Image: Serenity by Mary Moynihan

Irish in Resistance During WWII: Smashing Times Multidisciplinary Exhibition

During the current climate of war in Ukraine and Gaza, Smashing Times looks to the history of WWII to share stories of ordinary people who did extraordinary things to stand up against oppression and fascism. 

Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality are delighted to announce the forthcoming exhibition Irish in Resistance during WWII, a flagship multi-disciplinary exhibition to be presented for the 2024 annual Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival. The exhibition will be presented onsite at The Ireland Institute, from 11 to 31 October, 2024 and will be available to view online in digital format as part of the Smashing Times Virtual Arts Gallery.

The exhibition features visual art, photography, film, poetry and storytelling, and reflects on stories of Irish people in resistance during the Holocaust and WWII who stood up against Fascism and totalitarianism and spoke out for the rights of others. As part of the exhibition a series of ambitious new artworks are commissioned and created in response to the theme of ‘Irish in resistance during WWII’, reflecting on stories of Irish people who promoted democracy and peace and stood up against authoritarianism to protect the rights of others. The commissioned artists are Hina Khan, visual artist, Amna Walayat, visual artist and Féilim James, writer, working alongside Smashing Times Artistic Director Mary Moynihan, a writer, poet and creator of art and photography. 

Mary has researched and compiled the stories of fourteen Irish people involved in the resistance during WWII with the stories acting as a catalyst for the collaborative creation of the new artworks. The exhibition is curated by Mary Moynihan, funded by The Arts Council Commissions Award and presented as part of the Smashing Times Artist Development Programme. The producer is Freda Manweiler and the digital artist is Paul Marshall.

The exhibition focuses on a diversity of citizen resistance stories exploring voices of resistance from ordinary Irish people who stood up against fascism, totalitarianism and a hatred of the other. The exhibition highlights how Irish people risked and in some cases sacrificed their lives for complete strangers, demonstrating a belief in humanity and a determination to fight for a future where all people would be treated equally and where democracy, equality and peace prevail. 

Members of the public, schools, youth and community groups are invited to attend the launch, explore the exhibition, engage with the artworks and meet with the artists through talks and workshops bringing people together to raise awareness of the power of solidarity and kindness and values of equality, human rights, diversity, democracy, peace and gender equality today.

Irish in Resistance

Many courageous and interesting people, either from Ireland or with links to Ireland, were active during World War Two. In October 2014, a plaque was unveiled in the courtyard of the Irish College in Paris to recognise the role that Irish women and Irish men played in serving the cause of the liberation of France during WWII. Fifty Irish women and men were named and remembered for their work with the French resistance as part of the ceremony. To date these Irish men and women remain uncommemorated in Ireland. They are Ireland’s ‘uncelebrated resistance heroes’. Their names, stories, courage and bravery deserve to be remembered. 

One of the stories to feature in the exhibition is that of Margaret Kelly (1910-2004), a dancer from Ireland who was the founder and impresario of the world-famous Bluebell Girls Dancing Troupe. During WWII Margaret regularly risked her own life to save her husband and business partner Marcel Leibovici whom she married in 1939 and whom she hid from the Nazis as he was Jewish. 

Another woman hiding people from the Nazis was Margaret Kearney Taylor (1890-1982) who was born in the UK to an Irish family. She lived in Paris and then Madrid where she was involved in escape line resistance work, sheltering people in Madrid who had fled Nazi-occupied France during WWII, including Jewish people. In 2022, Smashing Times commissioned a new play River of Thorns by Féilim James that tells the story of Margaret Kearney Taylor, an Irishwoman who escaped extreme poverty to mix with the elite of Spanish society, running the prestigious Embassy tea room in Madrid. Yet when the Second World War strikes, and word spreads of Nazi death camps, Margaret is compelled to act, to risk it all for the sake of humanity despite living in a fascist state. Charting her journey from an austere English workhouse to the glamour of Spanish high life, to secret wartime saviour, this dramatic one-woman monologue is both riveting and moving, exploring what it means to be human in a time of massive injustice. 

Freedom Trails of Europe

‘Escape lines’ were secret World War II networks set up to assist Allied soldiers and citizens leave Nazi occupied territory during WWII. Today the Escape Lines are remembered as ‘Freedom Trails’ where citizens from across Europe and beyond come together to walk parts of the routes of the original lines. The aim is to remember and honor those who risked and in many cases lost their lives to help others be free.

One of the escape lines was The Comet Escape line set up in Brussels in August 1941 thanks to the efforts of a courageous 24 year-old Belgium woman Andrée (Dédée) de Jongh (1916 – 2007) nicknamed Dédée de Jongh. The Comet Escape Line is estimated to have repatriated some 800 Allied servicemen who themselves were aided by over 3,000 civilians, 700 of whom were arrested and some 290 shot dead or died during deportation. Dédée took enormous risks actively setting up and running the network with people from different nationalities including people from Ireland.

Another woman whose story will feature in the People in Resistance exhibition is Mary Elmes (1908-2002). Mary was a Cork woman who was the first Irish person honoured as ‘Righteous Among Nations’ for her work saving Jewish children during World War II. Mary worked with Spanish refugees in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and then in France during WWII supporting both Spanish refugees and Jewish people incarcerated in concentration camps as well as working with local communities to provide food and other services. 

Because of her activities assisting those incarcerated in the camps and rescuing Jewish children, Mary was arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo in Toulouse. She was released after six months without charge. Bernard Wilson has spent many years researching the life of Elmes and in an article on her life he wrote that ‘’After almost six months incarceration she was released without having been charged with any offence . . . and it is recorded that when asked much later about her experiences she just replied “Oh we all had to suffer some inconveniences in those days!”[1] She looked for no credit for the extraordinary work she had done. 

In September 2019 a new bridge in Cork was opened and named after her. 

It is important that all those involved in the resistance and in escape lines are forever remembered for their brave and selfless actions during WW2, knowing that, if caught, they would be tortured, sent to concentration camps or executed. These men and women showed tremendous bravery in their actions to stand up for freedom and to reach out and support the dignity and rights of all human beings on an equal basis and their stories will continue to inspire generations into the future as we all work together to promote democracy, peace and equality for all.

Smashing Times are delighted to work with and bring together the artists Hina Khan, Amna Walayat, Féilim James and Mary Moynihan to present the Irish in Resistance visual art, poetry and film exhibition for the annual Dublin International Arts and Human Rights festival taking place in October 2024. The festival is implemented by Smashing Times and Front Line Defenders with Amnesty International, Fighting Words, ICCL, NWCI, and Trócaire, and funded by The Arts Council. The festival highlights the extraordinary work of human rights defenders in Ireland and around the world, past and present, and the role of the arts and artists in promoting human rights today.

Irish in Resistance during WWII – Multi-Disciplinary Exhibition

Artists: Hina Khan, Visual Artist; Amna Walayat, Visual Artist; Féilim James, Writer; Mary Moynihan 

11 – 31 October 2024, Monday to Sunday 10am – 6pm

The Ireland Institute, 27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2,

Opening Reception and Curator Talk: Friday 11 October, 2024, 7pm 

Information: 01 8656613 or www.smashingtimes.ie