Seán Lester: research shines a light on Carrickfergus-born diplomat called 'thorn in the side' of Nazi Germany
New research is helping to shine a light on the role of a Carrickfergus-born diplomat who has been called a “thorn in the side” of Nazi Germany.
Seán Lester was born John Ernest Lester in 1888 at Woodburn and grew up in Carrick and Belfast, receiving his education at Methodist College.
He would go on to be one of the Irish Free State’s top diplomats before holding a number of important roles for the League of Nations.
The League was established in the aftermath of World War I to promote international cooperation and to achieve international peace and security.
Andrzej Rodziewicz, editor of the South Coast View website, recently published extensive research on Lester’s pivotal role in the Bernheim Petition to the League, and his personal bravery in the face of Nazi intimidation.
Andrzej established South Coast View in October 2020 as a niche blog and digital resource focused on local history, travel, and current geopolitical issues, particularly centred on the war in Ukraine.
His research on the Petition, available at https://southcoastview.substack.com/p/the-bernheim-petition, recounts how Franz Bernheim, a Jewish shop assistant dismissed under early Nazi anti-Jewish laws, successfully took his grievance against the Third Reich to the League of Nations and won his case.
Central to this outcome was Seán Lester, who resisted Nazi pressure and insisted that international law be enforced.
“Lester didn't just have a distinguished career; he was the man who, in 1933, used a legal loophole to force the Nazi regime to back down on anti-Jewish laws in a region of Germany,” Andrzej said, a second-generation Polish resident of Worthing, West Sussex, .
“Without his direct involvement at the League of Nations, Franz Bernheim's petition may well have failed to gain traction and be upheld. This fact spurred me on to find out more about the man. I learnt that he was a man of principle who stood his ground on defending human rights.”
In 2010, a meeting room at Gdańsk City Hall was officially named in Seán Lester’s honour.
Lester had worked in the region, then known as the Free City of Danzig, from 1934 as the League of Nations High Commissioner.