German-Irish relations

German-Irish relations

Ireland	Germany

Germany and Ireland have had bilateral relations since 1922. Both states are members of the European Union , the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe .

There is a German embassy in Dublin and a German honorary consul is active in Galway . Ireland maintains an embassy in Berlin and has five honorary consuls (in Bergisch Gladbach , Frankfurt am Main , Hamburg , Munich and Stuttgart ).

history

The Christian missionary activity of Irish monks independent of Rome between the 6th and 8th centuries is known as the iro-Scottish mission . This also had a very strong influence on the German-speaking area. This is how Columban von Luxeuil and Saint Gallus worked in the Lake Constance region . The holy Kilian should in Würzburg have preached and the surrounding area. The holy Virgil , however, was in Salzburg as Bishop worked. The second phase of the Irish-Scottish proselytizing was closely connected with the Irish work in the Benedictine monasteries . Its origin goes back to the Irishman Marianus Scottus , who appeared with companions in Regensburg in 1070 and founded an ascetic monastic community from which several monasteries were founded. Due to the relatively large geographical distance, German-Irish relations often concentrated later on on important individuals. For example, the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Armed Forces in the Thirty Years' War , Wallenstein , was murdered in Eger in 1634 by the Irish captain Walter Deveroux . Overall, quite a few Irish soldiers fought in the German theaters of war at that time. In later armed conflicts during the Jacobite uprisings , the German-born military leader Friedrich von Schomberg fell in the Battle of the Boyne in eastern Ireland in 1690 . The German Richard Cassels (1690–1751) worked as a successful architect in Ireland, while the born Dubliner William Thomas Mulvany (1806–1885) made great contributions to the industrial development of the Ruhr area .

Lola Montez (actually Elizabeth Rosanna Gilbert, born in Grange, Ireland) became the “catalyst” of the revolution in Bavaria in 1848 through her relationship with the Bavarian King Ludwig I. In the 19th century, an important Celtology established itself as a scientific subject in German-speaking countries . This also influenced the awakening of Irish national consciousness at a time when the country was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . During this time there were repeated protests and uprisings against British rule.

In 1914, the British House of Commons could no longer prevent the adoption of the Irish Home Rule (autonomous self-government) by opponents of this innovation, but the outbreak of World War I delayed its implementation; initially to 1915, as it was assumed that the war would be brief. (No Home Rule Bill was implemented until 1920.) Many of the members of the Ulster Volunteer Force and Irish Volunteers joined the British Army during the war, often for reasons of Irish politics. They fought against the German Reich and its allies mainly on the Western Front , in the Battle of Gallipoli and in the Middle East . It is believed that 30,000 to 50,000 Irish were killed during the war. As part of the preparations for the Irish Easter Rising against the British in 1916, the Germans (according to the motto "The enemy of my enemy is my friend") promised to transport Irish-British prisoners of war who had agreed to transport to Ireland and around 40,000 French ones and landing Russian booty rifles with an auxiliary ship on Good Friday in Ireland ( County Kerry ). The landing failed because the time and place were not well coordinated. The entire uprising also failed. However, the massive British repression against the insurgents created widespread anti-English stance among the Irish population and popularized the idea of ​​independence. The following Irish War of Independence (1919–1921) led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921 , which guaranteed independence from Great Britain for 26 of the 32 Irish counties (excluding Northern Ireland ).

Ireland remained neutral during World War II. Germany had an ambassador in the country until 1945 ( Eduard Hempel ). However, there was de facto intelligence and military cooperation between Ireland and the war opponents of the Third Reich - the United Kingdom and the USA. As the only head of state in the world, Éamon de Valera expressed condolences in 1945 after Adolf Hitler's suicide at the German embassy and later protested at the British embassy against the death sentences imposed on the main war criminals at the Nuremberg trial .

The Irish Ambassador William Warnock with the Foreign Office representative Dr. Hess after signing a trade agreement in 1961

In 1973 the country joined the European Economic Community (the predecessor of today's EU). After considerable adjustment difficulties, there was a lasting economic upswing in the following years - not least due to structural funds from the European Union (with Germany as one of the main net contributors ). In 1990 Ireland, as the holder of the presidency of the Council of the European Communities or today Council of the European Union, actively supported the completion of German reunification .

The euro was introduced in Ireland in 1999 (or as cash in 2002) . Due to the joint membership of Ireland and Germany in the European Union , relations between the two countries have intensified over the past few decades. In 2011 the Irish government published plans to increase VAT in the German Bundestag - before these plans were communicated in Ireland itself. Many Irish people painfully perceived this as Ireland's loss of sovereignty in the context of the Irish debt crisis in favor of the European Union and especially Germany.

Others

• The Irish pub is also a popular and widespread form of gastronomy in Germany .
• Irish Diary is the title of a semi-documentary travelogue by Heinrich Böll from 1957.

See also

• List of German ambassadors in Ireland
• Ambassador of the GDR in Ireland
• Foreign policy of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Glencree German War Cemetery

Web links

Commons : German-Irish Relations  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• The German Foreign Office on relations with Ireland

Individual evidence

1. ^ German Embassy in Dublin (German and English) . German Embassy in Dublin. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 20, 2011. 
2. ^ Website of the Embassy of Ireland in Berlin (German, English and Gaelic) . Embassy of Ireland, Germany. Archived from the original on November 4, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 6, 2011. 
3. ^ Wallenstein: Biography of a Power Man by Robert Rebitsch; P. 223 . Böhlau. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
4. ↑ John Hennig: Irish Soldiers in the Thirty Years War , in: The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland , Vol. 82,1 (1952), pp. 28-36.
5. ↑ Ireland and Germany - an untroubled friendship / Sean O 'Huiginn . German-Irish Circle of Friends. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 18, 2011. 
6. ↑ Ireland's relations with Germany . Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
7. ↑ Ireland is outraged by a German data leak . Mirror online. Retrieved November 20, 2011.