26 November - History paper: 'Poles in University College Cork after World War Two

School of History, UCC

Dr Bozena Cierlik, School of History, University College Cork

Thursday 26 November 2020, 16.00 (4 PM)

The event will take place through MS TEAMS. Please, contact Dr Jérôme aan de Wiel, School of History, UCC, to obtain a Teams link. j.aandewiel@ucc.ie 

In the first years after WWII, thousands of Poles, who were refugees in Britain, were transferring from army to civilian life. There were pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain, Polish Army soldiers and other political refugees and their families. In 1945, UCC President Professor Alfred O’Rahilly offered places in the university to a group of Polish students and he discussed similar arrangements to be finalised in University College Galway and University College Dublin. A first group of students travelled from Britain to Ireland in the academic year 1946/47 and other groups followed for several years. It is an extraordinary and forgotten story of help and acceptance of foreign nationals in post-war Ireland driven by the efforts of Professor O’Rahilly.

College of Arts, Celtic Studies & Social Sciences

Coláiste na nEalaíon, an Léinn Cheiltigh agus na nEolaíochtaí Sóisialta

College Office, Room G31 ,Ground Floor, Block B, O'Rahilly Building, UCC

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