New novel gives glimpse of life in Kildare during WWII
Kitty's War
A FASCINATING new novel unfolds against the backdrop of Ireland's neutrality and the lesser-known internment of German soldiers at the Curragh Camp in Kildare.
Intertwining fiction with historical fact, is the work of Kilkenny-based author Eimear Lawlor and centres on the life of Kathleen ‘Kitty’ Flynn, a young woman whose experiences in Ireland during World War Two reveal the personal and societal impacts of living in Ireland in the 1940s.
According to an article in , by the end of the war the Curragh had interned 54 Luftwaffe officers as well as 210 German sailors. Life as an internee was ‘reasonably good’. They could attend dances, the cinema, religious services, horse races and more, use the army recreational facilities, and some attended classes in Dublin.
When internee payments from Berlin ceased in early 1945, they took up casual employment working as labourers, gardeners, butchers, turf cutters and so on. Some married local women.
This is Eimear’s second book after and she read many books on the German internees and trawled through files in the Military Archives. She also watched the 1998 romantic comedy , which was produced by and starred Gabriel Byrne whose father Dan was from Mullaghmast.
Two local history stalwarts from Kildare – Michael Rowley and James Durney – provided invaluable knowledge and suggestions.
Eimear explained that she met Michael, the chairman of the Curragh History Group, through Facebook. “Myself and my husband drove up and we met him and he brought us around the camp,” she said. “He’s given me an awful lot of information as well which was a great help doing the book … and then there was James Durney, he’s a local historian, and he gave me information as well.” Kitty’s War is available in Easons (in-store and online) and nationwide including Barker and Jones in Naas.
