Editing Castlebar (section)

====Western Hat Factory and Little Jerusalem====
In 1939, Castlebar became a refuge for [[Emigration of Jews from Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe|Jews escaping Central Europe]].<ref name="CT 1 May 2023">{{cite news |last=Gillespie |first=Tom |date=1 May 2023 |title=Castlebar’s hat factory 80 years on |url=https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2021/05/01/castlebars-hat-factory-80-years-on/ |work=[[Connaught Telegraph]] |location= |publisher= |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref><ref name="Forward 2017">{{cite news |last=Cawley Weintraub |first=Elaine |date=23 February 2017 |title=The Secret Jewish History of Penicillin |url=https://forward.com/community/364076/the-secret-jewish-history-of-penicillin/ |work=[[Forward.com]] |location= |publisher= |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref><ref name="Kenny 2023">{{cite news |last=Kenny |first=Tom |date=20 July 2023 |title=The Hat Factory |url=https://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/136626/the-hat-factory |work=[[Galway Advertiser]] |location= |publisher= |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref><ref name="Katz 2019">{{cite news |last=Katz |first=Deborah |date=25 July 2019 |title=Little-Known Holocaust History: Marcus Witztum: ‘The Irish Schindler’ |url=https://www.jewishpress.com/sections/features/little-known-holocaust-history-marcus-witztum-the-irish-schindler/2019/07/25/ |work=[[Jewish Press]] |location= |publisher= |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref> Members of that community established the Western Hat Factory, officially opened on 1 May 1940<ref name="CT 17 May 2020"/> under the direction of Franz Schmolka, a Slovakian Jewish industrialist. The factory became one of the most significant employers in the town, at its height providing work for up to 270 people. It operated entirely on turf-generated steam and was considered a pioneering model of sustainable, locally-powered industry for its time.<ref name="CT 1 May 2023"/> The [[Bishop of Galway]] [[Michael Browne (bishop of Galway)|Michael Browne]] blessed the factory and encouraged local Catholic women to purchase hats from the factory to wear to mass instead of headscarves.<ref name="Forward 2017"/>

The factory was part of a broader effort by the Irish government, led by then-Minister for Industry and Commerce [[Seán Lemass]], to attract Jewish refugees with industrial expertise to revitalise Ireland's underdeveloped western counties. Schmolka and Irish Jewish businessman Marcus Witztum, along with other Jewish entrepreneurs from Austria, France, and Czechoslovakia, were granted permission to relocate both personnel and equipment to Ireland.<ref name="CT 17 May 2020">{{cite news |last= |first= |date=17 May 2020 |title=John Eddie McEllin was driving force behind Western Hats factory  |url=https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2020/05/17/john-eddie-mcellin-was-driving-force-behind-western-hats-factory/ |work=[[Connaught Telegraph]] |location= |publisher= |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref> Witztum used the oppertunity to helps Jews escape Nazi persecultion.<ref name="Katz 2019"/> Around thirty Jewish families came to Castlebar during this period, many of whom settled in the Blackfort area on the Newport Road. This neighbourhood became informally known as “Little Jerusalem”.<ref name="CT 1 May 2023"/><ref name="Forward 2017"/><ref name="CT 17 May 2020"/>

Following the end of [[World War II]], the Jewish population in Castlebar began to decline. Some families returned to continental Europe, while others moved to Dublin or emigrated elsewhere.<ref name="Forward 2017"/>

The hat factory continued to operate until the 1980s, remaining a central part of Castlebar’s industrial landscape for over four decades. The Factory provided stable employment for local families and was a major contributor to the town’s post-war economy. The factory produced a range of high-quality felt hats, many of which were exported abroad. During its peak years in the 1940s and 1950s, the factory employed up to 270 workers. The technical expertise of the founders, combined with local labour and raw materials such as turf and wool, made the factory a rare success story in a region otherwise beset by emigration and limited industrial development.<ref name="CT 1 May 2023"/><ref name="Forward 2017"/>

By the 1970s, however, changing fashion trends, global competition, and the decline of the felt hat industry led to a gradual downturn in business.<ref name="Kenny 2023"/> In 1981 the Western Hat Factory closed its doors.<ref>{{cite news |last=McGovern |first=Oisin |date=30 October 2023 |title=Calls to take Castlebar hat factory into state ownership |url=https://www.mayonews.ie/news/home/1335830/calls-to-take-castlebar-hat-factory-into-state-ownership.html |work=[[Mayo News]] |location= |publisher= |access-date=21 May 2025 |quote=The now-derelict factory operated for 42 years on the Newport Road before closing in 1981.}}</ref>