Gerald Goldberg
 Gerald Goldberg at Ben Truda, Cork | |
| Lord Mayor of Cork: | 1977 |
|---|---|
| Place of Birth: | Cork, Ireland |
| Dates: | 1912-2003 |
Gerald Yael Goldberg (born in Cork, Ireland in 1912; died Cork December 31 2003) was a lawyer and politician who in 1977 became the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Cork. Goldberg was the son of Lithuanian Jewish refugee of the village of Ackmehan, Kovno (Kaunas) who was put ashore in Cork with other Jews and told that "Cork was the gateway to America" [1]
Early life
He was educated at the Model and Presentation Schools in Cork and a Jewish boarding school in Sussex, England before attending University College Cork, serving as President of the University Law Society. He received a Master of Arts degree from the University in 1968 and the University awarded its famous graduate an honorary doctorate in Laws in 1993.
After qualifying as a solicitor in 1934, Goldberg had a career in Criminal Law practice in Cork for 63 years, once representing noted Cork writer Frank O'Connor. He was the first Jewish President of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland[2]
During the Second World War he set up a committee to assist Jews fleeing Nazi persecution to have refuge in Ireland, but encountered resistance from various arms of Government, who were determined to discourage Jewish immigration. See: Jewish immigration to Ireland during "The Emergency".
Political life
He was elected an Alderman to Cork Corporation as an Independent in 1967, and unsuccessfully sought the mayoralty in 1970. He accused Patrick Cooney, then Justice Minister, of condoning torture of those (mostly Irish republicans and other advocates of political violence) held under the Offences Against the State Act, 1939[3] in 1974.
Goldberg was among those who condemned the speech in 1970 by the then-Mayor of Limerick, Steve Coughlan,[4] which made justifying references to the 1904 Limerick Pogrom, which had forced Goldberg's family to flee Limerick for Cork, and had clashed with a previous Limerick Mayor on the same matter in 1951.
Goldberg had previously attended a symposium on the Limerick Pogrom in 1965, which also attracted local opposition.[5] However this faded during the reading of the first sermon of Father Creagh, who along with other members of the clergy, including the then local bishop, had motivated his Roman Catholic parishioners to carry out the 1904 pogrom.
Lord Mayor
Goldberg joined Fianna Fáil in 1970, and the Corporation elected him Lord Mayor in 1977. He toured the United States as Lord Mayor where he was given the freedom of several cities including Philadelphia, New York and Dallas.
As Lord Mayor of Cork he was styled "The Rt. Worshipful, Lord Mayor Gerald Yael Goldberg of Cork". During his term of office he opened the Trinity pedestrian bridge. Named after an adjacent church, local wags nicknamed it "the Passover." [6] The bridge is also close to the local synagogue on South Terrace, where he had been President, and Shalom Park, near the traditionally Jewish area of the City (Monarea Terrace).
Author
Goldberg had a keen interest in history, especially local history of Cork and published a number of books including The Adventurers of Cork; A History of the Jews of Cork and Johnathan Swift and contemporary Cork. He also contributed the article on the Jews of Ireland in the Encyclopedia of Ireland and a chapter on Cork to the History of the Jews in Ireland.
Goldberg also collected rare gramophone recordings and works of art.
Later life
Following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 he received death threats[7] and the Cork synagogue was firebombed, the motivation of which he ascribed to unbalanced reporting in the media. He considered leaving Ireland, but chose to stay.
In 1998 he defended[8] the extent of the Vatican apology for the Holocaust issued by Pope John Paul II, in contrast to the disappointment expressed by many prominent Jews such as Israeli Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau. Goldberg noted Pope Pius XII's stated fear of the consequences of excommunicating Nazis for their persecution of Europe's Jews, saying "These things must be brought to an end, we must put them behind us. Could the man have said more?"
Goldberg's life was featured in an RTÉ documentary, An Irishman, A Corkman and a Jew.
He married his wife Sheila in Belfast in 1937 and they lived their married lives at their house "Ben Truda"[9] on Cork's Rochestown Road. His passion for collecting antiques was highlighted by the auction [10] of his collection in 2004 consisting of pictures, bronzes, antique furniture, silver, porcelain and glass. He had been formerly on the Board of Governors of the National Gallery of Ireland and was purported to have had one of the largest private Jewish libraries in Ireland. As a patron to the arts he was deeply involved with the Cork orchestral society, Irish Theatre ballet and the lunchtime concerts in the Crawford College of Art and Design. He was said to have been delighted at the announcement that Cork had become the European Capital of Culture 2005.
In his latter years he welcomed and tutored students of Irish-Jewish history from University College Cork in his home. He died at the age of 91 at Cork's Marymount Hospice, receiving a Civic Funeral on January 4 2004. His sons John, Theo and David survived him.
References
- ^ from biography on cover of Johnathan Swift and Contemporary Cork, GY Goldberg, Mercier, 1967
- ^ UCC Famous Alumni: Public Service
- ^ Offences Against the State Act, 1939 from the Irish statute book
- ^ "1970s" from the Limerick Leader January 1 2000
- ^ The Jews of Ireland by Robert Tracy, Judaism, Summer 1999
- ^ Cork's Jewish Community--Small in Size, Grand in Spirit by Marlena Thompson, from InterfaithFamily
- ^ Antisemitism and Racism: Republic of Ireland from the Stephen Ross Institute
- ^ Leading Irish Jew defends Vatican by Áilin Quinlan from the Cork Examiner March 16 1998
- ^ "Distinguished address" by Tommy Barker from the Cork Examiner May 22 2004
- ^ 500 lots in sale of Goldberg family collection by Ros Drinkwater from the Sunday Business Post October 03 2004