefully preserving for posterity the pages of her granny's speech as they were delivered. Train 'em young.
Leentje had asked me to talk at the launch about the court records, as I had been primarily responsible for processing them, and they now had such a pivotal role in the re-writing of critical parts of the book
So here's the score, as I explained it on the day.
The records showed that Albert had done what he said he had. No more and no less, at least as far as the vile accusations were concerned. He translated Flemish newspapers and kept an eye on Flemish authors for the German Security Service. This fact alone, blew the vile RTÉ TV programme of 2007 out of the water.
The records also showed the degree to which Albert had been traumatised by his imprisonment between February 1946 and August 1948. Both his lawyer and his wife feared for his life.
The records showed him as a Flemish patriot who opted to be tried in Flemish, as was his right, but in circumstances where this would have prejudiced the court against him, giving the impression that he was just another Flemish extremist.
And then, to everybody's surprise, the records revealed that he had been working under cover for the Flemish Resistance and far from keeping Flemish authors under surveillance for the Security Service he had been mitigating the effects of the German occupation on them by selectively burying complaints and "losing" files.
Photo courtesy Andrew WatchornGiven Albert's Flemish roots and loyalty, and his commitment, at least initially, to the Irish language, I didn't want to leave the occasion without a few words in Flemish and in irish. I'll leave you with my Flemish contribution.
Folens was vooral een Vlaams patriot. Hij werd, ondanks zijn vlaams patriottisme, of misschien juist daardoor, gevangengezet. We brengen hier vandaag hulde aan hem en zijn vrouw Juliette. En ook aan Leentje voor het onthullen van het waargebeurde verhaal van hun strijd.
Photo courtesy Andrew WatchornAlan Dukes, along with myself and some members in the audience, had been pupils of Albert's in his French class in Coláiste Mhuire across the square.
When Leentje approached him with the final draft of the book looking for a comment she might put on the cover, he was more than willing to consider it.
And when he had read the book he was hugely enthusiastic, as you will see if you check out the back cover, or just read on. Under these circumstances Leentje hesitantly approached him about launching the book and he jumped at it. And here he is to do just that.
The first thing he did was to draw attention to Leentje's dedication at the beginning of the book as the best way to introduce it.
That, he felt, was a mighty dedication. In going on to give his opinion of the book, he felt he could do no better than repeat what he had said on the cover.I dedicate this book
to my incredible parents,
to all the displaced people of the world
and to the virtues of loyalty, endurance and integrity.
The real story of a truly remarkable man who overcame reverses which would have destroyed the resolve of many. It is also about Juliette, Albert’s devoted and equally extraordinary wife, a story of love, courage and resilience containing what could be the themes of a spy story, a thriller and a romance. Many generations of Irish students have benefited from their particular contribution to educational publishing.
Albert teaching in Coláiste Mhuire c.1960He then went on to praise Albert as a teacher, his calm, his eschewing the leather amid that culture of violence, his passion to teach which made his classes so unforgettable. Alan stressed Albert's commitment to equality, no favourites, and every pupil could learn if they had a mind to.
And he went on to describe how Albert revolutionised the shambolic education system of the day by publishing his intelligent notes for students and going on to set up his educational publishing company which remedied so many of the faults in the system and is still thriving today.
Photo courtesy Andrew WatchornAlan went on to cite other aspects of Albert's life, like his joining the De la Salle Brothers at the age of 13 and eventually finding out that this was not the life for him. He mentioned how we, former Christian Brothers' boys, would recognise this in brothers who joined young, found out that it didn't suit them, but didn't see a way out at that stage and stayed on, damaging both themselves and in many cases those they taught .
While crediting Albert with the sincerity of his nationalism, he loved his country and his people, Alan drew attention to its dangers citing both Israel and Palestine.
Alan had lived in Belgium and was very familiar with the current situation there regarding the Flemish language. He cited a Flemish friend who said he would no longer refer to his own language as Vlaams (Flemish) but as Nederlands (Dutch). His friend's rationale for that was that he feared being identified as provincial if he used Flemish but would project a more cosmopolitan image if he called it Dutch. Alan thought he was making a mistake.
Alan felt that there is a lack of understanding today of the difficulties facing people who are caught up in a war and particularly where their country is suffering under occupation. Choices are not always straightforward. He felt this an interesting angle which is eloquently covered in the book.
Alan reminded us that Albert and Juliette arrived in Ireland as refugees and that it was many years before they were out of the woods, including a time when their house went on fire and the family were in really difficult and sad personal circumstances.
As a final point, and drawing on the Folens experience, Alan reminded us how refugees, immigrants, can enrich our society with experience and initiatives from different cultures. He was happy that Albert and Juliette had made a success of their lives here and hoped that many who would follow them would do likewise.
With the speches over, I'd just like to make some general comments before closing off this blog post.
This has been a wonderful day for Leentje. The launch couldn't have gone better. And her father is now formally announced to the world as the good man he really was and not the shameful paper tiger created by shoddy journalism and media hunger.
One of her great joys was to have her daughter, Juliette, and her granddaughter, Lucienna Rose, present at such a significant life event.
I was very emotional myself about the whole thing, having admired Froggy, having come to his defence when he was attacked, and having the honour to be associated with this wonderful book which tells the true story of himself and his beloved Juliette.
I mentioned that it was Leentje's daughter Juliette who introduced me to her mother. Well, that was a fair few years ago now and this was the first time for me to actually meet Juliette. I was also touched by the classmates who had turned up to honour their French teacher.
Bernard Stuart with LeentjeOne of these classmates was Bernard Stuart who had been Leentje's gynaecologist and someone for whom she had the greatest admiration and fondness. She had probably not seen Bernard for over a decade, so that was another reason to make this a memorable day.
The Signing QueueAnd, of course, we can't forget the books. This is the queue for Leentje signing her book.
SigningAnd a busy signing it was. Leentje had mentioned that people should not be selfish and just buy a book for themselves but should indulge themselves further and buy for friends as a Christmas present. So, there was Leentje signing dedications to people she had never met.
Much to my amazement one lady approached me to sign her copy of the book, which I did, accompanied by a warm glow.
I'd like to pay tribute here to Andrew Watchorn who took the fabulous photo of Leentje on the back cover of the book. He also did the maps in the book. He photographed this launch and gave me access to his great photos for this blog. Thank you Andrew.
If you missed the occasion and have some time on your hands you can listen to the speeches below (25 minutes).
And don't forget, this amazing story is all in the book.
Get it read it, and laugh or cry as you will.
The book is available to readers in Europe here, and to those outside Europe, and particularly in the USA here
Finally, and in conclusion, as speechmakers are inclined to say before they go on for another half an hour, I'll leave you with this happy shot of the author and one of her father's former pupils.
What a day.
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