Madam, – My father, the late Cedric Sowby, former warden of St Columba's College, wrote the following about the German minister Dr Eduard Hempel in his memoirs, With Thy Blessing.
"The guest of honour at St Columba's Day 1939 was Wickham Steed, former editor of the Times. Knowing that his greatest interest was international affairs, and that he had not prepared a speech, and that he held strong views about Hitler, I had warned Steed that the German Minister would be among the diplomats present. Steed began with a reference to the anxious times through which we were passing and the uncertainties before us. I saw a few anxious faces among the diplomatic corps, but he turned his attention to Ireland.
“One day, he said, there would be one Ireland; he did not know how it would come about, but the method might matter a great deal. Every Englishman from the King downwards – and he was King of Ireland as well as King of England, Canada or Australia – would most heartily rejoice to see Ireland united in itself and linked with England and other units of the Empire by a common bond. Such a grouping could act as a nucleus of a world community of nations determined to stand against the modern abomination of believing that war was the one worthwhile object. He even went so far as to decry, with raised voice, ‘that scoundrel Hitler’, whereupon one diplomat made as if to stand up and depart, but his wife put out a hand to restrain him.
“The speaker went on to say that he knew of the large number of Irishmen, especially from St Columba’s, who had served with distinction abroad, but he felt that Ireland had the prior claim on Irish boys. But this was certain: whether they crossed the water or stayed at home, it was important that they should be Irish, first, last and all the time.
“As Wickham Steed sat down to thunderous applause, the German Minister, his wife and his three Secretaries rose, clicked heels, bowed slightly to the chair and retired in single file.” – Yours, etc,