HISTORIC MONKSTOWN:The house rented by the German envoy in Ireland during the War is seen in newly-discovered photographs
THESE PREVIOUSLY unseen photographs show the elegant Dublin residence of Nazi Germany’s envoy to Ireland. Gortleitragh, an elegant detached house with sea views set in spacious grounds, was rented by Dr Eduard Hempel who served as “envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the German Reich” to Ireland from 1937-1945.
The house was located on Sloperton, close to de Vesci Terrace, in the Monkstown area of Dún Laoghaire.
In May 1945, the then Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, famously called to the house to offer his condolences, on behalf of the State, to Dr Hempel on the death of Hitler.
After the Hempel family left Ireland and returned to Germany the house was damaged by fire, reputedly by arson, and was demolished in 1955.
A modern apartment building, Pakenham House, was subsequently built on the site. Gortleitragh was originally built in the 19th century for the Stewart family who were land agents in Ireland for Lords Longford and de Vesci. It is believed that the Shard family subsequently lived in the house around 1900.
Dr Hempel lived there with his wife, Eva, and five children – three of whom had been born in Germany and two who were born during the family’s time in Dublin.
Another resident was Baroness Elisabeth von Offenberg, the daughter of a German aristocratic family who came to live with the Hempel family in Dublin. She remained in Ireland, moved to Achill Island and married a local man, Niall Sweeney.
Now aged 96, Elisabeth Sweeney told her story for the first time last week and revealed the photographs which offer a unique insight into the lifestyle of Dublin’s small diplomatic community during The Emergency – as the second World War was officially known in Ireland.
Dr and Frau Hempel arrived in Dublin in 1937 following his appointment to head the German Legation. They had left the children behind in Germany having decided not to bring them to Ireland until suitable accommodation had been secured. The couple rented temporary accommodation in Leeson Street and began to search for a family home. They eventually settled on Gortleitragh in Dún Laoghaire.
Later that year, Baroness von Offenberg brought the three children – sons Andreas and Constantin (Costa) and daughter Liv – to Ireland aboard a transatlantic liner from which they disembarked in Galway Bay.
The 23-year-old baroness, who spoke little English, was delegated by Frau Hempel to oversee the renovation works being carried out on Gortleitragh. Speaking from her home in Achill, Sweeney explained that before the Hempels’ arrival in Ireland there had been no family residence for the German legation as the other diplomats serving in Dublin were “all bachelors who lived over the office” – the Legation building on Northumberland Road in Ballsbridge.
She recalled having “great fun and I learned how to speak English the Irish way by chatting to the workmen”. More than 74 years later, she still remembers hearing the phrase “cup of tay” for the first time.
At the end of the war, Dr Hempel resigned his diplomatic post. The family was granted political asylum by the Irish government and continued to live in Gortleitragh, where Frau Hempel ran a baking business called “Olga Cakes” from the basement.
They later moved to Vico Road in Dalkey. The Hempels returned to Germany in 1950 where Dr Hempel helped to establish a new diplomatic service for the former West Germany. He and his wife returned on a visit to Dublin in 1954 to collect furniture they had left in storage.
They later retired to a small estate in the Black Forest near Freiburg where they lived out their remaining years. The photographs were taken during the early 1940s.
The rest of the Hempel children include Agnes, now living in Germany; Andreas, now living in England; and Liv, now 75 and living in New York.
