"If the Germans Came"

1916 [Carbery, Mary]. “If the Germans Came.” Irish Times (March 25, April 8, 15, October 21, 1916): 4, 6; 5; 5; 7-8. There is an introduction to the series entitled “Kultur in Cork” (March 25, 1916): 4. Each installment has a different subtitle. March 25 is “Kultur in Cork. [A letter from the Baron von Kartoffel, Military Governor of Cork, in the year 1918, to his Wife.] Translated” [Kartoffel means potato]. April 8 is “More “Kultur in Cork. [A further letter from the Baron von Kartoffel, Military Governor of Cork, in the year 1918, to his Wife.]. April 15 is “III. The Baroness Writes to Cork. [A letter from the Baronin von Kartoffel to her husband the Governor of Cork. Written from Berlin, June 1918” and “IV. From Mike Madden of Ballyvourley, late of the Sinn Fein party, and now a private in the German Army. Written from Karlsruhe, June 1918 to his parents at home.” October 21 is “The Baron in Irish Politics. A Tragedy of Ignorance. [A Letter from Baron von Kartoffel, Military Governor of Cork, to his Brother in Berlin.].” Rev. as The Germans in Cork: Being the Letters of His Excellency The Baron von Kartoffel (Military Governor of Cork in the Year 1918) and Others. Dublin, Ireland: The Talbot Press/London: T. Fisher Unwin, [1917]. O

Satirical dystopia. The first letter describes the general lack of welcome that the Governor received, except from Sinn Fein, which had supported the German invasion and now expected to be rewarded. On the principle “once a traitor, always a traitor” all Sinn Fein members and their families are immediately shipped to Germany and given small holdings or enrolled in the German Army. To clear the slums, all the patients in a large mental hospital are gassed and cremated, the slum dwellers moved into the hospital, and the slums torn down. The second letter includes such reforms as requiring all the Irish to rise early. Irish female author.