'Second World War and Holocaust Reception in Ireland' With Aoibh Crimmins

Aoibh will discuss Irish views of WW2 and the Holocaust and how those views shaped their relationship with Jewish issues and foreign policy

This talk will offer a general overview of Irish attitudes to World War II and the Holocaust, and its development over the decades. It will contextualise these attitudes in Ireland’s often misunderstood neutrality during the war, and will proceed to discuss the immediate reaction to the Allied victory and the early reports from liberated concentration camps. The development of this reception over the following decades will be explored with reference both to Ireland’s international connections in Europe and the English-speaking world, and to domestic controversies and commemorations around the events of the war. Finally it will reflect on recent developments and the relevance of Second World War and Holocaust reception in Ireland, not just for the relationship of Irish non-Jews to Jewish issues, but also for Irish foreign policy, national identity, and Ireland’s position in Europe more generally.

Aoibh Crimmins (Ní Chroimín) is a doctoral candidate at Trinity College Dublin. Her thesis will explore the commemoration and promotion of the German musical and literary canon in Thuringia and Saxony between 1945 and 1961, and analyse the relationship between cultural heritage, memory, and national identity in East Germany during the transition from National Socialism to communism.
More broadly her research focuses on culture and nationalism in Ireland and Germany between 1890 and 1960. Her interests include cultural nationalism; “high” culture in Germany in the long 1950s; Irish-German relations; Irish nationalism in a European context; the influence of Romantic Nationalism on modern political discourse; the relationship between nationalism, democracy and totalitarianism; the social history of classical music in Europe; perceptions of Jews in Irish society; and Holocaust reception and the perception of the Second World in Ireland.
Her academic work with the LCSCA focuses on antisemitism within Irish cultural nationalism. She is also a volunteer at the Centre.


She holds an MA in European Studies from the University of Amsterdam and a BA in English Literature and German from Trinity College Dublin. During her undergraduate degree she was awarded a Trinity Scholarship, completed an Erasmus…
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[25/03/2026, 10:43:26] ~ Aoibh: Also made a list of academic presentations, peer reviewed and selected non peer-reviewed publications
[25/03/2026, 10:43:54] ~ Aoibh: Academic Presentations


30 March-1 April 2025: “‘Nailing a Lie’: Antisemitism in Irish Cultural Nationalism”. For London Antisemitism Conference 2025, London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism
15-17 January 2025: Presenting a research pitch on the relevance of late nineteenth century German student fraternities for understanding student radicalism. Winter School “Return of the Nineteenth Century”, EPiCUR European University, University of Strasbourg


Peer-reviewed Publications

‘“Jews in Ireland” and “Natives of Ireland”: Romanticism and republicanism in the Irish language movement’ in Jewish/Non-Jewish Relations in Ireland: A Survey ed. Natalie Wynn and Seán William Gannon (Oxford: Peter Lang, forthcoming 2026)


“An Introduction to the History of Antisemitism and Irish Cultural Nationalism, 1890-1950”. In Contemporary Antisemitism: Perspectives from the LCSCA Conference [working title] ed. David Hirsh and Anna Zawadzka (Abingdon: Routledge, forthcoming 2026)


“What goes on on the shrapnel-pocked crust of H.M. Mother Earth”: Brian O’ Nolan and the Second World War”. The Parish Review: Journal of Flann O’Brien Studies (forthcoming, 2026)


“Pre-Socialist Cultural Heritage in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR, 1945-1960”. MA thesis, University of Amsterdam, 2025. https://scripties.uba.uva.nl/search?id=record_57032


Selected Non-Peer-reviewed Publications


“Buddenbrooks”. (Translation of an extract from Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks from German into Irish). JOLT [Trinity Journal of Literary Translation] Vol. 12 (Summer Issue). 22 September 2023. pp. 80-83 https://issuu.com/trinityjolt10/docs/online_mergerd


“Féile Chorp Chríost i ‘Mairseáil Radetzky’” (Translation of an extract from Joseph Roth’s Radetzkymarsch from German into Irish). JOLT Vol. 11 (2). 4 April 2023. pp. 91-92 https://issuu.com/trinityjolt10/docs/issuu2_jolt


“Siúlóid i gCathair na Marbh”. Tuathal 2022/23 (2). December 2022. pp. 15-17. https://issuu.com/tuathal/docs/tuathal_ _eagr_n_a_2


“An Bhrionglóid” (Translation of an extract from Wolfgang Borchert’s Draußen vor der Tür from German into Irish.) JOLT Vol. 11 (1). 21 Nov. 2022. pp. 48-51 https://issuu.com/trinityjolt10/docs/volume_11_issue_1_copy


“Cad gur féidir leis an nGearmáin a mhúineadh dúinn faoin nGaeilge?” Tuathal 2022/23 (1). 20 Sep. 2022. pp. 8-12 https://issuu.com/tuathal/docs/tuathal


“Letters to the Editor: Support for Ukrainians reflects our values”. The Irish Times. 21 June 2022. https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/2022/06/21/support-for-ukrainians-reflects-our-values/


“How I Learned to Relish Not Having an Opinion”. University Times. 23 August 2021. https://universitytimes.ie/2021/08/how-i learned-to-relish-not-having-an-opinion/


“Irish Student Activists Need to Talk About Eastern Europe – and With it”. University Times. 13 July 2021. https://universitytimes.ie/2021/07/irish-student-activists-need-to-talk-about-eastern-europe-and-with-it/ (Nominated for the 2021 SMEDIAS European Commission Award for best article on a European topic)


“What the 1945 VE Riots Tell Us About a Forgotten Ireland”. University Times. 14 June 2021. https://universitytimes.ie/2021/06/what-the-1945-ve-riots-tell-us-about-a-forgotten-ireland/
“Internet Politics Feeds Tribalism and Erodes Compassion”. University https://universitytimes.ie/2021/02/internet-politics-feeds-tribalism-and-erodes-compassion/ Times. 11 February 2021.


“What’s In A Name? For Irish People, Potentially A Lot”. University Times. 13 April 2020. https://universitytimes.ie/2020/04/whats in-a-name-for-irish-people-potentially-a-lot/ “--