Curragh – the war’s most bizarre POW camp
by Published on 13th June 2018 06:20 AM
DuringWorld War II, a Canadian bomber flying from a base in Scotlandcrashed in what the crew thought was the vicinity of their airfield.Spotting a pub, they entered to celebrate their survival with a quickdrink but were stunned to see a group of soldiers wearing Naziuniforms and singing in German. Even more confusingly, the Germansresponded to their entry by shouting at them to “go to their ownbar.” The crew was soon given an explanation: after getting lostthey crashed in the Republic of Ireland… and now they werecaptured, just like the Jerries.
Havingnegligible military power, Ireland was a neutral nation during thewar; Prime Minister Éamon de Valera went to great lengths tomaintain that neutrality. As part of this policy, he made a deal withboth the British and German governments: combatants of either countrycould be detained if found in Ireland and interned there for theduration of the war. Technically, the men were not prisoners of warbut “guests of the State,” with an obligation on the state toprevent them from returning to the war. A 19th century military campnamed Curragh Camp or “K-Lines” was designated to hold “guests”of both nationalities – along with a much higher number of Irishcitizens who were imprisoned because they were considered a threat tothe country’s neutrality, such as IRA men and pro-Naziactivists.
At first, authorities looked the other waywhen British aircraft crashed or emergency landed in Ireland,allowing the crews to make their way home. The appearance of a Germanaircrew in 1940, however, forced them to start taking their jobseriously. Lieutenant Kurt Mollenhauer’s Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condoraircraft was taking meteorological readings off the Irish coast whenthey got lost in the mist and hit a mountain, with two crewmensuffering injuries.
Theywere captured and taken to Curragh. They experienced some harshtreatment first but the Department of External Affairs quicklyrequested the army to improve their living conditions. With someGermans in actual custody, it was now also necessary to detainBritish pilots who landed in Ireland to maintain neutrality and thetwo sides had to be given the same treatment – preferably a lenientone to avoid angering Britain.
Between1940 and 1943, some 40 British and 200 German military personnel weretaken to K-Lines, mainly air crews and men from shipwrecked U-boats.In appearance, the camp was a regular POW camp with guard towers,barbed wire and huts built on short stilts to prevent tunneling tofreedom, though the fence separating the British and German sides wasa mere four feet tall. Unlike in most camps, however, the guards hadblank rounds in their rifles and the prisoners were allowed to runtheir own bars with duty-free alcohol.
The British barwas run on an honor system, with everyone pouring for themselves andrecording their consumption in a book. Prisoners were also allowed toborrow bicycles and leave the camp, provided they signed a parolepaper at the guardhouse, giving their word of honor not to escape andto return in time. Pub visits, with separate bars for groups ofdifferent nationalities, evening dances with the locals, fishing andgolfing trips and fox hunts were the norm, with one English officereven having his horse transported there from home and others havingtheir families join them in Ireland for the duration of the war. Someprisoners ended up marrying local girls and one German prisoner,Georg Fleischmann, stayed and became an important figure in Irishfilm industry.
Whileboth sides enjoyed the chance to sit out the war in reasonablecomfort and without dishonorable behavior such as desertion, theGermans were generally more uptight about their situation. Despitebeing given some money to buy themselves civilian clothes for tripsto nearby towns, the preferred to stay in uniform inside the camp,planted gardens, made tennis courts, held exercise classes. On oneoccasion, they even set up a court to convict a comrade for treason,though the defendant couldn’t be executed, as the Irish refused tofurnish the Germans with a rifle and a single bullet. Sometimes,German prisoners sang Nazi songs just to piss off of their Britishco-internees. The two nations held boxing and soccer matches, with ahistorical record noting a German victory of 8-2 at one.
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