Suitable Strangers

Vera Sheridan

Description

In 1956, a group of 548 refugees escaping the violence of the Hungarian Revolution arrived on the shores of Ireland. With its own history shaped by waves of emigration to escape war, famine, and religious persecution, Ireland responded by creating its first international refugee settlement.

Suitable Strangers reveals the firsthand experiences of the men, women, and children who lived in the Knockalisheen refugee camp near Limerick. For the majority of those living in the camp, Ireland was meant to be a temporary waystation on their ultimate journeys, primarily to Canada, the United States, and Australia. But after almost six months of uncertainty and feeling neglected by the Irish government, the Hungarian refugees began a hunger strike, which garnered national resentment and international headlines. Vera Sheridan explores this revolt and ensuing events by offering a complex and nuanced examination of the daily routines, state policies, and international motives that shaped life in the camp.

A fascinating read for historians as well as those interested in refugee and migrant studies, Suitable Strangers complicates the Irish diaspora by providing a closer look at the realities of Ireland's Knockalisheen refugee settlement.

Acknowledgments
A Note on Hungarian Names
List of Sources
List of Abbreviations
PART ONE
1. Defining the Context
2. Finding Suitable Refugees
3. Camp Life
4. The Hunger Strike
PART TWO
5. The Lives of Children
6. Domestic Problems, International Solutions, Departures
PART THREE
7. Comparisons, Legacies, and Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Refugees
• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Revolutions
• Hungría
• Ireland
• Revolution
• Irish
• Hungary
• History of Europe
• Stephen Ireland
• Musique irlandaise
• 1956
• Hongrie
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 03 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780253064639
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

SUITABLE STRANGERS
IRISH CULTURE, MEMORY, PLACE
Oona Frawley, Ray Cashman, Guy Beiner, editors
SUITABLE STRANGERS
The Hungarian Revolution, a Hunger Strike, and Ireland s First Refugee Camp
Vera Sheridan
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.org
2023 by Vera Sheridan
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2023
Cataloging is available from the Library of Congress
978-0-253-06460-8 (hardback)
978-0-253-06461-5 (paperback)
978-0-253-06462-2 (e-book)
To my family: Ian, Aisling and Andrew and Liadh and Lara, and Neil.
In loving memory of David Jolley, who died too soon; my parents, va and Imre; and my grandparents M ria and Gy rgy, who loved children and lost theirs to the West.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
A Note on Hungarian Names
List of Sources
List of Abbreviations
PART ONE
1. Defining the Context
2. Finding Suitable Refugees
3. Camp Life
4. The Hunger Strike
PART TWO
5. The Lives of Children
6. Domestic Problems, International Solutions, Departures
PART THREE
7. Comparisons, Legacies, and Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
N O BOOK STANDS ALONE, SO I WOULD LIKE to thank Jennika Baines, PhD, Acquisitions Editor; and Sophia Hebert, Assistant Acquisitions Editor, Indiana University Press.
An interdisciplinary book like this relies on help from a great many sources, and I would like to thank the following:

Aisling Sheridan for supplying distracting reading
Anna Letoha for her hospitality
Ariane Gill for information on medicines
Barbara Carrick, Our Lady s Hospital, Crumlin
Councillor Mannix Flynn
Chris Mullen for making me laugh out loud
Derek and Carole Leinster for helping to find Elizabeth
Des Ryan, local historian, Limerick
Dr. Mel Duffy for sound advice
Elizabeth Chik ny
Gary Filerman
Gillian Doel, Art Therapist
Hajnal Collins
Hazel Wright Ian Sheridan for innumerable dinners
Isabelle Von che Cardia for her collegiality
Joe Malone, publican and local history raconteur, Limerick
John Murphy
John Thompson for sourcing UK newspapers
Luke Kearns
Lynda Mannick
Mark Coehn
Mark Collins
Michael Headen
Mike Maguire, Limerick City Library
Neil Sheridan for his sense of humor
Olga Murphy
Ronit Lentin for her generosity
Rosemary and Elizabeth Kearney
Sean Curtin
Sharon Bolger, Wicklow Voice
Sister Angela and the Mercy Provincial Archive Centre of the Convent of Mercy for their hospitality
Sister Immaculata for granting access to her archive material and for our meeting in Limerick
The Mercy nuns in Limerick for their hospitality
William O Neill, Limerick City Archives
A NOTE ON HUNGARIAN NAMES
S PEAKERS OF H UNGARIAN WILL NOTICE A CERTAIN AMOUNT of inconsistency in the spelling of Hungarian names, which requires some explanation, as it is much more than a lack of awareness of Hungarian usage, such as the standard practice of using a surname followed by first name. The full range of diacritics required for proper Hungarian spelling were absent in the Irish media and in the Irish archival material of the 1950s, with one exception: a newspaper headline that used Hungarian, k sz n m sz pen , for thank you. In addition, there appeared to be no regard for accuracy when taking down Hungarian names so that some looked vaguely Hungarian but were not in fact spelled correctly. An example is Rezzo, discovered in a newspaper article as Resto (not used in this study). In Hungarian, the name is Rezs ; I added the correction for this, as Rezzo would be too strange for a Hungarian reader.
In general, I have used the spellings I came across; otherwise, it would be difficult to see who exactly is referred to in official documents. The range of documentation extends from letters from UNHCR to communication from local branches of the Irish Red Cross. There is one specific exception-namely, Dr. Sz v rffy, a scholar who migrated to the United States and would be known by his proper name. There is one terrible misspelling of his name in chapter 3 with a correction in brackets, as otherwise the reference would have been incomprehensible. There are also Hungarian letter writers who signed their names with the correct Hungarian spelling, and I have kept these. In addition, some people might have gone along with the new spelling of their name once they saw it in Ireland or might have translated their first name into the English version or made some attempt to anglicize it-for example, Charles for K roly. Overall, this creates a certain amount of unevenness of spelling that, while it is unavoidable, necessitated elucidation as well as causing some amusement in the narrative.
SOURCES
Archives
Houses of the Oireachtas, D il ireann Debates
Department of Education Industrial School and Reformatory Archive
District Court records
Dublin City Library and Archives
Garda Museum and Archives
General Register Office (GRO), Research Room
Irish Newspaper Archives
Irish Times Digital Archives
Limerick Library and Local History Archive
Military Archives of the Defence Forces
National Archives of Ireland
National Library of Ireland
Representative Church Body Library
Mercy Congregational Archives, Sister Immaculata Collection
Hungary:
Open Society Archives
Newspapers
Irish:
Anglo-Celt
Clare People
Connacht Tribune
Evening Herald
Irish Examiner
Irish Independent
Irish Pictorial
Irish Press
Irish Times
Kilkenny People
Limerick Leader
Longford Leader
Nenagh Guardian
Sligo Champion
Tuam Herald
Wicklow Voice
UK:
Daily Telegraph
Austria:
Die Presse
Organizational Magazines:
The Church of Ireland Gazette
Red Cross World
ABBREVIATIONS
BCAR: British Council for Aid to Refugees
C3: security section of An Garda S och na
CCC: Canadian Council of Churches
CRS: Catholic Relief Services
DP: displaced person
ESB: Electricity Supply Board
HMS: Her Majesty s Ship
ICEM: Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration
ICRC: International Committee Red Cross
IRC: Irish Red Cross
IRO: International Refugee Organisation
ITDA: Irish Times Digital Archive
L : Long ireann , Irish ship
LRCS: League of Red Cross Societies
LWF: Lutheran World Federation
NAI: National Archives of Ireland
NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NCO: noncommissioned officer
NCWC: National Catholic Welfare Conference
NGO: nongovernment organization
NLI: National Library of Ireland
PCFHRR: President s Committee for Hungarian Refugee Relief
RCBL: Representative Church Body Library
RRP: Refugee Relief Program
SICMA: Sister Immaculata Collection, Mercy Archive
TD: Teachta D la, an elected representative who sits in the Da l, the lower chamber of the Houses of the Oireachtas, the Irish parliament, with the Senate and senators comprising the upper house.
UN: United Nations
UNHCR: United Nations High Commission for Refugees
UNRRA: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
USEP: United States Escapee Program
USSR: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
PART I

Part 1. Captured Soviet tank in Budapest street. Source: HU OSA 412 Gary Filerman Collection on Hungarian Refugees of 1956, Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives at Central European University.
1
DEFINING THE CONTEXT

Only fame will eventually answer the repeated complaint of refugees of all social strata that nobody here knows who I am ; and it is true that the chances of the famous refugee are improved just as a dog with a name has a better chance to survive than a stray dog who is just a dog in general.
-Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
Few though the numbers we welcome may seem, an immense amount of joy and well-being surely lies before those who escape to us-who escaped from the most miserable experiences conceivable to normal life and a home among kindly people in a country unscarred by war.
-Dorothy McArdle, The Iron Cage
Sociohistorical Overview
The 1956 Hungarian Revolution began on October 23, and it was brief and bloody. Soviet troops (re)invaded on November 4, 1956, and the revolution was virtually over a week later. 1 Imre Nagy s government fell, and he and other prominent figures, like P l Mal ter, the revolution s military leader, were imprisoned and executed in 1958 as part of the retribution that followed. The new government, with the Soviet-appointed J nos K d r at its head, ordered the executions of 229 people; some 22,000 people were sentenced and 13,000 interned. Thousands more were dismissed from their workplaces and placed under police supervision. Retribution ceased only with the amnesty of 1963, although many people in Hungary would continue to endure decades of discrimination. 2 The United Nations investigation into the events of 1956 found that Soviet Russia had committed human rights violations with its deportations of Hungarians to the USSR. 3 Some 200,000 people fled, mainly into Austria; 18,000 went to Yugoslavia. As a new member of the United Nations, Ireland heeded the call to ease Austria s refugee burden as thousands escaped across its borders. Initially, the Irish government considered taking a small number of refugees and thought of offering asylum to 250 Hungarians. 4 Later, government ministers publicly offered to take 1,000 refugees, but eventually 548 arrived in Ireland to live in Knockalisheen camp, which had been prepared for their reception. The cam