Extracts from the annual report of the Irish Legation in France

IRISH LEGATION IN FRANCE, 1941

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1. Enquiries in regard to the possibility of returning to Ireland: A very large number of these enquiries was dealt with and the correspondence in some lasted over several months. Whereas the Legation generally explained in a single letter the general position and the particular formalities (visas, money etc.) required to get to Lisbon it was not uncommon to find the same correspondent seeking identical information in a number of successive letters. The persistence with which the correspondence was carried on in some cases even where all possible queries had already been answered would seem to be attributable to some extent to the feeling on the part of the correspondent that the Legation represented as it were a source of moral support in all cases of difficulty coupled with the fact that the difficulties and delays are very great and rather discouraging. This observation is of a more general application in the sense that it is remarkable since June, 1940, how nationals who had hitherto had no contact with the Legation turn to it on the slightest pretext.

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3. Nationality description on cartes d'identité: It was found in the months immediately following the Armistice that the local French authorities frequently refused to alter the nationality description (from 'British' to 'Irish') on the identity cards of persons who had received Irish passports, with the result that holders of Irish passports might, on the strength of their identity cards, be classed by the German authorities as enemy aliens. Following on representations by the Legation to the Ministry of the Interior the latter issued a circular in February 1941 to all Prefects instructing them to carry out the necessary change when an Irish passport or similar nationality document should be submitted in support of the application.
4. Internment of Irish persons: In the second half of 1940 a large number (200 about) [of] persons of Irish birth or immediate Irish ancestry were interned in occupied France. Large numbers of these were subsequently released on obtaining Irish passports and on representations from the Paris office. A few, however, (mainly religious) who obtained full Irish passports after internment, remained interned at the end of the year. Representations have been made about these cases to the recently-established Vichy Office of the German Embassy, Paris. There were also two cases of internment by the French authorities in North Africa in which the Legation intervened. In one case the national concerned was promptly released. The other was still the subject of correspondence at the end of the year.
5. Protection of property of nationals: A few cases of this kind arose in the occupied zone. The Legation affixed notices to the property concerned to the effect that it belonged to Irish nationals.
6. Residence of nationals in particular areas: In the course of 1941 the French authorities issued a number of decrees restricting the areas in which certain classes of foreigners, and in particular British subjects might reside. Roughly speaking it was made illegal for such foreigners to live in any maritime or frontier Department. Owing to the tendency which still persisted on the part of certain of the local authorities to confuse British and Irish nationals the intervention of the Legation was required in a few cases to prevent Irish nationals being compelled to change their place of residence.
7. Financial assistance: Apart from the question of financial assistance from public funds there was a certain amount of correspondence during 1941 (though on a lesser scale than in the second half of 1940) with persons desiring to obtain money from abroad. In many cases the correspondence led to no practical result as far as the Legation was aware
8. Correspondence with Ireland: The number of enquiries received under this head from persons resident in France was very great. In spite of the fact that correspondence between the unoccupied zone and Ireland was free many nationals living there regularly sent their letters to the Legation for posting in Vichy. A very large number of letters from and for nationals in the occupied zone passed through the Legation.

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IV. Irish residents in France, as already stated above, had on the whole no complaint to make during the year on the score of their treatment either by the French or German authorities. Many of them, however, were in a financially poor situation, partly because of the difficulty of finding work and partly because of the very considerable rise in the cost of living. In Paris where the main colony continued to be concentrated, efforts were made by certain members to remedy distress at their own expense; and the community of St. Joseph's Church seems to have remained a source of both material and moral support.

The total number of Irish persons residing in France in 1941 would be about 600.

The Legation was in continual and regular touch with the widow of Mr. William O'Brien² who is living, apparently in relative comfort, in the free zone.