Germany and Ireland, 1945-1955: Two Nations' Friendship

GermanñIrish relations have been characterised by a wide variety of contacts throughout the centuries. These included age-old religious and scholastic and, since the beginning of this century, military and economic links. This book sets out to explore a decade of these relations as yet undocumented. The time from 1945 to 1949 was a period of difficult decisions and complicated diplomatic activity following the end of the Second World War, with Ireland having to decide on the fate of over 300 German citizens in the country ñ soldiers, spies and diplomats ñ who were wanted by the Allies. The period after 1949 is characterised by the normalisation of relations with Germany on a political, diplomatic and economic level. These many moves towards stronger personal, economic and cultural links with Germany were among the first tentative steps taken in the primarily isolationist Ireland of the 1950s towards Europe.