The 20 persons pictured were part of that group of 160 prisoners from 18 countries gathered outside the hotel. The child in the arms of the pipe-smoking figure is her daughter, Maria Dolores, who was then known as Sissi. The smiling man in the military type garb beside Niemöller is Major John McGrath, a Roscommon native who at the outbreak of the war left his job as manager of the Theatre Royal in Dublin to join in the war effort. From the millions of prisoners of war held in German camps, a few hundred were awarded special status. By early June 1945 the Roscommon man was back in Dublin where he resumed his managerial role in the Theatre Royal.

Source: The Irish Times March 28, 2019 05:37 UTC