Conference Contribution Details
Mandatory Fields
Mervyn O'Driscoll;
23rd Annual British International History Group (BISA) Conference
Ireland and the Question of War Criminals, 1943-45
University of Stratclyde, Glasgow
Oral Presentation
2011
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0
Optional Fields
10-SEP-11
10-OCT-11

This paper corrects the Irish dimension of Arieh J. Kochavi's Prelude to Nuremberg: Allied War Crimes Policy and the Question of Punishment (1998). In chapter 6 of this he explores relations between `the Anglo-Saxon powers' and the neutral governments, including Ireland, as they endeavoured to extract assurances from the neutral governments after 1943 that they would not harbour war criminals. Kochavi's work possesses little or no account of internal Irish policy formulation on the question of asylum to war criminals creating a false impression. This is hardly surprising considering he does not use Irish archives, depending wholly upon US State Department and British Foreign Office files. Reading the Irish files in conjunction with Kochavi provides a much clearer explanation why the Irish acted in the way that they did.  

School of History, UCC