The second in a series of documentaries by Lorelei Harris investigating immigration to Ireland in the early 1990's.

Sabine Schultz was Jewish citizen who fled Berlin in Germany at the start of the War.  She lost both her brother and sister to concentration camps.  Her escape was via Warsaw in Poland to Ireland as an illegal immigrant.  She was reported as an illegal resident in 1942 and went to court.  The judge took pity on Sabine. She only had to pay a minimum penalty of £5 and he dismissed the case.  She eventually settled in a Dublin home.

Yann Goulet was a member of the nationalist movement in Brittany.  In the early 1940’s he did not want to be forced to join the German efforts, but when the resistance in France began shooting suspected collaborators, he wanted to protect them.  He joined the German SS as corporal. After the War, his wished to leave the past behind and he arrived to Castletownbere, Co Cork.  He later moved to Galway and began work as a photographer.

Gunther Kohler pursed his education as an engineer by joining the German Army as a U-Boat sailor in 1941.  He was captured by the Americans and sent to Russia and then Yugoslavia until his release in 1948. Gunther's Wife Erika had not seen him in years since their marriage and birth of their son.  His unhappiness with the occupation of Germany by Allied forces, they decided to leave for Ireland after the birth of their second child.  He left his wife and family and sailed towards South America, but after a storm ended up in Ballycotton in Co. Cork.  Erika joined him later to make a new life in Ireland.

Produced by Lorelei Harris

First Broadcast 1991.

An Irish radio documentary from RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland - Documentary on One - the home of Irish radio documentaries.