Anti-Semitism was rife when Ireland shut the door to Jews seeking refuge

[grossproffit]

Long and shameful history of anti-Semitism in Ireland.

The columnist Kevin Myers sparked outrage this week with his offhand remark that Jews were "not generally noted for their insistence on selling their talent for the lowest possible price".

Myers was sacked for his reference to two highly-paid Jewish BBC broadcasters in The Sunday Times in an article about salaries at the British broadcaster.

After apologising profusely, he later claimed he was a "great admirer of Jews" and their culture of "exploring their talent and making the most of it".

The former columnist insisted that he was not anti-Semitic, but the suggestion that Jews were motivated by money would have been familiar to anyone who has followed the long and shameful history of anti-Semitism in Ireland.
Public figures have expressed much more virulent anti-Jewish sentiments in the past; unlike Myers, in most cases they got away with it, because at times in our history such sentiments were popular.

The hateful stereotype of the grasping Jew was a theme in political discourse, going right back to Arthur Griffith and the birth of Sinn Féin.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/antisemitism-was-rife-when-ireland-shut-the-door-to-jews-seeking-refuge-35999118.html

[Warpy]

1. Not so much antisemitism

as an alliance to Germany. Yes, Britain was so hated Ireland allied with Hitler. The alliance existed only on paper as Irish flocked to Britain to work in the various war industries.

[grossproffit]

2. Did you read the article?

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Excuse me?

The hateful stereotype of the grasping Jew was a theme in political discourse, going right back to Arthur Griffith and the birth of Sinn Féin.

That is actually in the excerpt! There is no reason to make excuses.

[whathehell]

7. Ireland was neutral during WWII

It was not "allied" with Germany or Hitler.

[OnDoutside]

10. Correct.

[KT2000]

29. Question for you -

there is a PBS show called My Mother and Other Strangers. In it they feature American troops stationed in Northern Ireland during the war. Is that true? If so I never knew about that.

[OnDoutside]

31. Yes, it is true. Several hundred thousand US troops were based in N.I. at various stages during the

war. One of the air bases was in Fermanagh, right next to the border with the then Irish Free State, and were quietly allowed fly over rights to the narrow corridor of Free State soil before the Atlantic Ocean, which allowed a greater range to protect North Atlantic shipping.

http://www.irelandseye.com/aarticles/history/events/worldwar/yank.shtm

[KT2000]

32. ThankYyou!

These are wonderful stories too.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. Our man in Berlin who went native as a Nazi

Jews hoping to flee ­Germany to Ireland in the 1930s faced an almost insurmountable obstacle. Charles Bewley, Ireland's envoy to Berlin from 1933 to 1939, was an unashamed supporter of Nazi rule, and did not conceal his anti-Semitic views. He made strenuous efforts to stop Jews getting into Ireland.

Bewley was from a Quaker family in Dublin linked to the famous cafés. He converted to Catholicism while he was being educated at Oxford, and as a young lawyer became a Sinn Féin sympathiser.

Early on in his career, as an Irish trade representative in Berlin, his anti-Jewish feelings became obvious when he got into a row with Dublin Jew Robert Briscoe. Bewley insulted Briscoe over his Jewish faith with a string of insults, and this was reported to his superiors.

Soon after the Nazis took power, Bewley was appointed as the Irish envoy to Berlin. Presenting his credentials to President Hindenburg, he spoke gushingly of the "national rebirth" of Germany.

After Kristallnacht in 1938, when Jews were murdered by the Nazis in large number, he was asked to compile a report on anti-Semitism for his superiors in Dublin.

more...

[GeoWilliam750]

6. My understanding is that Ireland was one of two countries

That sent condolences to Germany on the death of Hitler

[whathehell]

8. From where does this "understanding" originate?

[GeoWilliam750]

9. Here

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/dec/31/secondworldwar.ireland

[OnDoutside]

11. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

In 1939, Ireland had only got rid of the British 18 years earlier after a bloody War of Independence and a brutally divisive Civil War, the legacy of which lasted right up to today. In 1938, the British had handed back key naval ports in Ireland. Ireland did not have the resources to fight in a war, and it was utterly unthinkable that they would allow the British Army, Air force or Navy set foot in Ireland so soon after that. Remember many who fought against the British were still in their 30s to 50s by that stage. Those in the minority who expressed support for Germany did so as "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", just as those who expressed support for germany in WW1. Overwhelmingly, they were anti British rather than anti Semitic.

Devalera, as much as I despise him, had very little choice. Either, side with the British and risk another civil war, or stay neutral. Joining on the German side was never an option, even when it was looking bad for the British in 1940. DeValera, insisted that Ireland stayed outwardly neutral, and remained that way to the war's end, even to the point of offering condolences to the head of the German government, Hitler.

That is the context for this "hit piece".

[Behind the Aegis]

12. This is the Jewish Group.

Do NOT attempt to mitigate or "explain away" anti-Semitism.

[OnDoutside]

15. Ah, I see, context has no place in a good hate piece. Sound.

Enjoy.

[Behind the Aegis]

16. Context does. Revision DOES NOT.

This is the JEWISH GROUP! Respect it or do not return!

[whathehell]

17. Does anything written by the poster actually constitute "revisionism"?

Last edited Sun Aug 6, 2017, 09:10 AM - Edit history (1)

rather than context?

[Behind the Aegis]

18. Yes.

And this reminder goes out to you too. This is the JEWISH GROUP, not GD!

[whathehell]

19. Just curious, what parts of his post do you view as revised?

[Behind the Aegis]

20. Cat

Overwhelmingly, they were anti British rather than anti Semitic.

Devalera, as much as I despise him, had very little choice.

[whathehell]

21. Cat?

I'm sorry, I really don't know what you mean.

[whathehell]

24. Okay, I guess we can leave the 'cat' question for the moment.

but your characterization that the poster's claim that the Irish "were far more ant-blBritish than anti-Semitic" as "revisionism" tells me you know next to nothing about Irish/Anglo history. Ditto for De Valera's having "no other choice" but to be neutral iduring WWIi

If you had even bothered to read the poster:s very thorough explanation, you'd know Ireland's neutrality was a strategic decision that had nothing to do with anti-Semitism, and EVERYTHING to do with Ireland's vulnerability to Britain at the time.

[OnDoutside]

22. I gave CONTEXT, not revision. As you have no interest in discussion, ciao.

[whathehell]

13. Looks legitimate.

[whathehell]

14. Three countries..

Spain, Ireland, Portugal.

[GeoWilliam750]

23. Did not Japan, too

[MosheFeingold]

25. Being anti-Semitic and anti-British are not mutually exclusive

I would concur Ireland was only tacitly on Nazi Germany's side, largely because England could have taken them out in a second. And probably only tacitly on Germany's side because they hated the English.

But being a youth who was himself turned away from Ireland due to a "no-Jews" policy, I hate to break it to you, but they were as anti-Semitic as they come without actually rounding up people for camps.

[still_one]

26. No surprise,, and that history is far from unique. The U.S., as we most likely aware,

has a long history of anti-Semitism

[KT2000]

27. this is a broad brush

I had learned just the opposite. I knew a Jewish man who was born in Lithuania and immigrated to Ireland as a boy - prior to the war. He then immigrated to Boston with the Irish. His dream was to become a doctor but Jewish people were not allowed to become doctors in the US at the time. He became a pharmacist and then a doctor when it was allowed. I know that he loved Ireland his whole life.

The history of Jewish people in Ireland goes back a thousand years. Grabbing a slice of time to judge a whole country hardly seems fair.
Also - Limerick held bias against many people - especially the poor.

[Behind the Aegis]

28. It isn't a "broad brush", it is history.

Your anecdote, notwithstanding, is just that, an anecdote. No one is "judging" an entire people, but rather showing a piece of history and how it is still active today. It is no more a "broad brush" to talk about the long period of enslavement of African-Americans, to exemplify the current status of racism in the US today. This is the Jewish group and discussion of anti-Semitism is going to happen, even if it makes non-Jews or people from that country uncomfortable. It should! In your little story, you even point out anti-Semitism in this country, are you broad-brushing the US and Americans? I don't think you are, I think you are pointing out something historically accurate, just like the article.

[KT2000]

30. I also hope that history

does not judge us all for the bigotry of trump and the GOP.

[MosheFeingold]

34. Jewish people were never forbidden from being doctors in the USA

Now, certain schools (Harvard, Yale, Princeton) had "Jewish Quotas" that limited the number of Jewish students and there was certainly economic antisemitism, but I can find no historical records saying Jews could not practice medicine in the USA.

To the contrary, Jewish doctors have been very prominent since the birth of the USA:

The ophthalmic surgeon Isaac Hays (1796–1879) was editor of the influential American Journal of Medical Sciences (1827) and one of the founders of the American Medical Association.

Jacob da Silva *Solis-Cohen , a pioneer in laryngology who performed the first laryngectomy for laryngeal cancer (1867), was the acknowledged "father" of organized instruction in his specialty.

Another "father" – that of American pediatrics – Abraham Jacobi was the founder of the American Pediatric Society and in his later years (1910), the president of the American Medical Association.

Jewish doctors were also active in establishing and staffing Jewish hospitals that provided training for Jewish interns and residents. In time these hospitals became important research centers affiliated with medical schools that absorbed many Jewish students.

[KT2000]

35. interesting -

I knew a grandson of this man and he told me about his not being able to become a doctor but apparently that was just not true (not the only fable from him). It does appear he moved right into medical school. Apologies for the mistake.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1979/08/19/dr-h-s-bernton-allergy-specialist-and-researcher/f0193b2d-ca0c-4312-b297-06ce81f8e1f2/?utm_term=.c50069b6aab9