North Strand Bombings Seminar

The bombing of Dublin’s North Strand by Nazi aircraft on 31st May 1941 was an assault on Ireland’s neutrality.  The casualties were many: 28 dead and 90 injured, with 300 houses damaged or destroyed.  On Saturday 29th May Volume 2 of the North Strand Bombings Oral History Project will be launched with a full day seminar to commemorate the tragedy. The seminar will include talks about various aspects of the bombing including censorship, compensation, and the role of the emergency services.

Saturday, 29 May, 2010

Location: Dublin City Library and Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2.

Download the poster from Flickr

Programme
9.30 Registration
9.50 Welcome and Introduction
10.00 The other bombings — German bombings of Ireland, August 1940 to July 1941 – Eoin Bairéad
10.40 Tea and Coffee
11.00 Transformation of the Army during the Emergency Period— Col. Donal O’Carroll
11.40 The Irish Red Cross and World War II – Joe Miller, Red Cross Historian
12.20 The effect of war-time censorship on historical sources regarding the North Strand Bombing in 1941 – Kevin O’Connor
1.00 LUNCH (not provided)
2.00 ‘Hostile aircraft approaching Irish coast’ — The Air defence of Dublin and the North Strand Bombing – Dr. Michael Kennedy, Royal Irish Academy
2.40 General Discussion and Questions to Speakers.
3.00 — Launch of the North Strand Bombing Oral History Project Part 2 by Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr. Emer Costello
Wine reception.

Initiated in 2009, the North Strand Bombing Oral History Project aims to collect eyewitness accounts of that fateful night and its aftermath.

North Strand Bombing Exhibition
In June 1941, the then Dublin Corporation commissioned a series of photographs to record the devastation to property caused by the bombing.  These photographs form the basis of an exhibition commemorating the atrocity – and the people who lost their lives as a result.

Dublin City Library & Archive  On display from 11-31 May 2010 during library opening hours.

For more information
Further information: cityarchives@dublincity.ie  Phone: (01) 674 4873