The story was told in a French newspaper. Children playing in a Dublin park clambered over some bronze statues dedicated to Irish national heroes, and a passer-by stopped them. But an old man intervened. "Those men died," he said, "so that children would have the right to play in parks." The old man was Yann Goulet, who has died aged 85. He was once famous - or notorious - in Brittany, although today few Bretons have heard of him.
Goulet's very Breton parents were of modest means and Yann had to win scholarships to get to the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. There he won the first prize for sculpture.
Paris increased his Breton fervour as he realised the full force of French ignorance of Brittany, and, as a teacher and artist, he took part in a revival of Celtic art, exhibiting work at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games and at the 1937 Paris Exposition Universelle. He was a leading member of the Association Seiz Breur, which sought to popularise contemporary Breton art, and at many Breton cultural meetings, Goulet was present not only as a sculptor, but as a bagpipe performer promoting traditional music and dances.
When the second world war broke out, he was called up to fight in the 1940 campaign. He was taken prisoner, but was quickly released. It has been suggested, but never proved, that this resulted from his pro-Breton, anti-French sentiments. Back in Brittany he worked with the Parti National Breton, supporting independence from France, rather than autonomy in a French federal state, which many believed could be attained by co-operation with Marshal Pétain, the leader of Vichy France.
Goulet opposed such cooperation, and his distrust of the French was confirmed in June 1941 when the Vichy government separated the department of the Loire- Inférieure (including Saint-Nazaire, his birthplace) from the Breton departments. His answer was to form a paramilitary unit, the Strolladou Stourm (the Breton SS), numbering a few hundred men.
It is not easy to say how closely Goulet and his friends worked with the Germans. A Vichy prefect reported that German soldiers had been seen distributing autonomist leaflets, and it was rumoured that the nationalist Bretons informed the Germans about resistance fighters.
This was never proved. However, several Breton separatists were murdered - in particular the saintly Abbé Perrot, rector of Scrignac and a devotee of Breton culture, who was executed, supposedly by communists, in 1943. This led to the formation of the autonomist paramilitary Perrot brigade.
Goulet had designed the uniform worn by his SS unit in this brigade. They wore black shirts, leather boots and Breton insignia. Given the resemblance, they were thought to be wearing German uniform.
After the liberation of France, Goulet, with his wife and two children, made his way to Ireland, via Wales. Thus he was absent when a court in Rennes sentenced him to death for collaboration. He became an Irish citizen and won many sculpting commissions. Dublin's Customs House Memorial is his work, as is the bust of Charles Stuart Parnell in the House of Commons.
But Brittany did not go away. By the 1960s, the idea grew within Breton nationalism that some Irish-style activism was essential. In 1965, the Front de Libération de la Bretagne was created and in 1967 there was an explosion in Lorient, followed by explosions in the prefectures of Quimper and Saint-Brieuc.
Did Goulet play a part? He spoke of himself as a vital figure in this campaign and wrote to President de Gaulle, claiming to be "secretary-gen eral in exile" of the Committee for a Free Brittany. It is generally thought, however, that Goulet then exaggerated his importance. The acknowledged leader of the movement, Yann Puillandre, does not mention him. The present leaders of Breton nationalism are not ashamed of Goulet's actions during the war. They prefer to think of "Tonton Goulet" with affection.