‘My lovely life after wartime hell’

AS an orphan, Elizabeth O’Gorman’s early life was marred by loneliness and hardship wrought by World War II.

It is perhaps no surprise then that her home in Kilmacud is adorned with family photos that cover every available space in the house she has now lived in for over 50 years.

They range in size and colour, and sum up a life built in Ireland but begun 75 years ago in Germany, when war broke out across the continent.

Born in the German town of Aachen near the Belgian border in 1938, Elizabeth was just four when she was placed in an orphanage with her twin brother August.

Their mother had died and their father, like 2.7 million other German soldiers, would never return from the Eastern Front where he had been sent soon after his daughter’s birth.

“The year 1938 was the last time my family was ever together,

? Elizabeth recalls.

And even though her new home was 20km outside of Aachen and away from the main target of Allied bombers, she still remembers the experience of air raids as

“nerve racking

?.

Being in the orphanage offered some protection, but

“you heard bombs, and sirens would go off. Once you heard the sirens you had to rush into the shelters which sometimes you wouldn’t make and you’d have to go under tables and chairs for protection.

?

Back in Ireland Dr Kathleen Murphy had founded the German Save the Children Society with the aim of bringing children to Ireland so they could recover from the nightmares and destruction of World War II.

This eventually developed in 1946 into a more formal project coordinated with the Irish Red Cross and called Operation Shamrock.

Despite knowing little about the country and even less about what her future might be, at eight-years-of-age Elizabeth and her brother were among 1,000 children who made the journey from Germany, France and Austria.

“We were picked up one day, put into truck and arrived in Dun Laoghaire in 1946 in what we stood up in – we literally came with nothing.

?

While the twins’ three week quarantine stay in what is now the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Centre in Glencree was replete with happy memories for Elizabeth, it was the excitement of meeting her foster family which resonated with her the most.

“Coming out of Glencree, it was evening time on December 12 and we drove on a double decker bus through the city. The sight that I saw there, of Christmas, was absolutely fantastic.

“Coming out of war-torn Germany it was just beautiful – it was like wonderland, Heaven.”

Unfortunately, August and Elizabeth were fostered to different families, with Elizabeth being taken to live in Sandymount while August moved in with another family in Glasnevin.

From there on Elizabeth lost contact with her twin who died tragically in a car accident when he was just 29.

Poignantly, she says:

“I was always looking forward to, and hoping that as we got older, that we would get together again but we didn’t.

?

From a young age she developed a love of sport and later represented Ireland in tennis, which made the transition to her new life more manageable.

And even though she was eventually adopted, at 18-years-of-age, Elizabeth decided to return to Germany to find her remaining family.

However, after building a new life in Ireland her return to her homeland wasn’t quite as she anticipated.

“Going back at 18 did give me a lot of pleasure but I realised when I was there I was very different.

“I met my sisters but there wasn’t an immediate love or anything like that.

?

Now 52 years married to Jack, who she met at the ESB Swimming Club when she was in her early 20s, Elizabeth has five children and many grandchildren, which means visits to Germany are just for holidays only.

“I came as a refugee but what I have today, I would never have got if I stayed on in Germany.

“I am so proud to have come from being just one to having something like 21 in my family now – 21 that I own, that are mine.

?

?¢ This story first appeared on unhcr.ie