Edward O’Rourke is not a name you expect to encounter in the history of Eastern Europe, yet he is a celebrated figure in the Polish city of Gdansk for the role he played in opposing the rise of the Nazis in the city in the 1930s.
In this episode I am joined by the Irish Times journalist Derek Scally to explore the life of Edward O'Rourke which was in a word unique. This episode reveals why a man born near Minsk in the Russian Empire in 1876 was named O’Rourke and how he went to oppose Fascism at a time when many of his contemporaries were supporting Hitler.
This is the image at the start of the show https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Landmesser#/media/File:August-Landmesser-Almanya-1936.jpg
Follow Derek on twitter - @DerekinBerlin
Articles references in the podcast
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/irishman-honoured-in-polish-city-where-he-warned-of-nazi-danger-1.642893 -
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2023/07/04/sean-lester-and-edward-phelan-irish-world-leaders/
Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/irishhistory.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Ladies of Llangollen
Growing up Black & Irish - A personal history of Liverpool
Reprisals, Concentration Camps or ‘Indian measures’ - British paths to victory in 1921? (The War of Independence Part XXII)
Peace, Partition & Christmas 1920 (The War of Independence Part XXI)
The Irish History Summit January 2022 – Cultivating Ireland’s Historians of the Future
The Kilmichael Ambush & the Burning of Cork (The War of Independence XX)
Bloody Sunday (The War of Independence part XIX)
The Fernside Raid & the Execution of Kevin Barry (The War of Independence XVIII)
The IRA Campaign in Britain (The War of Independence Part XVII)
Revolutionary Justice (The War of Independence Part XVI)
The War of Independence (Part XV) - Daily Life during the War
Human Skulls and Pagan Idols - The story of a sacred bog
History off the beaten track - Ireland's top heritage sites (you've never heard of)
Passage East - A Medieval D-Day on Ireland's Omaha beach
The History of the Knights Templar in Ireland
Kylemore Abbey - Life in a Victorian Mansion in Connemara
Sieges, Luxury and Servitude - A Day in a 500 Year Old Castle
The Black Death vs Covid-19: A Social History of the Pandemic
5000 Year Old Tombs, Writers Block & Graveyards of Inspiration
Terence MacSwiney's Hunger-Strike (The War of Independence XIV)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Stand with Eamon Dunphy
Dan Snow’s History Hit
Crime World
Stuff You Should Know
The Daily