Northern Ireland, Vienna and the Holocaust
by Noel Russell
In August 1938 several hundred Jews in Nazi-occupied Vienna tried to escape using a Northern Ireland government scheme aimed at tackling its chronic unemployment. It offered financial support to employers who could train local people and create jobs. A small number were allowed in and opened factories, but the majority were rejected. More than 125 of these Jewish men, women and children were murdered in the Holocaust. This lecture describes what happened to those who came and those who could not come, and how local activists helped save several refugees.
On the eve of World War II, several hundred persecuted Jews, mainly from Nazi-occupied Vienna, tried to escape to Northern Ireland. They had learned of a Stormont scheme to tackle the region’s chronic unemployment by offering financial support to employers who could create jobs.
Almost all applicants were rejected, and more than 125 of these men, women and children were murdered in the Holocaust. Based on extensive archival research, unpublished family memoirs and letters, and interviews with Holocaust survivors and their descendants, this is the first comprehensive account of how the Northern Ireland government responded to Jewish appeals for help on the eve of the Holocaust.
It describes the frightening experiences of those who escaped: the young factory owner saved from Dachau by his Nazi school friend; the widow who escaped a Polish ghetto and walked home to Vienna; the family who escaped on the last train from Warsaw before the Nazis invaded.
The research reveals the tireless work of some Irish people to rescue Jews, and the efforts of émigrés to save their trapped relatives. It also explores how the small numbers of refugees admitted to Northern Ireland made a major contribution to its economic, social, and cultural life.
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About the Author
Noel Russell is a journalist and tv producer, a former News Editor of the Irish News and Editor, Speech Radio, BBC Northern Ireland. He is an MA graduate of Queen’s University, Belfast, and the University of Michigan, and has written and produced several historical documentaries for BBC Northern Ireland, RTE.