IRISH RESPONSES TO THE JEWISH REFUGEE CRISIS - IN THE 1930s
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IRISH RESPONSES
TO THE
JEWISH REFUGEE CRISIS
IN THE 1930s
Irish Responses to the Jewish Refugee Crisis in the 1930s
Irish Refugee Policy
Irish involvement in the rescue of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany in the 1930s was minor. However there
are a variety of factors influencing the fact that Ireland came to be regarded as a potential haven
and refuge. Irish government officials had not formulated a comprehensive refugee policy in the 1930s
and the official thinking viewed refugees through the prism of immigrants who might present
problems rather than in terms of rescue. In essence, Irish official policy – essentially to restrict the
entry of Jewish refugees into Ireland – didn’t differ that much from policies of other governments of
the day. The responses to the Jewish refugee crisis amongst many governments tended to opt for the
pragmatism of quotas or limits as opposed to the ideal of rescue. The idea of restricting the entry of
numbers of Jewish refugees was common, expressed in British official policy and policies in Canada,
South Africa and Australia. In other countries the role of public opinion and outrage at Nazi
persecution of Jews could affect policy and persuaded bureaucrats in some instances to liberalise
policy, as happened in Britain. In Ireland the reaction was more muted though there were certainly
individuals and clergy who abhorred the treatment of German Jews and did protest or write letters
about it.
1933 (May) Isaac Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Ireland to Chief Justice
Kennedy, concerning atrocities agisnt Jews in Germany – an early
account of the persecution under the Nazis (manuscript on printed
letterhead 27cm x 22 cm provenance: Hugh Kennedy; thence by
descent letter from Isaac Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Ireland to Chief
Justice Kennedy, 1 May 1933, all hand written. Original envelope by
registered mail to Kennedy’s home at Newstead, Clonskeagh. The
Chief Rabbi pleads with Kennedy for action to be taken to expose
atrocities against German Jews:
The position is going from bad to worse. We no longer cry out about
the atrocities but have it from an indubitable source that Jews
arebeing killed in Germany every day, though with such devilish
methodicity and “scientific” design and plan that it is difficult to
speak of pogroms in Germany. Many Jews brought to the extreme end
of despair are committing suicide. A very prominent Jewish jurist,
one of the leading figures in German Jewry whom I know personally
has exclaimed: “Would to Heaven that 5,000 Jews were killed in
Germany in one open pogrom, for then the world might wake up!”
The letter is accompanied by a list of 29 prominent Irish persons,
whom the writer claims will support his protest. The list includes
Cardinal MacRory, Archbishop Gregg, WB Yeats, AE, Provost
Gwynn etc. Isaac Herzog became Chief Rabbi of Israel and his son,
Chaim, (1918-93) became President of the Stae of Israel (1988-93)
This is a very important letter providing evidence of information
about the mass persecution of Jews as early as May 1933
1
Irish Response
There were also groups and individuals who sought to do more than protest and looked for practical
measures, offering employment and raising funds to maintain the small number of refugees who did
gain entry to Ireland despite the opposition of officialdom. Officials in the Irish Department of External
Affairs tended to try and liberalise the policy but the Department of Justice tended to stick to a
restrictive policy which sought to limit the entry of any substantial number of Jewish refugees. The
philosophy expressed in official documents and most specifically in Department of Justice files, was
that large numbers of Jews was undesirable, because officials deemed they were difficult to assimilate
and would provoke antisemitism.
Information on what was happening to Jews in Germany came to Ireland from a variety of sources. In
the early 1930s Irish Quakers such as Stella Webb took part in early work for Jews suffering
discrimination in Germany as part of international Quaker refugee initiatives. They were amongst the
early witnesses to the persecution of Jews in German society as the Nazi programme and Nuremberg
Laws began to take effect. The diplomatic interventions of Sean Lester and Eamon De Valera in high
profile roles as regards the rights of refugees and those fleeing persecution attracted international
attention too.
In May 1933 Irish Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations, Sean Lester, acted as Rapporteur
for Minority Questions to the Council of the League of Nations. As a result of both the Case of the
Bernheim petition and involvement in Danzig, he came to be perceived as being sympathetic to the
plight of minorities and anti-Nazi, not least by Nazi politicians. Sean Lester wrote to Joseph Walshe,
his superior in the Department of External Affairs, indicating that Ireland’s international standing
and her reputation ‘for independence and courage’ had been enhanced by the outcome of the petition
which German Jew, Franz Bernheim, had brought, challenging the legality within international law
of antisemitic decrees brought in by the Nazis. Lester’s role also brought Irish diplomats and politicians
to the attention of various groups lobbying for Jewish victims of Nazi persecution and he received
letters from German Jews and Jewish charities in America, Britain and France. Reports from the Irish
Legation in Berlin through the 1930s gave a mixed and conflicting impression to the department of
External Affairs on the ongoing situation in Germany.
The government has been faithful to the anti Semitic portion of the Nazi programme. It has endeavoured
to oust the Jews from public offices, the press, the theatre, the academies of art, the professions and
business. The official actions of the government are sufficiently severe. They aim at depriving Jews in
official life, the professions etc of their means of livelihood.
– Leo McCauley, Irish Envoy in Berlin Legation to Dept of External Affairs From McCauley to Walshe 11 May 1933
Irish TD Robert Briscoe who was also a prominent Jewish communal leader, made groups lobbying
for Jews aware of the sympathy of some Irish politicians. In May 1936 Briscoe forwarded to the
Department of the President documents on the ‘the treatment of Jews and non-Aryans by the German
Government’ together with an appeal for Irish government support from Melvin Fagen of the
American Jewish Congress.
During the 1930s intercessions sent to Irish officials for doctors, through the auspices of the Papal
Nuncio, were unsuccessful. Some scientists and intellectuals did gain entry to the Institute for
Advanced Studies, favoured by Eamon De Valera.
2
Irish Responses to the Jewish Refugee Crisis in the 1930s
Letter of Appeal by Chief Rabbi
A letter had arrived from the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, Isaac Herzog, in October 1938. As Chief Rabbi
of Ireland, Herzog had been leader of Ireland’s Jewish community until the previous year and enjoyed
a close friendship with the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera. His letter was addressed to the Taoiseach
personally:
Ireland had not been a key destination for Jewish refugees prior to 1938. After the annexation of
Austria in March 1938, those fleeing Nazi persecution were casting their net ever wider to ever more
unlikely destinations.
3
In 1938 the Comité International pour le Placement des Intellectuels Refugies referred to their search
for new homes for refugees in “states which do not discriminate between their inhabitants on religious
or political grounds. Being under the impression that Eire is one of these states….”
Photocopies courtesy of Irish Jewish Museum
No reply to either of these letters is recorded in government files.
4Irish Responses to the Jewish Refugee Crisis in the 1930s
Evian Conference, July 1938
President D Roosevelt of the United States called for an international conference to address the
refugee crisis. It was held in the French spa resort of Evian-les-Bains. The Irish delegation attended
and at home clearer policies towards potential refugees were discussed. There were conflicts between
different Government departments. However instructions to informally vet potential Jewish applicants
started to appear in official correspondence with legation staff dealing with visa applications and
those in Dublin making final decisions. Phrases such as ‘more than likely of Jewish origin’ and ‘this
man from his appearance and name, may be of Jewish race’ appeared in a number of communications
from the Paris Legation to Dublin from summer 1938.
Charles Bewley, Irish Envoy to Berlin
The role of the Irish Minister in Berlin, Charles Bewley, in granting visas remains controversial. He was
not responsible for the development of policy, and more often than not it was Department of Justice
officials who exercised the final decision on the entry of refugees, but his judgement on the character
references for applicants represented another stumbling block in the already complex application
process. In historical analyses in relation to other bureaucrats, an official who waived or flouted the
visa application rules could wield a positive influence. Captain Foley of the British Passport Office, for
instance, was one such official, and his positive contribution was acknowledged during the Nuremberg
Trials. In contrast, from the late 1930s Bewley was sending reports to External Affairs which minimised
the persecution of Jews and displayed antisemitic attitudes. In February 1939 Professor Dillon of the
Irish Co-ordinating Committee for Refugees wrote to Joseph Walshe, Secretary of the Department of
External Affairs, saying that Bewley was becoming 'more unreasonable than ever'. Two months later
J.E. Duff of the Department of Justice notified Joseph Walshe about the concerns of the Co-ordinating
Committee with regard to the delays in issuing visas from Berlin. It is difficult to assess the extent of
Bewley's obstructions as regards the issue of visas, but in sections of his official correspondence he
did little to disguise his suspicion of and disdain for Jewish refugees. Bewley's general demeanour
and behaviour caused concern at the Department of External Affairs; he was recalled in August
1939 but did not return to Ireland. (For the experience of the Klaar family with the Irish Legation in
Berlin, see George Clare's book Last Waltz in Vienna.)
Business Schemes and Entrepreneurs
Attempts to instigate business schemes in Ireland for German Jewish entrepreneurs were made in 1936
and 1939. In June 1936 the Council for German Jewry in London submitted a memorandum to Irish diplomat
J.W. Dulanty and forwarded it to External Affairs headquarters in Dublin. Outlining the success of German
Jews set up in Holland and England, the proposal stated that ‘there might be openings for the establishment
of new enterprises in the Irish Free State for the manufacture of articles not at present manufactured there,
or only manufactured on a limited scale.’ The response of Department of Justice secretary Stephen Roche
was summed up in an official letter: The Minister of External Affairs will be aware that there have, of recent
years been numerous protests regarding the number of alien Jews who have established themselves in this
country and the Minister for Justice would not look with favour on any policy that might tend to increase that
number. Despite objections of the Department of Justice, a number of émigré businesses were set up: Two
hat factories, Western Hats in Castlebar, Les Modes Modernes in Galway, and one ribbon factory, Hirsch
Ribbons in Longford. All these factories employed a small number of refugees as well as giving employment
to the local populace. (See HMD Booklet 2009, Hats, Ribbons and Refugees)
5Personal Appeals
There were proposals from Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld in 1938 for the admission of Jewish industrialists.
Despite an initial favourable response from De Valera when he met with Schonfeld and Irish Jewish
communal leaders in November 1938, by the end of June 1939 Schonfeld was to write: ”Mr De Valera
intimated to me at our interview that it was a policy of your government not to exclude experts who
could introduce industries to Ireland. So far the Department of Justice does not seem to coincide with
the principle of Mr De Valera.”
Nonetheless despite the bureaucratic obstacles, other sections of Irish civil society were trying to rally
support for Jewish refugees. This culminated in the formation of an Irish Co-ordinating Committee
for Refugees with a cross section of religious groups and other volunteers forming the core
membership of the Committee. The committee also had enquiries from concerned citizens, one official
document referred to:’ numerous applications have been received from genuine and well meaning
people in the country for permission for refugees to settle here.’ By early December 1938 newspapers
carried stories, one with the headline’ They Want to Come in their Thousands.’
Letters from the Briscoe archive
The girl for whom permission was sought to take refuge in Ireland, perished in the Holocaust after the Nazis invaded Russia in 1941.
She was murdered along with her three sisters, young brother, their widowed mother and grandmother.
6Irish Responses to the Jewish Refugee Crisis in the 1930s
Wartime
There were policy shifts and adjustments at the outbreak of World War II, when Ireland’s neutrality and
official attitudes to the combatants complicated the possibility of liberalisation of general policy on
refugee admission. The Military Intelligence unit also became key in shaping policy and its overall priority
was security and espionage issues. Nonetheless some refugees still managed to reach Ireland as official
records for the war period indicate. There were some adjustments to policy in the Department of External
Affairs, which had generally espoused the more liberal views on refugee admissions. During 1943 and
1944 Irish diplomats, along with Swiss and Swedish, became involved in a number of diplomatic
demarches to try and provide visas for Jews to come to neutral destinations. In an official External Affairs
document written in April 1944 and signed by Departmental Secretary Joseph Walshe it was stated: ‘the
Irish had approached the German Government to allow small groups of Jews to come to Ireland.’ There is
a small amount of archival documentation referring to other possible rescue attempts, failing for the most
part due to the obstruction of the Nazi authorities. Some of these interventions were undertaken with
the International Red Cross and others with unspecified Jewish organisations.
Stopped by the Censor
Censorship hindered general understanding of what was happening in Europe. Files in the archives
from 1943-1945 show what information did not get into Irish newspapers.
© National Archive, Ireland
7Statistics
It is highly problematic to deduce how many Jewish refugees applied to come or how many were
refused. Official sources during the war such as the Department of Justice and Military Intelligence
give contradictory numbers.
In a postwar policy review document in the Department of the Taoiseach files it is written:
“In the nine years 1939-47 that a combined [Co-ordinating] Committee functioned, representing
Catholics, members of the Church of Ireland, Society of Friends, Jews etc refugees were admitted
through its auspices, and the number included forty-two on behalf of the Jewish sub-committee, sixty-
five for the Catholics, twenty-four for the Church of Ireland and nine for the Society of Friends. All the
time the Coordinating Committee was functioning, the Jewish Sub-committee was continuing to press
the claims of the Orthodox Jews as pre-eminent.”
Department of the Taoiseach DT S11007/A draft memorandum, Department of Justice 28 February 1953.
Records in the archive of Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld, in a letter from Olga Eppel in Dublin refers to 60
refugees gotten in through the auspices of the Central Fund and Jewish Refugee Committee in Dublin.
(Schonfeld Papers 302 (ii) Eppel to Schonfeld 24 May 1948.
These figures do not include any people who may have managed to come through informal channels
outside the formal visa application process.
Research
Newspapers of 1930s – look at how Kristallnacht was reported in different Irish newspapers. Irish
Press coverage of refugees Dec 1938; and the setting up of an Irish Co-ordinating committee for
Refugees, also December 1938 and January 1939
Reaction to News of concentration camps in newspapers May 1945 especially Irish Times May 14 to
17, 1945, news coverage and reaction on the Letters page
Look at local papers about the Castlebar hat factory which employed refugees and local workers
Postwar Delvin Co Meath – 100 Jewish refugees came to Clonyn Castle in May 1948
‘When Ireland Barred Jews’ Irish Press 28 April 1973 p 4 Father Michael O’Carroll
Reading & References
Jews in Twentieth-Century Ireland: Refugees, Anti-Semitism & the Holocaust, Dermot Keogh. (Cork
University Press, 1998)
Hidden Memories: the personal recollections of survivors and witnesses to the Holocaust living in
Ireland Mary Rose Doorly, Blackwater Press, 1994.
Holocaust Memorial Day booklet 2009 available as download:
http://www.hetireland.org/index.php?page=memorial_publications
Special reference to The Hat Factories, Irish Places of Refuge and Visa Appeals.
Historical note: Department of External Affairs was the official title for Department of Foreign Affairs
in the 1930s and 40s.
Adapted version of ‘Benevolent Helpfulness?’ Ireland and the International Reaction to Jewish
Refugees 1933-9 by Katrina Goldstone in Irish Foreign Policy 1919-1966
From Independence to Internationalism eds Michael Kennedy and Joseph Morrison Skelly (Four Courts)
Stopped by Censor Dept of Justice, Office of Controller of Censorship
Atrocities: Stopped by the Censor 1943-1945 R.30 (© National Archives)
Letter written by Isaac Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Ireland to Chief Justice Kennedy in May1933, re:
persecution of Jews in Germany, Courtesy Irish Jewish Museum
8Irish Responses to the Jewish Refugee Crisis in the 1930s
Visa Appeals
Many appeals for refuge in Ireland were made by or on behalf of Jewish people fleeing Nazi
persecution before and during World War II. Some were successful and a handful of refugee visas were
granted as a result. However, the illiberal policy of the Irish government towards European refugees
initiated during the mid-1930s and crystallised at the Évian Conference in 1938, meant that many
more requests fell on deaf ears.
Towards the end of the war, the truth about the Holocaust became known to the world. The plight of
refugees was now horribly apparent. From then on, de Valera responded positively to requests to let
Jews into Ireland. The Irish government became involved in several diplomatic initiatives to help
people stranded in Europe, but by this stage Ireland’s intervention produced little result.
We do not know how many Jewish refugees applied to come to Ireland, although it is definitely in
the hundreds, if not thousands. Only a small percentage of applicants was actually admitted.
While it is important to examine Ireland’s reaction to the refugee crisis in the light of the
broader historical context, and the policy examples provided by other countries,
especially Britain, one cannot ignore a persistent theme about this episode in Irish history:
immigrants were not welcome, refugees were not welcome, but Jewish immigrants and
Jewish refugees were less welcome than others.
Katrina Goldstone, Ireland and the International Reaction to Jewish Refugees, Dublin 2000
Extracted from HMD Booklet 2009
Note: Many of the files on which this research is based are no longer openly accessible to researchers.
*Exact numbers of Jewish refugees granted entry to Ireland have been difficult to confirm, and vary between
official or unofficial sources. According to Eunan O Halpin on the eve of war, there were just a few hundred
Germans ‘of whom 141 were refugees’.
“Between 1938 and 1946, only 558 aliens were granted residency rights, most of them Germans and Austrians.
While all aliens were regarded with disfavour, there is no doubt that Jewish immigration had long been
particularly discouraged on a variety of grounds, including the alleged reluctance of Jews to assimilate with
Irish society, fears that anti-semitism would be inflamed by any increase in the Jewish population, and anxiety
not to give diplomatic offence to Germany by becoming a haven for those fleeing from her.” - Eunan O'Halpin
Defending Ireland The Irish State and Its Enemies since 1922 (Oxford University Press 2000): p 220; p 235.
Additional Reading: Gisela Holfer and Horst Dickel, An Irish Sanctuary: German-speaking Refugees in
Ireland 1933–1945 (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2017).
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©2018 Katrina Goldstone, Holocaust Education Trust Ireland. All Rights reserved
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