Taking the Hard Road - Edward O’Rourke & opposing Hitler
Irish History Podcast
Fin Dwyer
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 26 July 2023
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As I mention in the episode I am recording the audio version of A Lethal Legacy - A History of Ireland in 18 Murders this week! Don't forget to pre-order at Easons and use the code FD10 to get 10% off!
Edward O’Rourke is not a name you expect to encounter in the history of Eastern Europe, yet he is a celebrated figure in the Polish city of Gdansk for the role he played in opposing the rise of the Nazis in the city in the 1930s.
In this episode I am joined by the Irish Times journalist Derek Scally to explore the life of Edward O'Rourke which was in a word unique. This episode reveals why a man born near Minsk in the Russian Empire in 1876 was named O’Rourke and how he went to oppose Fascism at a time when many of his contemporaries were supporting Hitler.
This is the image at the start of the show https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Landmesser#/media/File:August-Landmesser-Almanya-1936.jpg
Follow Derek on twitter - @DerekinBerlin
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Make this a summer of unexpected experiences, only at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. |
| 0:05.7 | The Historic Dockyard is full of family fun! |
| 0:08.7 | Step aboard real-life history on HMS Victory! |
| 0:11.5 | Discover more about Henry VIII's favorite ship at the Mary Rose Museum, now including the |
| 0:16.2 | all-new Dive the Mary Rose 4D, or become a commando at Action Stations, plus nine more |
| 0:22.3 | attractions to discover. |
| 0:23.9 | Pay-wants and visit all year pre-book tickets online to save at historic.co.uk |
| 0:35.4 | There's a picture you're probably familiar with from Germany in the mid-1930s. |
| 0:40.6 | It was taken in a shipyard in Hamburg, amongst a sea of German workers with their arms outstretched |
| 0:46.8 | in the Nazi saluce, but one man, obstantly, refuses. |
| 0:52.0 | He's standing with his arms crossed in a defiant gesture of opposition to the Nazis. |
| 0:58.1 | Now every few months this picture goes viral, and it's fast becoming one of the most iconic |
| 1:03.2 | symbols of bravery and anti-fascism. |
| 1:06.4 | Now if you haven't seen the picture, just click on the link in the show notes below. |
| 1:10.0 | I don't think anyone who looks at the image can't but admire the courage of the man who |
| 1:14.9 | resists making the Nazi saluce. |
| 1:18.2 | However history has this habit, as I'm sure you know by now, of complicating things. |
| 1:24.0 | The picture was taken in 1936, as I say, and the man has been identified as a ghost |
| 1:29.5 | landmesser. |
| 1:30.5 | And the more we learn about him, the more complicated the story gets, because landmesser |
| 1:35.6 | had actually been a member of the Nazi party from 1931 to 1935, just a year before that |
| 1:42.2 | picture was taken. |
... |
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