Suddenly, While Abroad

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In this thoroughly researched and engrossing study, author David Blake Knox explores a lesser known incident in Irish history – a fascinating and tragic story of hardship and struggle that has for too long remained hidden. In February of 1943, during World War II, 32 Irish merchant seamen were captured by the Nazis and sent to a labor camp in northern Germany. They were being punished for refusing to join the German war effort, and they became part of a slave workforce that was used to construct an enormous bunker. The Nazis believed they could build a ‘miracle boat’ in this bunker: a new type of U-boat that they thought could win the war for Germany. To achieve that goal, they were prepared to work thousands of their slaves to death, including five of the Irishmen who died in one of their camps. This is their story. *** “Although focused on the fate of fewer than three dozen men, Suddenly, While Abroad is a valuable contribution to the literature of the Nazi horror, and serves to remind us that all of the millions of others who suffered were just ordinary people as well.” — The NYMAS Review, Issue No. 59, Winter 2015 [Subject: History, Irish Studies, World War II]Ã?Â?Ã?Â?

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