|
Monday, October 20, 2008 :
|
Honour for Ireland’s ‘Oscar Schindler’
AN UNSUNG Irish war hero credited with saving thousands of lives is to be honoured with an international humanitarian award in his name.
The memory of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, dubbed Ireland’s Oscar Schindler, will be immortalised by the new Killarney International Humanitarian Award, which will be launched during a memorial weekend in Kerry next month.
While based in the Vatican during World War II, Monsignor O’Flaherty set up a network of safe houses throughout Rome and surrounds.
He hid people in danger from the Nazis in monasteries and convents, in his old college and in his own residence. Using his many connections, he smuggled them out of Italy.
A master of disguises, he evaded capture from the Germans several times during risky rescue missions and became known as the Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican.
He saved an estimated 6,500 people including members of the Jewish community, as well as American and British servicemen.
Even after the war was over, he campaigned on behalf of German prisoners of war to ensure that they were treated properly.
He also befriended his nemesis, Colonel Herbert Kappler — who had signed the Monsignor’s death warrant during the war — and was one of the few people to regularly visit him in prison for years afterwards.
That period of his life was immortalised in the 1983 film, The Scarlet and The Black, which stared Gregory Peck as the Monsignor.
His wartime exploits have also been chronicled in a novel called The Vatican Pimpernel, by Brian Fleming.
But his courageous exploits have gone practically unnoticed in Ireland. Now a new group hopes to change that.
The Hugh O’Flaherty Memorial Committee has organised a weekend of events in the Monsignor’s hometown of Killarney to honour him.
They want to generate more awareness of his life and kickstart a fundraising initiative for a prominent memorial to him in a central place in Killarney.
“This will act as a tribute to this great man and also a reminder, that in times of extreme stress and strife, bravery and compassion is demanded of people, especially in helping other people with a greater need than themselves,” a spokesperson said.
Events begin on November 14 with an exhibition at the Killarney Outlet Centre of photographs and the Monsignor’s medals.
On November 15, the Monsignor will be given a posthumous Humanitarian Award and there will be a special screening of The Scarlet and the Black.
On Sunday, the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza will celebrate a Mass which will be followed by the naming of a road in Killarney, the O’Flaherty Road.
Although born in Kiskeam in north Cork in 1898, Monsignor O’Flaherty grew up in Killarney.
He was posted to Italy in 1922.
A skilled diplomat, he was recalled to Rome and was appointed to the Holy Office.
He became amateur golfing champion of Italy and played regularly with Count Ciano, Mussolini’s son-in-law, and with the ex-king Alfonso of Spain.
After the war the Monsignor received many decorations, including Commander of the British Empire and the US Medal of Freedom.
He retired to Cahirciveen in 1960 and died on October 30, 1963.
His death was mourned throughout the world, including a front page tribute in the New York Times.
In 2003 the Israeli government honoured him with a tree in the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.
Up to now the only memorial in Ireland is a grove of trees planted in the Killarney National Park in 1994.
* hughoflaherty.com
Front |
Back
|
|
