Forgotten tales about women in war are being retold

Mary Elmes, referred to as the ’Irish Oskar Schindler’, was posthumously honoured by Israel and France for rescuing Jews in WWII but her name is not known here. That may be about to change, writes Clodagh Finn.

DOES the name Mary Elmes mean anything to you? To my shame, I only recently came across the Cork woman who has earned the name “the Irish Oskar Schindler” for her work in France saving Jewish children from the Nazi gas chambers during World War ll.

In 2013, she became the first Irish person to be honoured as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ by Israel’s official memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem. A year later in France, her son and daughter — who still live there — were presented with a posthumous medal in memory of their mother’s life-saving work.