For Bastille Day this year, I thought I'd write something about the Irish who gave assistance to France during the Second World War. Some of those who risked their lives as volunteers in the Resistance are well known (like Samuel Beckett) or those who helped out through humanitarian initiatives (like Mary Elmes), but others will not be that familiar to you. Read it here on the RTÉ Brainstorm website.
The French Resistance carried out a range of activities including non-violent civil defiance and organised guerilla warfare. They ran underground newspapers and gathered intelligence. It is estimated that between 1 and 3% of the French people took part in the Resistance. Find out more about it here and here.
Many of the Irish who took part in Resistance activity in France did so as members of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). This was an organisation set up in July 1940 at the instruction of Winston Churchill to help local resistance movements and carry out espionage and sabotage in enemy held territories. You can find out more about the SOE here. According to this article, only 39 women were selected to be part of the SOE Section F or French section. This article by David Murphy contains a good precis of the Irish were part of Section F.
One of those who helped by giving assistance and giving hope was Cork-born Mary Elmes (1908-2002), who carried out essential humanitarian work in France during the War. She helped set up and run refugee camps for people fleeing Franco's nationalist forces in Spain. She provided education for the children in the camps and helped hundreds of Jewish children avoid certain death at Auschwitz concentration camp. She is remembered in her native city with a new pedestrian bridge bearing her name.
