A long-lost memoir has revealed how an Irish soldier saved a young Adolf Hitler and fought on both sides during World War I.
The story of Dubliner Michael Keogh began when he joined the British Army in 1914 and won the George's Cross for bravery before he was captured by the Germans in 1916.
While in captivity, he was persuaded by pro-German Irish members of the Roger Casement Brigade, a group created to recruit Irish soldiers to fight against the British, to join them.
He joined a Bavarian regiment and met Hitler in September 1918 near Ligny on the French border because they were both in the same regiment.
The memoir of his life disappeared as he lay on his deathbed in Dublin in 1964.
According to his son Kevin (84), who lives in Dublin, a man "dressed as a priest" took them from under his pillow two days before he died.
The files were found in the UCD archives and given back to the family in 2004.
The memoirs report how Keogh saved a young Adolf Hitler’s life in a move that changed the course of history.
After the war Keogh stayed on in Munich in the army to fight against the Communist rulers who had declared a short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic in April 1919.
In his memoirs he describes how, as the officer on duty during the anti-Communist revolution, he received an urgent call about a riot involving 200 men and two "political agents," one of them being Hitler, in a nearby gym.
"I ordered out a sergeant and six men and, with fixed bayonets, led them off on the double."
Keogh recounts that the two political agents, who had been speaking from a table top, had been dragged to the floor and were being beaten.
"The two on the floor were in danger of being kicked to death. I ordered the guard to fire one round over the heads of the rioters. It stopped the commotion."
The soldiers managed to free the two injured politicians.
"The crowd around muttered and growled, boiling for blood," he added.
"The fellow with the mustache gave his name promptly: Adolf Hitler.
"They had come to the barracks as political agents for the new National Socialist German Workers' Party."
Keogh says he has no doubt he had saved the future Fuerher’s life.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.sirpeter | Feb 16, 2011, 10:30 PM EST
So I guess that's just another thing weighing on every Irish mans shoulders..All our fault..See an Irishman was the cause of WW2..He saved a guys life..But sh*t it had to be Hitler. Besides the fact we caused WW2 and saved Hitlers life..IrishCentral...Do you reckon the Jews will be upset by that, if we ask them for any money.
dubhghaill | Aug 21, 2010, 10:26 AM EDT
Michael Keogh never claimed to have been awarded the George's Cross, it was an error made by the first newspaper that went with the story which all of the other newspapers copied. Anything that is in the book has been crosschecked by historians, it's all fact.
Sparklet | Aug 09, 2010, 04:38 PM EDT
Thanks, Murphy66. And I take it back. You're not a disgrace at all. YOu see how easily I can be swayed by a compliment. ;)
thebloodysword | Aug 09, 2010, 12:50 PM EDT
To Clarify, The George Cross is the highest gallantry award for civilians as well as for military personnel in actions which are not in the face of the enemy or for which purely military honours would not normally be granted
thebloodysword | Aug 09, 2010, 11:40 AM EDT
Give me a break! I see echoes of Forrest Gump here. Pray tell, what other long-lost writings of the bould Dublin lad will surface, perhaps that he had tea and schnapps with the kaiser or that he found himself at the Peace Conference at Versailles, appealing to the Big Four ... that small nations might be free. He could not possibly have been awarded the George Medal for, as has been pointed out, this award was not created until 1940, but further, it is a civilian award, not a military one. Enough already.
hollabackgurl | Aug 08, 2010, 09:22 PM EDT
What a shame.
mpkeaveny | Aug 08, 2010, 06:51 PM EDT
Some things should stay lost,such as this mans memories.
murphy66 | Aug 08, 2010, 06:35 PM EDT
Sparklet, you're a good sport. P.S. Hitler sucks. P.P.S. Germans are afraid of one another.
Sparklet | Aug 08, 2010, 05:10 PM EDT
Murphy66, stop making me laugh after I decided you weren't a nice person. :)
AmAncINED | Aug 08, 2010, 04:27 PM EDT
I don't believe the part about being awarded the George's Cross - citizen 69 is correct about that - so that makes the rest of the story suspect for me. I'd like to see more facts to back it up. Not really "buying it."
citizen69 | Aug 08, 2010, 02:22 PM EDT
I'm not quite sure if i believe these claims. For a start, it says that Keogh received the George Cross in 1914 during WW1 but the GC wasn't first awarded until 1940! Named for king George the fifth who didn't become king until 1936.
murphy66 | Aug 08, 2010, 02:21 PM EDT
Murphy's my nom de plume. Goldberg is my real name.
Sparklet | Aug 08, 2010, 01:57 PM EDT
She's right. And you're a disgrace to the name Murphy too.
murphy66 | Aug 08, 2010, 01:45 PM EDT
That's what my wife says, too.
Sparklet | Aug 08, 2010, 01:35 PM EDT
Murphy66, your comment is disgusting. An insult to every concentration camp survivor, and even more so to those who didn't survive - those who died in gas chambers, or suffered experimentation. What a horrible person you must be.
murphy66 | Aug 08, 2010, 11:34 AM EDT
Hitler go bragh.
killowen | Aug 08, 2010, 10:07 AM EDT
Saving a Saxon for Saxon England. Medals to boot.