Gerald Goldberg - Later Life

Later Life

Following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 he received death threats and the Cork synagogue was firebombed, the motivation of which he ascribed to unbalanced reporting in the media. He considered leaving Ireland, but chose to remain.

In 1986, after his retirement from active politics, Goldberg was one of the early defectors from Fianna Fáil to the Progressive Democrats.

In 1998 he defended the extent of the Vatican apology for the Holocaust issued by Pope John Paul II, in contrast to the disappointment expressed by many prominent Jews such as Israeli Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau. Goldberg noted Pope Pius XII's stated fear of the consequences of excommunicating Nazis for their persecution of Europe's Jews, saying "These things must be brought to an end, we must put them behind us. Could the man have said more?" Goldberg's life was featured in an RTÉ documentary, An Irishman, A Corkman and a Jew.

He married his wife Sheila (who predeceased her husband) in Belfast in 1937 and they lived their married lives at "Ben Truda" on Cork's Rochestown Road. His passion for collecting antiques was highlighted by the auction of his collection in 2004 consisting of pictures, bronzes, antique furniture, silver, porcelain and glass.

Goldberg had served on the Board of Governors of the National Gallery of Ireland and reportedly had one of the largest private Jewish libraries in Ireland. As a patron of the arts he was deeply involved with the Cork orchestral society, Irish Theatre ballet and the lunchtime concerts in the Crawford College of Art and Design. He was said to have been delighted at the announcement that Cork had become the European Capital of Culture in 2005.