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NEWLY RELEASED GOVERNMENT documents have unveiled concerns about whether Ireland could ban a notorious Nazi war criminal from re-entering the country.
Born in 1899, Pieter Menten was a wealthy Dutch businessman and prominent art collector who bought the secluded Comeragh House in Waterford in 1964.
He was well known among the local community, but he held a secret.
Menten built up much of his business empire trading between his native Netherlands and Poland, he was a significant importer of lumber for example. He lived in Eastern Poland from 1923 until 1939 when the Soviet Union invaded.
Two years later, he returned to Poland after the Nazi counter-occupation.
According to his subsequent conviction, it is during this period that he was involved in the killing of dozens of Jews in the Polish village of Podhoroce while he was a translator with an SS unit of the German Army in 1941.
This background was kept hidden and he lived much of his time in Ireland, but it all became public in the 1976 when he was arrested for his crimes in Holland. He claimed a case of mistaken identity, but was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in jail.
A 2011 article about the Comeragh House property in the Irish Timesclaims says that the estate was damaged by arson attacks during his imprisonment, which some believe were orchestrated by Mossad, the Israeli security service. It was also raided by hopeful art thieves who gambled on the truth to the rumours that part of his collection was hidden in the house.
Release
Menten was due for release from his Dutch prison in March 1985 and Irish government officials were worried that he’d try to return to his Waterford hideaway.
According to confidential documents released under the 30-year rule, Padraic MacKernan, then assistant secretary in the Department of the Taoiseach, wrote about the quandary the government faced:
We are aware from the Department of Justice, and the Attorney-General’s Office, that the legal grounds for excluding Menten do not appear to be strong. At the same time, a decision to admit Menten may provoke a certain amount of international controversy.
The entire affair was complicated by a number of factors. There was a belief that Poland or the Soviet Union may attempt to extradite Merten after his release, something that would be a major inconvenience for Ireland were he here.
Given that 1985 was the 40th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, it was also believed his release would have greater publicity than usual.
Furthermore, Merten’s art collection was an issue for the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in its correspondence with the Irish Ambassador to Washington. This is mentioned by MacKiernan in his memo:
That message also referred to unconfirmed reports that Menten’s Waterford estate was filled with art treasures looted from the Jews in Holland.
MacKernan’s memo ends with a recommendation that he should be barred from entering Ireland, while noting that such a block would be vulnerable to a court challenge by Menten.
In the end, the decision was taken by Justice Minister Michael Noonan to ban the war criminal from re-entering Ireland.
After leaving prison, Menten died two years later in a Dutch nursing home at the age of 88.
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Another reminder that the children’s hospital is being built in the wrong location. Every time there is an accident on the M50 roads into Dublin cannot manage the level of traffic.
Inside the M50 belt just does not make sense.
@Ciarán McPhillips: such a scary thought for a child to be in an ambulance and caught up on the M50. Disgraceful decision.
@Deborah Behan: We’re sleepwalking our way towards that exact situation. The mind boggles.
No doubt caused by some muppet hammering up the outside/city lanes and then nipping in to go northbound. We need to start a campaign to not let queue jumpers in.
@mcgoo:
Or perhaps allowing queue jumpers in would stop the accidents
Meanwhile here in Leitrim….
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: who cares about a dying county like Leitrim
@Michael Walsh: We are not dying. We’re generally quite happy that we don’t have to become a slave to make a living. Who cares about the septic tank that is Dublin? See…same question.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: As a Dub myself id agree. Dublin is grinding to a standstill as we repeat the mistakes of the Celtic tiger years and continue to vote for political organisations who have their and not the nation as a whole best interests at heart.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: jealous
@quality cheese: Did you post this on your 6 hour journey to work or from bed this morning? Hard to tell…. but “quality cheese”…… your at home
@Michael Walsh: like it or not your taxes keep Leitrim going.
@quality cheese: A tendency to resort to insults shows quite clearly a lack of intellect.
Tailgating is the problem. Its amazing cars doing 140kph tailgating just 1 metre behind the car in front. Amazing breaking system they must have to avoid a crash if the car in front suddenly breaks. KEEP YOUR DISTANCE. 1m for every 2kph. Eg a car must leave 200 metres distance at 100 kph.
@Brendan Mason: That and the roads were wet this morning, come this way every morning before 7am.
Speed limit drops from 100 kp to 80 kp, most people dont pay any heed to that.
Many go beyond it.
Zero police enforcement and bad driving skills, welcome to Irish driving!
@Brendan Mason: 1m for every 2kph? Therfore using your formula travelling around 100kph should have a gap of 50m not 200m. Anyway if anyone left a gap of 200m on an Irish motorway they’d be flashed at (lights) and abused by other road users.
@Brendan Mason: The accident happened close to the Luas car park junction before the M50. Given the time of morning the accident occurred, and it being a Monday which is probably the busiest morning of the week anyway, it’s virtually an impossibility that cars were traveling at 140kph, or anywhere remotely close to that speed.
@Tommy Roche: the 140 kph is an example. 4okph may be enough to cause a crash if cars are close enough to each other .
@Brendan Mason: 40 kph sorry.
@Brendan Mason: I drive as part of my job and find that if you do leave a gap to the car in front then you’ll always have a gimp who will try to squeeze their car into that gap meaning you have to jam on the breaks
@Brendan Mason: 1mtr behind a car in front driving at 140kmh? Bit of an exaggeration don’t you think. Most drivers wouldn’t be able to judge 60, 80,100mtrs. Little tip – if you are overtaking in the out most lane try keep right of centre of your lane. You will be able to see the break lights of the second car in front.
@Brendan Mason: if you keep the right distance some mope jumps in in front of you that cuts your distance your bolloxed then . This happens very often rant over
For a lot of tech companies e.g. Facebook, Dell, Amazon, people can work from home quite a bit. With some planning you dont need mega-speed broadband either. Can’t help but think some of these businesses could make the leap to commuter towns and beyond. Clonakility has a multinational, the workers have houses, sea-air, little traffic and are 30 mins from Cork for a bit of life, and the airport also. Not ignoring the lack of routes currently available, but if more large towns within 60 mins of Galway, Limerick and Cork were utilised, how much better would life be for people? It will only take one big tech company to lead the way.
Vomit. How do people put up with this shit everyday of their lives.
Life is short people.
@Ciarán McPhillips: I ment 50 metres for 100 kph.
70 metres for 140 kph etc.
@Brendan Mason: but they are not leaving a fraction of that distance. Gung ho. Flash lights. The road is mine attitude. Slap on the breaks etc.
@Brendan Mason:
Spot on. Clueless behaviour.
H
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