Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum

[pampango]

PROCESSION A print of a grieving family is projected on a video wall.

Most museums that bear witness to a nightmare, like Yad Vashem in Jerusalem or the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, are hard to visit. Caught between our need to understand the history and our wish to turn away from the horror, we don’t quite know where or how to look.

But Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, which opened in October in Hamden, is a different kind of place. For one thing, the event it commemorates, the Irish potato famine, happened too long ago for news cameras to capture piled-up corpses and harrowing testimony. It lacks shocking artifacts, like Hiroshima’s charred, stopped pocket watches. And its contemporary accounts, seen through the period gloss of antique typefaces and hand-drawn images, provide safe distance rather than harsh immediacy.

What the Irish now call An Gorta Mor (the Great Hunger) began in 1845, when a deadly fungus attacked the island’s staple food. In tandem with the government in England, which could have mitigated the disaster but found many excuses to limit its role, the potato blight brought Ireland a growing tragedy of slow starvation, rampant disease and escalating despair that did not abate until 1852, by which time a million or more had died and some two million had fled.

This contempt (among British intelligentsia for the Irish poor) is visible also in the many famine images of apelike Irish peasants in British journals of the day. They are plastered floor to ceiling, along with illustrated newspaper pages from elsewhere, on a circular enclosure that surrounds the viewer and conveys not just specific horrors from the famine years but also the intense public interest in the Irish suffering abroad and the endless, useless wrangling of the political classes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/nyregion/a-review-of-irelands-great-hunger-museum-in-hamden.html

Have never been to Ireland. I have a new stop to make there when the time comes.

[dmosh42]

1. Being of Irish ancestry from both parents, I have always been amazed how the English nobility....

pretty much escaped blame for an attitude very much like the Nazi's.

[Nye Bevan]

2. An inadequate response to a potato fungus is hardly equivalent to

herding 6 million Jews into gas chambers.

[Dman292]

4. Paddys lament

Shipping food out of a country when 25% of the population is starving is pretty bad. Read "Paddys Lament" and it will open your eyes. There was a lot more than a blight on the potato. When you read about what actually happe end you will realize it was actually a starvation because a famine is when there is no food.

[rosesaylavee]

5. Not an inadequate response / a deliberate response with intended results

http://inpursuitofhappiness.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/britain%E2%80%99s-cover-up-of-the-genocide-in-ireland/

The Brits intentionally removed food from Ireland, at gun point, during the potato famine just as the Irish people were clearly starving. 1.5 million died it is estimated. Not as many as 6 million but a genocide nonetheless.

[SunSeeker]

19. Holy shit. Thanks for the link.

Why is this not more widely known?

[rosesaylavee]

20. I think it happened so long ago

AND as the English have been our allies for so long, it's hard to see their dark side. Probably the same reasons we do not see the American genocide of the indigenous peoples here. Every president since George Washington has, on some level, exhibited incredible ugly racist prejudice in regards to the 'American Indian'. President Obama is the first to recognize treaties.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee should be required reading for every high schooler.

[caraher]

7. I won't try to argue that they are equivalent...

but the picture of the Great Hunger as a merely "inadequate response" to crop failure is based on an outdated whitewash of history. Indeed, the response was wholly adequate for the aim of colonial subjugation. It wasn't that there was no way to distribute the food, it's that it was systematically denied to the Irish. England imported food from Ireland while the Irish starved.

[theKed]

33. Not only that

but the institutionalized impoverishment of Irish by landowners - most often in England - meant potatoes were about the only thing they could feed a family on in the meagre, subpar farmable land left to the tenants. Ulster, notably, had much lower rates of death and disease than the rest of the isle - they had legalized tenant rights.

Pre-blight Ireland is definitely one of the templates for Corporatist America.

[Pmc1962]

9. There are many genocides

The systematic starvation of the Irish people is one. It may not compare to the Holocaust in magnitude but that doesn't change the fact that is was genocide.

Ireland, as a nation, spent the "Famine Years" exporting food. The British landlords continued to export food for profit, while the people starved. Only 1 crop failed but it was the crop the peasants ate. There were bountiful harvest of the other crops, which were exported for profit. There was no Famine.

If you were late on your rent, you and your family were evicted by the landlords. Many landlords consolidated their holdings by evicting all the starving tenants because of nonpayment.

It was illegal for the Irish to hunt or fish or gather shellfish. If you were caught, family evicted, house torn down, etc.

Other nations, specifically the US, were horrified by the starvation, and sent food shipments. Britain denied delivering to Ireland ( foreign ships can't dock in our colonies!), forced the shipment to British ports, then refused to transfer the food and deliver it to Ireland. It would rot in British ports, as the Irish people starved.

There were multiple potato-dependent societies in Europe. Only the Irish starved because the other countries fed their people when the 1 crop failed. Only the British used it as a way to "ethnically cleanse" a troublesome colonial population.

Imagine millions of starving people, homeless, wandering the roads of Ireland, while the aristocracy exported food. They were often described with green mouths from eating grass.

This was not a passive event. The British government turned the failure of 1 crop into a genocide by active policies.

There was no Famine. There was plenty of food. The Great Hunger is a more appropriate name.

[life long demo]

11. Thank you for your comments

I did not realize the depth of the starvation in Ireland until I started reading books on it. I was astonished at the level of hatred of the Irish by the English. The starvation was systematic. But the most amazing and heartfelt donation to the starving Irish was from the starving Choctaw tribe in the US. Please read the article. From people who had nothing (Choctaw) to people who had even less (Irish).

http://suite101.com/article/when-the-choctaw-indians-gave-aid-to-irish-famine-victims-a411258

[Mc Mike]

13. Thanks for the info, lld. +1, nt.

[dmosh42]

17. Thanks for that article which I had never seen before. Another group that labored mightily for...

the Irish were the quakers. And as far as how many died, how could anyone do anything other than a guess. In the early 1800s the English still did not allow any census of Ireland, as they did not want to recognize the Irish Catholics as persons. The first official documentation of my ancestors was because a land inventory was begun around 1850, mainly to assess taxes for the support of the Church of England. Because of the Penal laws from 1690, the Irish Catholics could only 'lease' the land from English land barons. Of course this cannot be blamed on the common Englishmen, who received their own abuse from the members of the House of Lords.

[corksean]

28. The Choctaw contribution has not been forgotten

It's something we learned about in school and is widely remembered over here.

Their contribution will be celebrated on 30th March with a walk in County Mayo.

http://www.thegatheringireland.com/Attend-A-Gathering/Individual-Gathering.aspx?eid=1552#.UOhLOHdvBco

There are a number of other Famine remembrance ceremonies this year, details here:

http://www.thegatheringireland.com/Search-Results.aspx?searchtext=famine&searchmode=anyword#.UOhL43dvBco

Anybody with Irish roots is being invited to Ireland this year to take part in "The Gathering". We'd love to see you!

http://www.thegatheringireland.com/

[Nye Bevan]

27. Kind of ironic that the US was "horrified" by this while slavery was in full force there.

So people starving in Ireland was "horrifying" while slaves being imported in chains, families being ripped apart to be sold at auction, and slaves being whipped and summarily executed for insubordination was all just fine and dandy.

Interesting moral ambiguities back then.

[westerebus]

24. So just how many Irish would the Brit's have to had genocided to get to equivalency?

[Nye Bevan]

26. 6 million. And they would have had to also prevent emigration to ensure that nobody could escape,

and round up and execute by other means those Irish who did not succumb to the famine.

[westerebus]

30. It was pre gas chamber.

So how did the Welsh get by back on the day?

[rosesaylavee]

32. I think the landscape of Wales

was used to the benefit of its people. Large areas are inaccessible without a lot of effort. So when the English came to muscle them around, the people just left for the hills.

The Welsh have little love for the English as well. One joke I have heard and just googling it now couldn't find a reference to it but there is a saying that the name 'Wales' translated from the Welsh to English is 'F*** the English'.

[westerebus]

34. The only interest I have in the Welsh is how they effected English and Irish history.

Look up Oliver Cromwell if you have a few minutes.

[Maeve]

10. The attitude was very Ebenezer Scrooge

Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."

"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.

"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

"And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"

"They are. Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."

"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" said Scrooge.

"Both very busy, sir."

"Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their
useful course," said Scrooge. "I'm very glad to hear it."
...
I help to support the establishments I have mentioned--they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there."

"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."

"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

[FarCenter]

14. During the mid to late 1800s, the British were more racist than the Germans

German racism was mostly theoretical and later oriented towards anti-Semitism and anti-Slav.

The British had a historical slave trade to rationalize, as well as a huge colonial empire to justify.

[Nye Bevan]

18. The UK abolished slavery in 1833.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_Abolition_Act_1833

Considerably earlier than certain major countries.

[FarCenter]

23. The act excepted slavery in India and Ceylon

Slavery in India continued until 1857, when the Crown took control from the East India Company and abolished slavery over a few years.

[MADem]

3. You don't have to wait--it's in Connecticut.

IRELAND'S GREAT HUNGER MUSEUM | MUSAEM AN GHORTA MHÓIR | 3011 Whitney Avenue, Hamden, CT | 203-582-6500

HOURS



Regular Museum Hours

Wednesdays 10am − 5pm
Thursdays 10am − 7pm
Fridays & Saturdays 10am − 5pm
Sundays 1pm − 5pm
Mondays & Tuesdays Closed

Last admission 30 minutes prior to closing

Adults and school groups of 10 or more require advance reservations

ADMISSION IS FREE

Closed Major Holidays

http://ighm.nfshost.com/

[WilliamPitt]

6. Boston has some statues in memoriam of the famine

Collectively, the two statues are of a starving family being ignored by a family that is well-fed.

It is quite striking.

[Demo_Chris]

8. Amazing and powerful! Thank you. (nt)

[A-Long-Little-Doggie]

12. Where are those statues, Will?

Is that Copley Square?

[WilliamPitt]

15. At the corner of School Street and Washington Street

Between Park Street and Fanueil Hall, in front of a very big Borders bookstore. Basically one block down from the Grange.

Here: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&q=borders+bookstore+boston&ie=UTF-8&ei=Aj3oUKf4BorD0QHkxYCIBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAA

[fasttense]

16. I studied the Great Hunger while in college years ago.

It parallels what RepubliCONS do today. The English mocked and degraded the Irish. They thought of them as stupid and the cause of their own problems. Just like Mitt debased the 47%, just like RepubliCONS claim the poor are poor because they are lazy and unworthy, just like Simpson, of the notorious Simpson-Bowels report, denigrates people on Social Security for somehow creating an economy that forces them to live off Social Security.

People who reap excessive ill gotten gain while others starve and suffer, have to abuse the sufferer in order to feel like they aren't cheating and stealing. They justify their excesses by claiming excess is available to all yet prevent the weakest from getting even minimal support. Because if people start giving too much to the weak, it makes the Mitt Romney's of the world look cheap and evil.

The Great Irish Hunger was a clear example of the "free market" taking from those with the most need to give to those with NO need.

[jwirr]

35. There are many parallels today. Starving Africa and many other places that mean nothing to us than

the exports they can provide so we live better and slave labor for our corporations.

[ananda]

21. My gggrandparents came to America from County Limerick..

.. because of the potato famine. They did well here.

I was raised in the Irish Catholic tradition, mainly because Irish women are raised to be very very strong... and they keep their sons close and privileged too. That's the way the heritage works due to the potato famine and horrible English oppression.

[Nye Bevan]

22. Yes, the USA was a great place to emigrate to in the mid 1800s.

Provided, of course, that you weren't being brought there from Africa in chains on a slave ship.

[BumRushDaShow]

25. There is an Irish Memorial here in Philly

opened almost 10 years ago. The memorial design has the figures move historically through the famine time period ending with the migration...









The Memorial is at the Front & Chestnut viaduct overlooking I-95 and Penn's Landing along the Delaware River. Many of the immigrants settled in that area (Olde City & Society Hill), which at the time, had been populated by free Blacks, who were eventually pushed out.

[postulater]

29. When you go, you might walk along the river in downtown Dublin to see the famine statues there.

A couple years ago on Easter Sunday morning, I was in Dublin and woke early to walk through the downtown. As I turned the corner onto O'Connell Street I saw the Post Office blocked off with police fences. There were military people with machine guns guarding the street corners.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/nangar16/5660406114/][img][/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/nangar16/5660406114/]Machine guns on the streets of Dublin[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/nangar16/]talisker![/url], on Flickr

It was the 95th anniversary of the Easter Rising and a ceremony was being rehearsed on the Post Office steps.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/nangar16/5659834565/][img][/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/nangar16/5659834565/]95th anniversary of the Easter Rising GPO[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/nangar16/]talisker![/url], on Flickr

Along the river a couple blocks away are the statues commemorating the Great Starvation.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/nangar16/5660410308/][img][/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/nangar16/5660410308/]Famine statues by the Customs House[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/nangar16/]talisker![/url], on Flickr


[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/nangar16/5660420550/][img][/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/nangar16/5660420550/]IMG_0333[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/nangar16/]talisker![/url], on Flickr

Other photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nangar16/5660410308/

The reminder of what happened to my ancestors links me to every other person who is or has been victimized by another group for immoral purposes and it strengthens my support for others who may now or in the future be subject to the same type of crimes.

[CitizenK9]

31. Manhattan Irish Hunger Memorial

Vesey St., near the World Trade Center. A museum with an open roof containing an Irish house or at least the stone walls and native Irish plants. I visited it a few years ago.

http://www.nyc.com/arts__attractions/irish_hunger_memorial.1379/editorial_review.aspx

Google will get you more links.

[Scurrilous]

36. K & R