The Nationalist 21 January 1977
Airman Max remembers Newbridge
Likes the people and country
At Christmas there was one very unusual memory of Newbridge in a strange quarter. For German airman, Max Galler, high up in the mountains of his native Austria, the memory of the World War II plane crash that was to bring him as an internee to the Curragh and later to the bars and halls of Newbridge still remains fresh in his mind.
For Max took a trip down memory lane last year and this Christmas put pen to paper to recall his impressions. He, and scores of other internees from several nations, made Newbridge their second home while they were on the Curragh. They spent their days in the town and many life-long relationships sprung up – relationships which transcended the international political stances of then and now.
When Max visited his old haunts last year he was impressed. “And it’s very remarkable too, people got a better life to live,” was one of his comments. To use his own English, Max is a “formerly German flier who was interned on the Curragh Camp 31 years ago.”
“I am now living in the mountains of Austria,” he says, “but it was in the years 1941-45 I saw Newbridge the first time. Indeed, at that time it was a homely town, everybody knew each other.” Commenting on revisiting the town last year, Max said he was “hardly able to recognise it again.” “The town got much bigger and more nicer, for instance the nice flowers in the streets and the many new buildings.”
The people have a better lifestyle, he thought and a better chance to get a job at home. He particularly noticed the industrialisation, housing and improved standards of living. Commenting on his old haunts, Max says “nearly all the old public houses got rebuilt – nicer and more comfortable as well as more fashionable, and everybody can feel happy in them.”
The former Luftwaffe flier remarked on the number of strangers now to be found on the streets and the dramatic increase in the volume of traffic. “Well, anyway, that’s the run of time, and Newbridge did not stay behind, while everything was increasing,” says Max and he pays tribute to the work of the local authority and the townspeople for the good work and hopes that it’s appreciated by all.
“I hope for all of you in Droichead Nua that the progress of your lovely town may continue in the future,” he comments, and remembering the times he says all the people of Newbridge were very good and friendly to him and he would like to express his thanks. His concluding remarks contain a wish to return to Ireland, to see his friends and to “drink the Guiness.”
“I like the people and the country very much – Up to the Irish!!!
Several older, and not so old, residents of Newbridge remember Max – he was an internee who left a special impression on many. The feelings seem mutual. Max Galler was one of 260 Germans who were interned in special quarters in the Curragh Camp from late 1940 until the end of World War II. Also interned were 46 British pilots and aircrew members who crashed or baled out on Irish territory during the war and were interned in accordance with the Irish policy of neutrality which the government adopted.
According to contemporary reports, life was fairly comfortable for internees, many of whom enjoyed easy access to parole for visiting friends and were even allowed attend local dances, etc. Some studied for degrees and subsistence pay was provided by the internees’ diplomatic missions which also passed on any complaints to the Department of External Affairs. Fraternisation between British and Germans outside the camp was not unknown.
British internees made three major escape bids and of the twenty-two involved, eleven got away and back to active service in the war. Only one German, Conrad Neymeyer, got away, but he was recaptured by the British when the Lisbon-bound ship he was aboard called at Cardiff.
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