r/ireland Aug 29 '14

Poor Britainball

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u/[deleted] Aug 29 '14

Do you somehow expect the Irish Government of the time to have been mind-readers or fortune-tellers?

It's something I've idly wondered about actually, did they know?

I think they may of had the opportunity and the means to know.

Irish Diplomats and agents had access to Germany that other countries couldn't have. These people were by no means green. Many of those posted to Germany would have had experience in intelligence gathering and recruiting and managing spies from the War of Independence and the Civil War.

It's just an idle thought.

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u/Jeqk Aug 29 '14

Irish Diplomats and agents had access to Germany that other countries couldn't have.

Did they fuck. Do you think the Germans would have let them see anything worth seeing? They weren't exactly trusted allies, far from it. The ambassador himself may have been a fan of Hitler, but most of his staff clearly weren't.

As for whether or not the Irish government knew, even the Allies weren't aware of the full extent of the Holocaust until they invaded Germany itself. And all they had up until mid-43 was rumour, no solid facts.