Operation Shamrock
When Operation Shamrock , it was a humanitarian relief operation of the Irish Red Cross in the aftermath of the Second World War . Over 1,000 German , Austrian and French orphans or other minors in need were saved from possible starvation.
On the initiative of the pediatrician Kathleen Murphy , the organization Save the German Children Society was founded on October 16, 1945 . Its aim was to take starving German children into Irish families. In March 1946 the Allied Control Council allowed the relief operation.
For this purpose, the children were brought to Ireland by the Red Cross, where they were initially housed and cared for in large groups, for example in the former Glencree barracks, 16 km south of Dublin . Irish families later took in the children individually or as siblings. The action lasted up to three years.
Around 50 of the children stayed or returned to Ireland after the campaign ended .
With the Norn Fountain in St. Stevens Green Park in Dublin, the German government expressed its gratitude to the Irish people for Operation Shamrock in the 1950s.
In 1997, then Federal President Roman Herzog also visited Ireland on the 50th anniversary of Operation Shamrock and met with former Shamrock children.
Since 2015 there have been several exhibitions in German cities initiated by the Berlin journalist Monica Brandis to commemorate the humanitarian action of the Irish Red Cross.
Movie
Web links
- Kevin Witzenberger: Operation Shamrock. Rescue on the Emerald Isle. In: one day . Spiegel Online , July 6, 2015, accessed July 6, 2015 .
- When the Irish rescued German children. Deutsche Welle , August 27, 2013, accessed July 6, 2015 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of December 29, 2015 , accessed on April 1, 2017
- ^ Augsburger Allgemeine, April 1, 2017 , accessed April 1, 2017