Divided Loyalties: Letters from World War II
Irish History Podcast
Fin Dwyer
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2020
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
During the Second World War Irish Military Intelligence stepped up their activities monitoring potential threats to the Irish state. Their targets included the family of the far right Irish American activist Aileen O’Brien. Through the course of this investigation Irish Military Intelligence collected a unique set of letters that provided a fascinating and unusual insight into this families experience of the Second World War. By 1941 they found their allegiances tested. While they were American citizens they had personal and possible political connections to Nazi Germany.
The letters were locked in an archive for decades but recently were opened the public by the Irish Military Archives and they give us a deeply personal account of the war, yet one that is at times uncomfortable given the people involved found common cause with fascists.
Become a supporter & access dozens of exclusive podcasts
Patreon www.patreon.com/irishpodcast
Acast https://plus.acast.com/s/irishhistory
📢June 2023 Update - New Walking Tour 📢
I am thrilled to announce my brand new walking tour in Ireland's oldest city, Waterford. Join me and explore 1,000 years of history from the Vikings to Cromwell & Strongbow to the Irish Revolution. Enhanced by wireless headsets 🎧 you will hear the sounds of the city through the ages and the words of the people who made history in Waterford. Tours take place each Saturday and places are strictly limited to 15 people. Book your place today at www.Irishhistorypodcast.ie/tours
*New Book: A Lethal Legacy - A History of Ireland in 18 Murders *
My new book A Lethal Legacy - A History of Ireland in 18 Murders is available for Pre-Order now. If you order your copy today at Easons and use the promo code FD10 you get a 10% discount
Easons https://www.easons.com/a-lethal-legacy-finbar-dwyer-9780008555993
Promo code FD10
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is also Kathy, mother of two and self-confessed teleaddict. |
| 0:06.2 | Oh look at you, that's brilliant. |
| 0:08.8 | Well done. |
| 0:09.8 | This is also Kathy, working in a team to restore order at her local prison. |
| 0:14.3 | Come on, listen, speak to me. |
| 0:18.8 | And helping someone's son write his first letter home in eight months. |
| 0:22.4 | Well done, you should be really proud. |
| 0:24.0 | Thank you, mess. |
| 0:25.0 | An extraordinary job done by someone like you. |
| 0:28.0 | Search prison jobs now. |
| 0:30.0 | May I have your attention please you can now book your train tickets on Uber and get |
| 0:38.1 | 10% back in credits to spend on your next Uber ride so you don't have to walk home in the brain again. |
| 0:45.0 | Trains now on Uber. T's and C's apply. Check the Uber app. |
| 0:50.0 | In September 1941 a letter was posted in Madrid destined for a Catholic |
| 0:57.7 | priest in the rural parish of Jordanstown in County Meath. Its contents were |
| 1:02.4 | strange to say the least. It carried news of events on the |
| 1:06.0 | eastern front in the Second World War. The letter, however, never reached its intended recipient. |
| 1:12.1 | Somewhere along the way it was intercepted by Irish military |
| 1:15.4 | intelligence and was added to a growing file being gathered in Dublin. The priest in |
| 1:20.0 | Jordan's town who the letter was addressed to, a further daily was of little or no interest to Irish military intelligence. |
| 1:27.0 | However, since the start of the Second World War, they had stepped up their activities on potential threats to the Irish state and for one reason or another, which was never entirely clear. |
| 1:37.2 | By 1941, they were trying to establish if the family of the Irish-American far-right activist Aileen O'Brien was related to the family |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Fin Dwyer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Fin Dwyer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.