The Irish in the Resistance: The Untold Stories of the Ordinary Heroes Who Resisted Hitler

by Clodagh Finn, John Morgan

In June 1940, the fall of France prompted General Charles de Gaulle to make an impassioned rallying call to his fellow citizens to fight back against the Germans. His famous radio speech, broadcast from the BBC in London, was later credited with igniting a spark of resistance which eventually grew into a vast underground network of civilians who took a stand against Nazi occupation in Europe. In this collection of real-life stories, we meet the forgotten Irish men and women who joined the Resistance.

Discover Janie McCarthy, a teacher from Killarney who was active in five different resistance networks in Paris helping allied soldiers to get to safety; Captain John Keany from Cork, who parachuted behind enemy lines to help the Resistance in Italy; and Catherine Crean, the Irish governess born on Moore Street in Dublin, who was arrested for helping the Belgian Resistance and sent to the notorious Ravensbruck concentration camp.

These stories, and many more, chart the course of World War II and remind us of the power of individuals to make a difference.

Genres: Ireland, History, World War II

368 pages, Hardcover

Published December 5, 2024

Reviews

[Chloë]

“One day, introducing her to two airmen, I said, ‘She is English.’ She interrupted me sharply and, drawing herself up proudly, small as she was, she said, ‘I’m not English, I am Irish!’”. This powerful quote about Catherine Crean sets the tone for ‘The Irish in the Resistance: The Untold Stories of the Ordinary Heroes Who Resisted Hitler’, a compelling chronicle of Irish courage during World War II.

The book unveils the extraordinary stories of approximately 60 Irish individuals who risked everything to resist fascism across Europe. Through meticulous research spanning 15 years, co-authors Clodagh Finn and John Morgan piece together fragments of history from archive, testimonies, and family memories to illuminate these forgotten heroes.

The narrative weaves together tales of remarkable bravery, from Mary Elmes, who saved 420 children from Nazi gas chambers, to Janie McCarthy, whose unassuming appearance as a middle-aged English teacher in Paris masked her involvement in five resistance networks. The authors skilfully balance the grand scale of historical events with intimate personal details, such as Catherine Crean’s poignant final days in Ravensbrück concentration camp – where her friend attempted to comfort her by combing her hair.

The addition of a Roll of Honour serves as a fitting tribute to these courageous individuals, ensuring their sacrifices are remembered for generations to come: ‘They say you die twice. The first time when you stop breathing, and a second time when somebody says your name for the last time.’ Through this important work, these Irish heroes’ names and deeds will continue to live on.

While the book’s flow occasionally falters, it succeeds in its crucial mission: bringing these extraordinary stories of ordinary Irish people out of the shadows.
book’s flow occasionally falters, it succeeds in its crucial mission: bringing these extraordinary stories of ordinary Irish people out of the shadows.

[Garret Giblin]

“The Irish-French O’Connell family, descended from the famous Irish liberator, moved to Vietnam at the end of the nineteenth century, settling in Tay Ninh province, at the Plantation O’Connell.” Not a sentence I was expecting to read in this book

[Johanna]

More fragmentary than similar histories due to a willingness to include people of whom less is known, which is rather the point. Highlights the wide range of resistance activity and the numbers of ordinary people involved.

[Peter Thew]

During World War 2, the Irish government declared the country to be neutral. This didn't stop a number of its citizens joining the armed services in the UK or assisting the Allied war effort if they were based in areas occupied by Nazi forces. This book details the stories of some of the latter. Some are well known - Samuel Beckett working clandestinely in Paris and Dame Delia Murphy Kiernan, wife of the Irish Ambassador to the Vatican becoming a vital link in Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty's efforts to get Jews and others out of Rome. Other less well-known worked in Denmark, Belgium and rural France towards the same end - getting escaped POWs, grounded airmen and members of the Jewish community to safety.
An important record to add to the giant library of WW2 literature.

[Gwynevere Groß]

Sometimes the structure of the chapter could really throw you off - like when they suddenly start telling another person’s story within the person’s story the chapter was about, and then afterwards you’re just thrown back into it. It didn’t hurt the flow of reading too much though and all the chapters were extremely interesting and informative.

(I did edit the Wikipedia page of Mary O’Kelly de Galway based off the information her chapter (and a prior one) provides, but I feel I’m very inexperienced with how to write such things, so if anyone who read this book wants to have a look at that and try to see if they can phrase things better than me, then please do so.)

[Seán Egan]

Great accounts of the Irish women and men who fought in the anti-Nazi resistance during WW2. Some aspects of history are glossed over/represented poorly, and at times the analysis lacks a critical edge that I like to read in non-fiction, but the stories of resistance and bravery are nevertheless inspiring.

[Liam]

Fascinating stories, great to get them.out to a new audience