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Glencree is a valley in the Wicklow Mountains in eastern Republic of Ireland. It is the second closest valley in the mountains to Dublin city, the first being Glencullen. The river Dargle flows down the valley, which rises toa eight of abut 400 metres. The foot of the valley is site of the village of Enniskerry.

Contents 1 The Barracks 2 German War Cemetery 3 Grotto 4 Youth Hostel 5 Trivia 6 References 7 Websites

The top of the glen emerges onto the military road, constructed by the British Army in the early 1800s in order to hunt down the United Irishmen guerrillas, holding out in the mountains after the Irish Rebellion of 1798. A barracks was built at Glencree, just off the road in 1806. With then end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the building was vacated by the British Army.

In 1858 the buildings were converted into a reformatory school. St. Kevin’s Reformatory was operated by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI). it closed in 1940^[1]

It was used to house German prisoners of war during the First World War 1914-18, when Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom. During the Second World War, 1939-1945, when the Irish Free State was neutral, Glencree housed German Air Force pilots who crashed in Ireland as well as German agents who were captured trying to plan anti-British activities with the IRA.

Under Operation Shamrock the Irish Red Cross and the French Sisters of Charity cared for German and Polish war orphans from 1945 to 1950.

The Glencree Centre for Reconciliation opened in 1975 to foster better relations between the two communities in Northern Ireland.

Glencree Deutsche Kriegsgraberstatte was dedicated on July 9, 1961. The are 134 graves. Most are Luftwaffe (Air force) or Kriegmarine (naval personnel). 53 are identified, 28 are unknown. Six deaths date from World War I, they were prisoners of war held by the British. Forty six German civilian detainees were being shipped from England to Canada for internment when their ship, Arandora Star was torpedoed by a German U-Boat off Tory island in July 1940. Dr Hermann Goertz, a German spy is also here. He committed suicide as he feared he would be handed over to the allies at the end of the war.

It was for me to die

Under an Irish sky

There finding berth

In good Irish earth

What I dreamed and

planned bound me

to my Fatherland

But War sent me

To sleep in Glencree +

Passion and pain

Were my loss my gain:

Pray as you pass

To make good My loss

In the valley, were the Glencree River (little more than a stream) flows, there is a grotto in the style of Lourdes

There is a youth hostel. The mountains around Glencree are popular for walking.^[2] This hostel, operated by Óige since 1950, was sold May 2, 2006. Hostel accommodation is now available in the Centre for Reconciliation

Casino Royale (1964) was filmed here

1. ^ http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0077/D.0077.193911150002.html
2. ^ [1]Irish Mountain Running Association

• [2]Glencree German Cemetery

• [3]Glencree Centre for Reconciliation

• RTE Radio 1 programme on Glencree Valley http://www.rte.ie/radio1/shanksmare/rams/2006/23june.smil