A long-lost portrait of Eva Hempel, wife of the German ambassador to Ireland during World War II, has surfaced in Budapest. Art collectors in Hungary purchased the artwork from a local dealer and delved into its background online, linking it to a similar painting of Hempel’s daughter, Liv, by Irish artist Patrick Hennessy. That earlier piece sold at auction in 2011.

Confirmation and Upcoming Auction

The Hungarian buyers reached out for verification, and Liv Hempel, now 91, confirmed the portrait depicts her mother. The artwork heads to auction at Whyte’s in Dublin on May 25, with estimates ranging from €4,000 to €6,000.

Auctioneer Ian Whyte describes it as “a rare find and of great historic interest as well as being a fine example of Patrick Hennessy’s earliest work.”

Historical Context

Eduard Hempel served as Germany’s envoy in neutral Ireland during the war, known locally as the Emergency. Controversy erupted when Taoiseach Eamon de Valera offered condolences to Hempel upon Adolf Hitler’s death, drawing sharp criticism abroad, including front-page rebukes in the New York Times and Washington Post labeling de Valera a traitor.

De Valera defended his actions in the Dáil, emphasizing Ireland’s neutrality and treating Hempel as a representative of the German state. The Hempels integrated into Dublin society, socializing with figures like W.B. Yeats and his wife, and even sharing photos of de Valera dancing with their governess at Mansion House.

Family’s Perspective

Liv Hempel stresses her father was a career diplomat, not a Nazi Party member. “I saw a headline which described me as the daughter of Hitler’s envoy to Dublin and it was upsetting,” she recalls. “That talk of Hitler and the Nazis, we never thought of it like that. It was just politics – my father was a diplomat and we were his family.”

Historian John Duggan, author of Herr Hempel at the German Legation in Dublin, supports this view: “Dr Hempel was a conventional and cautious career diplomat who, like most of his contemporaries, agreed to represent Hitler’s regime without sharing its ideological fanaticism.”

De Valera echoed this in a 1945 letter to Irish Minister Robert Brennan: “During the whole of the war, Dr Hempel’s conduct was irreproachable. He was always friendly and invariably correct.”

Vivid Memories of the Sitting

Liv Hempel remembers the portrait session vividly: a young artist visited their home at Gortleitragh in Dún Laoghaire on a fine summer day when she was four. Hennessy painted a series, including her parents and brother Berthold. “I remember, and memories are coming back, I never liked that picture very much, and neither did my mother. She looked so stiff in it,” she notes.

The family lost track of the paintings in the 1980s when their home closed. “We never knew what happened to them but I’d heard they went to a German dealer. It’s so interesting that they are reappearing one by one.” A portrait of her father remains missing.

Post-War Life and Irish Ties

Public sentiment in wartime Dublin was divided, Liv recalls: “I think it’s quite exaggerated how pro-German the Irish were. Yes, there were some people who strongly supported Hitler and the war and all that, but I think there was a 50/50 split between pro and anti.” Many Irish served in the British forces, including a neighbor in the RAF.

After the war, Ireland granted the Hempels asylum. “The end of the war changed everything for us,” Liv says. Her father faced work bans, they downsized homes, and her mother ran a bakery called Olga’s. Despite hardships, she cherishes the time: “I remember it as a very happy time.”

The family returned to Germany in 1950, but Dublin connections endured. Siblings Andreas and Constantine stayed longer; Andreas became an ophthalmologist, Constantine a journalist who married actress Anouska Hempel. Liv moved to the U.S. after studies at Loreto in Foxrock, working in Manhattan.

The Governess’s Story

The family’s governess, Elisabeth von Offenberg—a German baroness fleeing Russia—married local Niall Sweeney and lived on Achill Island. They reunited in 2011 after she spotted news of Liv’s portrait. Childhood adventures, like discovering a washed-up pilot, highlight Liv’s fond Irish memories: “Ireland was a lovely place, with warm people who made us feel so welcome.”

She hopes to be buried in Ireland alongside her siblings.