By James Sharkey It was 5 April 1974, my 29th birthday. I had just arrived in Moscow with instructions from the Department of Foreign Affairs to open Ireland’s first ever embassy to the USSR. On the journey into the city, like most visitors, I was deeply moved by the impressive anti-tank memorial that marked the … Read more
By Lance Pettitt The part that Irishmen have played in British military conflicts down the years is an established theme in contemporary historical writing. Belfast-born Brian Desmond Hurst (1895–1986) is notable for his dual contribution in this narrative as both a war veteran and a cinematic visionary (see Museum Eye, HI 31.5, Sept./Oct. 2023, pp … Read more
By Pat Poland In the early hours of the morning of 1 September 1939, the German pocket-battleship Schleswig-Holstein quietly entered the mouth of the River Vistula near the city of Danzig (present-day Gdansk in Poland), ostensibly on a friendly visit. The unsuspecting Polish garrison on the island of Westerplatte allowed the battleship to sail deep … Read more
By Emma Quinn A March 1931 article in the Irish Examiner announced that a ‘solemn decree protesting against “so-called sexual education of youth” had been issued’ by the Vatican. The same year, the Carrigan Committee submitted its final report on sexual behaviour in the Irish Free State; this provided a plan for legislative reform to … Read more
By Arthur Matthews Kevin O’Higgins, the Free State minister for justice and vice-president of the Executive, died a violent death on 10 July 1927. On his way to Mass on a sunny Sunday morning, he set off on the short walk along Cross Avenue, Booterstown. Unluckily for O’Higgins, three IRA gunmen, Timothy Coughlan, Archie Doyle … Read more