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Sean Lester - Irish diplomat who opposed the Nazis

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  • 11-10-2013 10:57pm
    #1
    Mr.Nice Guy
    Registered Users Posts: 45,535 ✭✭✭✭


    Has anyone heard about this individual? I read a very interesting article about him on the BBC.

    He was born in Carickfergus in 1888 and was the League of Nation's last Secretary General. He seems to have had a very interesting life. He was born into a unionist background but became an Irish nationalist and went on to work for the Irish government. It seems he was a thorn in the side of the Nazis:
    He was high commissioner in the Baltic port of Danzig and incurred the wrath of German dictator Adolf Hitler as the Nazis tried to seize power across Europe.

    During his time in Danzig, Mr Lester opposed Nazi attempts to limit freedom of speech and he criticised moves by Hitler to silence his political opponents.

    The diplomat incurred the wrath of Hitler, who called for Mr Lester to be removed by the League of Nations.

    Mr Lester's granddaughter Lucy Kilroy said the Nazis loathed her grandfather. She told the BBC ,"they absolutely hated him" and said he "was the most despised man in Germany".

    Sean Lester finally left Danzig and spent the war years in Geneva where he was the last secretary-general of the League of Nations before the United Nations was created in 1945.

    He retired to Ireland where he spent his final years with his family and he enjoyed many hours fishing, which was his favourite past-time.

    He was once talked about as a future president of Ireland but rejected any idea of running for office. He recorded in his diary at the time that "a non-political president is rather unlikely ".

    Earlier this year, historian Dr Eamon Phoenix helped the Ulster History Circle unveil a plaque on Belfast's Ormeau Road, where Sean Lester lived as a schoolboy.

    Dr Phoenix thinks Sean Lester should be regarded as a major figure.

    He told the BBC: "He is the most famous Ulsterman probably to grace the international stage, even though most people in Carrickfergus, where he was born, or Belfast, where he was reared, would hardly know him.".

    Mr Lester died in 1959 three months shy of his 71st birthday.

    A League of his Own is broadcast on Sunday 13 October on BBC Radio Ulster at 13.30 and is repeated on Thursday 17 October at 19.30.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24487511

    I can't say I have heard of this man before. Anyone got any further information?

    'It is better to walk alone in the right direction than follow the herd walking in the wrong direction.'



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    #2
    Historybluff
    Registered Users Posts: 106 ✭✭Historybluff


    Yeah, Lestor sounds like an interesting guy. To find out more about him you could read Paul McNamara's book Sean Lestor, Poland and the Nazi Takeover of Danzig (Irish Academic Press, 2008).


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    #3
    jonniebgood1
    Registered Users Posts: 3,577 ✭✭✭jonniebgood1


    A small bit more detail here:
    He played a central role in Ireland’s election to the League’s council in 1930, and subsequently chaired committees working to resolve conflicts in Latin America and Manchuria.

    Lester was then seconded to the service of the League of Nations, and in 1934 became High Commissioner in the League-controlled free city of Danzig (Gdansk). He attempted a compromise between the German and Polish populations, and endeavoured to protect the city against Nazism. When he protested against the oppression of non-Germans by the Nazicontrolled city assembly, Lester became the subject of a harsh intimidation campaign. He resigned in 1937 and returned to Geneva. His courageous stance in Danzig is remembered in Poland still.

    Lester was made deputy Secretary-General of a League diminished in power by political upheaval. Following the start of war in 1939, the French Secretary-General Joseph Avenol wanted to capitulate with the axis forces that he saw as the eventual victors. Lester and he clashed, and Avenol resigned. This resulted in Seán Lester becoming acting Secretary-General in September 1940. It was a thankless task, with only a skeleton staff, and Lester considered that keeping the League going until the post-war period was the hardest time of his life. He was under considerable strain at work and was separated from his family in Ireland. In April 1946 he presided over the final assembly of the League, working on its administrative liquidation until August 1947, when he left Geneva. He was retrospectively made Secretary-General of the League from 1940-1947.
    http://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/viewPerson/851


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