Volume 7 1941~1945


Doc No.
Date
Subject

No. 227  NAI DFA 219/22C

Extract from the annual report of the Irish Legation in Germany for 1941

Berlin, 16 September 1942

[matter omitted]

After the opening of the campaign in Eastern Europe violations of our neutrality became less frequent, as the main theatre of war shifted to Russia. The attitude to us in official circles, and in the press, continued to be friendly. The press maintained its policy of being guarded in all references to Ireland. Surprise is often expressed that we have no Irish journalists in Berlin, and that our newspapers still depend on British and American agencies.

The German Broadcasting Service established an Irish section. In addition to the bi-weekly service of news-bulletins in Irish initiated by Professor Mühlhausen in 1939, a daily service in English was started.

[matter omitted]

The Irish colony is too small to play any significant part in German life. The German Society for Celtic Studies finds its activities hampered by the war, but it still exists.

The general public knows practically nothing about Ireland. Books on Ireland published since the war have sold very well, and lectures on Ireland are quite popular (unfortunately there are few people qualified to speak on the subject). Two films purporting to deal with Ireland's fight for freedom, and issued in 1940, are still a great attraction.