“Noel’s book is the first comprehensive account of how the Northern Ireland government responded to these appeals for help.”
— THE IRISH NEWS

“Based on extensive archival research, unpublished family memoirs and letters, and interviews with Holocaust survivors and their descendants, this extraordinary book describes the applicants’ desperate efforts to save their families and themselves, and highlights the tireless work done by committed Northern Irish people to rescue them.”
— DERRY JOURNAL

“This is is a truly impressive piece of work which details so many heartbreaking stories.”
— MARTHA KEARNEY

On the eve of World War II, several hundred persecuted Jews, mainly from Nazi-occupied Vienna, tried to escape to Northern Ireland. They had learned of a Stormont scheme to tackle the region’s chronic unemployment by offering financial support to people who could create jobs.

Almost all applicants were rejected, and more than 125 of these men, women and children were murdered in the Holocaust.

Based on extensive archival research, unpublished family memoirs and letters, and interviews with Holocaust survivors and their descendants, this comprehensive account describes the frightening experiences of applicants, and the efforts of émigrés to save their trapped relatives, as well as the tireless work of some Irish people to rescue Jews. It also explores how the small numbers of refugees admitted to Northern Ireland made a major contribution to its economic, social, and cultural life.

Noel Russell is a journalist and TV producer, a former News Editor of the Irish News and Editor, Speech Radio, BBC Northern Ireland. He is an MA graduate of Queen's University, Belfast, and the University of Michigan, and has written and produced several historical documentaries for BBC Northern Ireland, RTÉ and TG4.