Mary Elmes

Spanish Civil War In February 1937, Elmes gave up her aspiring career in academia to volunteer and help refugees escaping the Spanish Civil War and after the completion of her studies, she joined the University of London Ambulance Unit and was sent to a children's hospital in Almeria, Spain, where she was assigned to a feeding station.

Saving Jewish children

The Nazis invaded France in 1940 and subsequently, Jews were targeted by the Gestapo and the Vichy regime's police. During this time, many Jews fled to the south of France. Elmes joined them and volunteered with the American Friends Service Committee, which cared for refugee children. In 1942, the Vichy authorities made it clear that Jewish children were not legally allowed to be exempt from being sent to the concentration camps, as they had been. Elmes, with help from some colleagues, rescued dozens of children, taking them to safe houses or helping them flee the country altogether. Jews in southwest France were rounded up to be deported from Rivesaltes camp, where Elmes spent most of her time. Well aware that she was putting herself at risk, Elmes hid many children in the boot of her car and drove them to safe destinations, such as safe houses she had organised earlier in the war which were located in the foothills of the Pyrenees and along the coast.

In January She died in a nursing home there at the age of 93. On 25 February 2019, it was announced by Cork City Council that a new pedestrian bridge linking Patrick's Quay to Merchant's Quay would be named after Mary Elmes. It was opened to the public on 9 July 2019.

The Mary Elmes Prize in Holocaust Studies is distributed by the Holocaust Educational Trust Ireland.