Memorandum by Frederick H. Boland on the transfer of the German Legation
in Dublin to the Allies

Herr Thomsen, of the German Legation, came to see me on the evening of the 9th May and said that they would be prepared to hand over the Legation premises at Northumberland Road to us the following morning.

2. After the Secretary had spoken to the Taoiseach, the handing over was arranged for 12.15 p.m. the following morning. Herr Thomsen said he would have an inventory of the contents ready by that time.

3. Dr. Nolan and I went to the Legation the following morning at the time fixed, in company with Inspector Wymes.¹ Together with Herr Thomsen, Herr Bruchhans² and Herr Mueller, we went through the inventory, a copy of which,

initialled by Dr. Nolan, was then given to Herr Thomsen. The door leading from the caretaker's quarters in the basement to the upper part of the house was closed and sealed with twine and the leaden seal of the Department. Inspector Wymes inspected the window fastenings and arranged to station two men in the back garden, in addition to the Gardaí on watch in front of the house.

4. After the inventory had been checked and initialled, Herr Thomsen drew our attention to the following points:-

1. The caretaker, Tyner, and his wife and family were still occupying the basement. They had been paid up to date. It was for the new occupants to decide what to do as regards their tenancy.
2. The rent of the premises was paid up to the 31st May 1945. The lease was terminable on six months' notice ending on 31st May or the 31^st November in any year.
3. The Legation cash box contained the sum of £386.5.6 in notes and coin. This was counted out in our presence. Herr Thomsen said that Herr Bruchhans was taking this amount to meet outstanding bills which it had been found impossible to get in prior to the transfer. Their general idea was to discharge all financial liabilities owing at the time of the transfer, leaving no debts to be discharged by the new occupants. We told Herr Thomsen that we would simply take note of his statements on this matter as information given to us.
4. The Legation's combination safe was in the basement, in the caretaker's quarters. It had not been found possible to move it upstairs.
5. The Legation's Alsatian watchdog was being left in the yard to be handed over with the premises.
6. The gardener and charwoman had been paid up to date and their cards had been stamped.
7. The safe contained some papers, seals, etc., handed to the German Legation by the Czech Consul in Dublin when Czechoslovakia was annexed by Germany in 1939.
8. The safe also contained the property found on German bodies washed ashore and on German airmen killed in crashes, which had been handed over to the Legation by the Department, as well as a number of packets containing personal property left with the Legation by the German nationals who returned to Germany on the outbreak of war.
9. The files left at the Legation included a file and passbook covering a fund of about £100 used for the relief of distressed Germans in Ireland, and a file dealing with the quarterly payment of £2.0.5 made by an Irish national to a woman in Germany under a local circuit court order.
10. The cash-box contained a number of small amounts due to German citizens by way of overpayments of consular fees which had not been called for by the people concerned.
11. The inventory did not specify the contents of a lumber-room on the top floor, which contained both German Government property and the property of the former German Club in Dublin. The latter was labelled as private property. The Legation proper also contained a number of articles of furniture which were private property (principally the property of Helmut Clissmann), and in each case a gum label had been affixed on the article concerned stating its private ownership.
12. The only archives left in the premises seemed to be a collection of files which filled one of the steel filing cabinets in the Consular Secretary's room. In response to a question, Herr Thomsen said that no accounts existed to be left behind.
13. Herr Thomsen said that Herr Bruchhans would be available to answer any enquiries relating to the Legation premises (for example, the method of operating the combination safe) or to matters affecting the interests of German residents in Ireland. He preferred not to deal with the United Nations directly, but would answer any such questions put to him through the Department.

5. On the afternoon of the 10th inst., the Secretary received a formal request from the American Minister, on behalf of the United Nations, for the transfer of the Legation premises to them. The Secretary arranged that Dr. Nolan and myself should go to the Legation again at 4 o'clock, where Mr. Colladay, Mr. McEnelly and Mr. Dell of the United States Legation; Brigadier Wodehouse and Mr. Ross-Williamson of the British Representative's Office; and Mr. Pettitot of the French Legation would be available to take over the premises. It was arranged that Inspector Wymes would be present to hear what the new occupants wished done in the matter of protection.

6. When the party met on the premises, Mr. McEnelly began by expressing the view that the United States shouldn't take over the premises at all and the discussion was somewhat at cross purposes until it emerged that Mr. McEnelly was unaware that the American Minister had requested the formal transfer of the premises and that he had been talking under a misapprehension. The party then inspected the premises. The inventory was checked room by room and a copy, initialled by representatives of each of the three United Nations, was handed to Dr. Nolan. A discussion followed at which I drew the attention of the United Nations representatives to the various points set out in paragraph 4 above. The Department seal on the door leading from the basement was broken and Messrs. Colladay and Dell placed American seals on this door and the door leading from the Legation premises to the garden. Mr. Colladay and Mr. Dell made a superficial examination of the contents of the safe in the Consular Secretary's Office. The party then left the premises, Mr. Colladay retaining the keys which had been handed to him earlier in the evening by the Secretary.

7. Mr. Colladay and Mr. Dell took the leading part in the proceedings, Mr. Dell making notes of what everybody said in a notebook which he carried around for the purpose. The British representatives commented on the cleanliness and good order in which the premises had been left. The French representative, whose knowledge of English was deficient, seemed to be altogether at sea and unable to grasp or follow what was taking place.