{"id":1730,"date":"2022-04-28T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drtomstours.com\/?p=1730"},"modified":"2022-12-15T15:34:12","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T15:34:12","slug":"28-april-1941-monday-belfast-1941-blitz-diary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drtomstours.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/28\/28-april-1941-monday-belfast-1941-blitz-diary\/","title":{"rendered":"28 April 1941 (Monday) \u2013 Belfast 1941 Blitz Diary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One feature of the Blitz of 1940-41 reported in popular memory was the idea of \u2018Blitz Spirit\u2019. The people of Britain reacted to the German bombing of their cities by demonstrating a spirit that united communities in an altruistic effort against an external enemy. People worked together to suffer hardships for the sake of victory and put pre-war social and class differences aside in stoical endurance to fight on in the face of Nazi aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several historians have shown that the so called Blitz Spirit was a myth and was not wide spread (see Calder below).[1]<\/a> Other scholars have suggested that while the Blitz Spirit has been mythologised there was some evidence that people were drawn together in mutual adversity.[2]<\/a> There is evidence to suggest that people in Belfast were drawn together as a consequence of the Blitz, giving each other mutual support and assistance in the aftermath of the raids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This is in many ways surprising as Belfast was riven by social, political, cultural and economic divides. It was a city of rich and poor with one third of the city living in poverty.[3]<\/a> The city was also divided by a Protestant majority and a small Catholic minority of around 25%. The city had witnessed inter-community rioting, murder and destruction in the early 1920s and in 1935.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many examples of communities coming together despite the age old sectarian and economic divides. The Catholic Clonard Monastery opened its crypt as a shelter and was used by \u2018all, Protestants included\u2019.[5]<\/a> The Irish Times on 17 April believed that \u2018the people of Ireland were united under the shadow of a national blow. Has it taken bursting bombs to remind the people of this little country that they have common tradition, a common genius and a common home?\u2019 Many people gave bedding, cloths and cash to various calls for charity (see letter below).[6]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> Angus Calder, The Myth of the Blitz (London: Jonathan Cape, 1991).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> BBC One – Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/m000sm7s<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a> Brian Barton, Belfast in the War Years, Belfast in the War Years<\/em> (Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1989), p.15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a> Brian Barton, Belfast in the War Years, Belfast in the War Years<\/em> (Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1989), p.21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/a> Cited in Stephen Douds, The Belfast Blitz, The People\u2019s Story<\/em> (Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2011), p.128.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/a> Northern Whig, 23 April 1941, p.2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One feature of the Blitz of 1940-41 reported in popular memory was the idea of \u2018Blitz Spirit\u2019. The people of Britain reacted to the German bombing of their cities by demonstrating a spirit that united communities in an altruistic effort against an external enemy. People worked together to suffer hardships for the sake of victory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-34"],"blocksy_meta":[],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drtomstours.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drtomstours.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drtomstours.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drtomstours.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drtomstours.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drtomstours.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1730\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drtomstours.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drtomstours.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drtomstours.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}