Germany:A German town has restored and reconsecrated a Celtic cross erected 90 years ago in memory of 45 Irish soldiers who died there in a prisoner-of-war camp.
The three-metre-high sandstone cross, one of the few of its kind in mainland Europe, was erected in 1917 at the camp between the towns of Dietkirchen and Limburg in western Germany where, a year earlier, Roger Casement tried to get inmates to join his "Irish Brigade".
"The cross, standing for 90 years on this spot, should reconcile but also stand as a reminder of the immeasurable suffering of the two World Wars of the past century," said Mr Bernhard Eufinger, leading official in the town of Dietkirchen, near Frankfurt.
To the melody of Der gute Kamerad (The good comrade) a local priest blessed the cross, watched by townspeople. Visitors from Ireland and Britain praised locals for keeping alive the memory of the soldiers.
"They are getting the proper recognition they deserve and it's about time for them too," said Tadgh Moloney, secretary and a founding member of the Royal Munster Fusiliers' Association, which was founded in 1992.
"Their families had to keep their heads down, afraid to speak of their men's involvement in the British army all those years ago because of the situation in Ireland."
Experts say the soldiers probably died of battle injuries or disease at the camp.
The first name on the cross is that of Frederick Reilly, the first man to die in the camp on December 20th, 1914, aged 40. Dietkirchen authorities have just named a new street overlooking the graveyard in his honour.
The cross is unique because it was erected on May 25th, 1917 - as the first World War raged on - at the initiation of Rev JT Crotty, a Dominican priest from Kilkenny, who was sent by the Vatican to administer to the spiritual needs of the Irish prisoners.
Also unique is that the entire cost of the cross - 7,000 marks or £350 - was covered by the other Irish soldiers in the camp.
Little trace remains today of the 24-hectare camp that once held up to 12,000 prisoners. Most remains were moved to other military graveyards.
The high cross remained but nine decades of weather left it cracked and crumbling.
To fund the restoration, the local community held Irish folk festivals and concerts and raised €10,000. The Royal Munster Fusiliers' Association and other military associations raised another €10,000 while the Government provided €5,000.
During the summer, the cross was restored on site: cracks were filled and concealed with a powder made of sandstone matching the colour of the original cross.
The names of the 45 Irish soldiers are engraved at the base of the cross: the names no longer legible have been entered on a new bronze plaque.
"That these nationalists were later classified as traitors is very wrong," said Mr Molony, whose grandfather was held nearby and brought to the Limburg camp to hear Roger Casement speak. "These men were fighting for the freedom of all nations."