DFallon’s great piece on Ettie Steinberg yesterday got me thinking about another unusual tale regarding the Irish and the Second World War. That is the story of John McGrath of Roscommon who became the only Irishman to be imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp.
If you stand in the Schubraum section of the Museum Building in Dachau, you will see a large map of Europe on the wall. Over each country is a number, indicating how many of their citizens were imprisoned in the camp. The number ‘1’ is marked over Ireland.
John McGrath (c1893 – Nov 27 1946), was born in Elphin, Roscommon and educated at the Christian Brothers’ Schools in Carrick-On-Shannon. Joining the British Army, he saw action in France in World War One.
John McGrath. Sunday Independent, Apr 17, 1932.
Returning home safely he worked, as an administrative staff assistant, with the Gordon Hotel in London and then was involved with the organising of the Grand Prix Motor Race in the Phoenix Park and the Military Tattoo in Landsdowne Road in the late 1920s
He became the first House Manager of the new Savoy Cinema in Dublin in 1929, staying there for two years. When the Savoy Cinema in Cork was opened, he was sent down to manage it and worked there for a further two years. Returning to Dublin, in 1935, to manage the Theatre Royal on Hawkins Street, McGrath was recalled up to the British Army, as major, at the outbreak of war in 1939.
Theatre Royal, Hakins St. nd. (Picture credit -Damntheweather)
Landing with the Allies in Dunkirk in May 1940, McGrath was one of the ‘small Allied band’ who fought in France after the evacuation. He was wounded twice in battle near Rouen, Normandy before finally being captured by the Nazis. McGrath, now a Colonel, along with other captured POWs were then forced to march over four hundred miles to Germany. At least two hundred of the captured men died of exhaustion en route.
Brought to the Oflag (officers camp) in Luckenwalde, he was imprisoned there for just under twelve months.
McGrath was then transferred to the Friesack Camp, a special camp for Irishmen of the British Army. Here, the Irish were made various offers by the Nazis that in return for their freedom, they could become German agents and help sabotage the war effort in England, German and Scotland. “These men”, Col. McGrath said in a 1946 interview, “were continually being interviewed in secret, and all kinds of proposals, including very lucrative offers, were made to them. In not one single case did the Germans succeed…”
After nine months of trying, the Germans gave up trying to ‘turn’ the 180 Irishman in the camp.
Around this time, McGrath was caught attempting to pass information about the camp to the Irish legislation in Rome and sent to the infamous Sachsenhausen near Frankfurt
On arrival he was “stripped, searched and arrested by the Gestapo” and lodged in the prison section of the camp. For the next year, he was kept in near solitary confinement.
(For a full account of McGrath’s actions and imprisonment in Germany, read Terence O’Reilly’s Hitler’s Irishmen (2008))
Sachsenhausen camp. (Picture credit - holocaustresearchproject.org)
McGrath was transferred yet again, this time to the even more notorious Dachau concentration camp. One of the Nazis first prison camps, it would claim the lives of over 30,000 prisoners.
Here, even ‘important’ prisoners like McGrath had their heads shaved, were forced to wear the striped camp uniform and were subject to regular beatings from the brutal SS guards. (O’Reilly: 114)
For nearly two years, McGrath struggled and survived in the camp becoming its the first and only ever Irish inmate.
In the summer of 1945 with the U.S. 7th army sweeping through France and Germany, the SS marched the ‘principal captives’ of Dachau, which included McGrath, to Inssbruck and then to Tyrol in Austria.
"POWs from Dachau on death march to the South Tyrol" (Picture credit - scrapbookpages.com)
There, lodged in a hotel which had been closed for six years, McGrath and 130 other people were locked away in the bitter cold with little or no food. They were literally on the verge of death.
In an amazing turn of events, the U.S. army tracked the S.S. and the prisoners to Tyrol. Taking them completely by surprise, the U.S. took prisoner the 150 S.S. men who had guarded Dachau
From captured documents, it was revealed that McGrath’s party were not supposed to ‘fall into the hands of the Allies alive’. He had survived death yet again.
The liberated prisoners were then ‘speedily’ driven to Verona and then by plane to Naples. He then was brought back to Ireland via London.
John McGrath. The Irish Times, 29 Nov 1946.
A special reception, hosted by his employers in the Theatre Royal, in the Royal tea lounge marked his arrival back to Dublin in June 1945.
After a couple of months of respite McGrath, now decorated with an Order of the British Empire (OBE), returned to his job as manager of the cinema on Hawkins Street.
Never fully recovering from the physical and psychological trauma of his imprisonment in Germany, McGrath passed away, in his house at 38 Merrion Square, in November 1946.
Though he was only in his early 50s, he had lived a truly remarkable life. Having fought in two world wars, Lt. Col. John McGrath then managed to survive the brutal existence of four different concentration camps. The last of these was Dachau, one of the most horrific prisons of the whole war.
He should be remembered.
Sources:
+ The Irish Independent ( Jun 07, 1945; June 14, 1945; Nov 29, 1946), The Irish Press (Nov 29, 1946), The Irish Times (17 May 1945; 29 Nov 1946), The Leitrim Observer (Nov 30, 1929; June 16, 1945)
+ Terence O’Reilly, Hitler’s Irishmen (Dublin, 2008)
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Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 
Great post.
I’ve been to Dachau. Mind blowing.
.
That’s an amazing story. I wonder would he have been included in De Valeras blacklist of those who had fought against the Nazis. Many of their children were seized and put into Catholic child concentration camps in Ireland on the basis there was only one parent present in the home. All because they put on a British army uniform.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0125/1224310710060.html
Great article. May I use it in an Irish Community newsletter here in Calgary, Alberta Canada?
Thank you,
Ann
Yes, no problem Ann. Just please include a link to the blog when you reproduce it – https://comeheretome.wordpress.com.
Best wishes.
Great article.
Fantastic piece. I really enjoyed that and a sad story for him in the last few years of his life.
I am from Elphin, Co Roscommon and had never heard of the man.. I am on his trail now and have located where he lived and am researching further. A truly remarkable story. Obviously his exploits would not have been appreciated in the Ireland of the time so his story went untold. i will keep you posted on anything I can unearth. Would appreciate any further information
Mr. Rock, I wonder whether you have encountered any other representatives of the McGraths of Elphin. I am planning to visit the place in search of information about a great grandmother of mine who died in America in 1942.
Jerry McGrath Casale, fitzgerard@aol.com
Jerry, I know lots of McGraths in and around Elphin. If you send me some details I will see if I can be of any help
Father Bernard Malone,
McGrath side..great parents Teresa McGrath DOB 1879 and Patrick Malone..DOB 1874 great grandmother William McGrath DOB 1830 and Maria Breheny DOB 1830 2X great parent Thomas McGrath 1804 and Maria Colman DOB unknown 1800. Elphin Shanballybaun , Leitrim Roscommon. I’m not sure if I’m related to the hero John McGrath but would like if anyone has any information please past on..email katey81@verizon.net
Malone side .
grand father Patrick Malone DB 1874, great grandparent Jane Kenny DOB 1833 and Denis Malone DOB 1844 2X great grandparent Bernard Malone DOB 1815 and Brigid McGreevy DOB 1815 Boyle Roscommon
Hi Mick,
My daughter is planning to work on John Mc Grath’s story for her Leaving cert history project next year.
If you have found any more information about him, we would love to hear about it!
Thanks a million,
Susan and Caoimhe.
A remarkable story, movingly told.
Well done
His house was 38 Merrion Square? Wasn’t the British Embassy next door at 39? At least it was in the early 1970s (it being burnt down by angry mobs on 2/2/1972 following the Bloody Sunday killings in Derry).
Right order too.
.
ironically also beside the Goethe Institut Dublin
A very interesting article.. what a horrific time this was. Would that we had learnt the lesson well and no longer repeated such things, but I fear we always will.
One small error in the piece. Sachsenhausen concentration camp was near Berlin, not Frankfurt. There is a district in Frankfurt called Sachsenhausen split into North and South but it was not the location of the concentration camp which was just outside Berlin
FXR. I’m sure you know, if you read the article you sited, that those soldiers deserted the Irish army to join the British army. Whether or not we agree with the way they were treated, we should always give the full facts in case others do not have time to click on the link you pasted.
Thankyou for this article I did not have this information What a great man I Will pass it on Every history teacher should know this
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A Dachau guide here. Stumbled across this looking for McGrath’s name to show a work colleague, a really well written and great post. Thank you very much. Just a quick bit, I would have emailed you about this part, the map with the 1 on it that shows the distribution of of the prisoners by nationality is in the Schubraum of the Museum Building. The Visitor’s centre is where the restrooms and the cafeteria are, 1,5 blocks from the actual memorial site.
Thanks for that Robert. Best wishes.
My late father was one of the Irish prisoners in Friesack Camp. He always spoke of Col McGrath with respect and warmth. He also spoke of Fr Thomas O’Shaughnessy had been instumental in assuring the men that, as he had discovered Col McGrath was “genuine” and not another German ruse. I find a lot of interweb information on the matter to be wrong and far to focused on 3 or 4 ejits who got to close the the Nazi plan.
In regard to the comments on DeValeras’ black list, my understanding is that this applied to servicemen in the Irish Defence forces who had desserted their post and enlisted in the British Forces. They were therefore breaking their sacred oath of Allegience to the Irish State. Col McGrath made his oath of allegience to Britain at a time when he was a British Citizen. Again there has been a tendency on the internet and in various forum to conflate one with another. My own father certainly never suffered any penalty although he did spend his life in the UK for the usual economic and family reasons.
Nick
Thanks for the informative comment Nick
Hi Jaycarax, great article. I was in Dachau today and was very curious about who this Irish person was. All my questions are answered.
Thank you.
Micheal Byrne
No worries. Thanks for the comment.
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where is his grave?
Reblogged this on Where are you all going?.
Reblogged this on History of Sorts.
Stumbled across this story – Am very interested. My Great great grandparents James and Elizaeth (nee McGrath) McGrath were from Elphin. Te were provbably 1st cousins and eloped to the US in 1839.
Jean Roth
I have visited Dachaub twice
[…] John McGrath (Irish Times, 29th November 1946, thanks to Come Here to Me!) […]