Curragh (Ireland)

Curragh Plain

Curragh ( Irish : an Currach [ əˈkʊɾəx ], German "the swamp" ) is a plain of 20 km² in County Kildare in the Republic of Ireland . It is between the towns of Kildare and Newbridge . An important military base has been located here since the 19th century , as well as Ireland's most famous racecourse (Curragh von Kildare), the venue for the five most important races in Ireland (Irish Derby Stakes, Irish Oaks, Irish 1,000 Guineas, Irish 2,000 Guineas and St. Leger ).

The Curragh Army Camp

In 1855 the British Army built an army camp for the Crimean War . In 1879 the wooden barracks were replaced by modern barracks. Here graduated from Edward VII. , Then Prince of Wales, his military service and was on the occasion of his mother Queen Victoria visited. Towards the end of the 19th century, Curragh became the division headquarters , where soldiers were also trained for the Boer War .

The "Curragh Incident"

On March 20, 1914, the so-called Curragh Incident occurred in the army camp . In the run-up to a legislative debate on self-government for Ireland ( Home Rule ), the Commander of Curragh Base, Sir Arthur Paget , had received an order from the War Department to prepare his troops for a transfer to Ulster in the event of unrest by loyalists against the self-government, should come. Paget misunderstood this order as an immediate marching order. Thereupon he gave his officers free to resign at his own responsibility ; 57 out of 70 officers accepted this offer. Formally, they had not yet been guilty of mutiny because they had not yet refused to carry out a direct order.

The government under Prime Minister Asquith then withdrew the original order, spoke of a misunderstanding and reinstated the officers. The incident encouraged Irish nationalists to believe that self-government would not be supported by the British Army. The incident is noteworthy in that it was one of the few situations since the English Civil War where elements of the British military openly intervened in politics. John French had to resign as Chief of the Imperial General Staff and promise that the British Army would not take action against the Ulster Loyalists.

Internment of Irish nationalists

Irish nationalists were interned in the Curragh camp on several occasions from 1920. After the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921), the British Army handed the camp over to the Army of the Irish Free State on May 16, 1922 . The barracks were named after leaders of the Easter Rising . During the Irish Civil War , seven men were executed in the military prison for sabotaging a railway line and ambushing Free State troops.

In 1940, under the now Irish government, a facility with 24 barracks was built, each barrack - with the exception of the functional buildings such as church, kitchen, library, laundry and infirmary - offered space for 30 prisoners. A total of between 300 and 500 Irish nationalists were held here. There were playing fields for hurling and Gaelic football. The camp was surrounded by barbed wire and a deep moat. From December 1940 high IRA officers were interned here. On December 14, prisoners set fire to seven huts, also unintentionally exposing a system of tunnels that they had secretly dug. The camp inmates split into two factions that cooperated more or less well with their guards. From 1943 the prisoners could receive visitors. In the fall of 1944, most of the internees accepted parole; a group of around 70 prisoners who were considered dangerous remained until mid-1945.

Internment of crews of crashed aircraft

Since the Republic of Ireland remained neutral during World War II, aircraft crews who had crashed over the republic or in its territorial waters were interned here . There were around 40 members of the Royal Air Force (including Poles, French of the Forces françaises libres and Canadians) and 60 Germans. The internees received their wages and were allowed to leave the camp during the day. The members of the two opposing warring parties are said to have treated each other politely. The Allied internees were released in mid-1943, the Germans in Europe at the end of the war.

The camp today

The site now houses barracks for the Irish Army and a military museum with a large collection of weapons. Only the foundations remain of the former internment camps.

literature

Joseph O'Neill : Blood-Dark Track: A Family History . Granta Books, London 2001. ISBN 1-86207-288-4 .