Collis, who had saved Gabriele Hennig some years before, was involved in an operation to save surviving children. For a time the Hennigs weighed up the possibility of adopting one of the children, though in the end on Meyer's advice decided against it. The strain of publicly fronting these initiatives and after the war of fighting to regain legal possession of his firm Rotawerke undoubtedly contributed to Meyer's death in 1950. The end of the war did not mean that conditions in Ireland were any the less bleak. Hennig lost his part-time jobs as German teacher at University College, Dublin, and at Maynooth. Moreover, his pursuit of a degree in architecture was blocked when he was informed that to continue he would have to pass an exam in mathematics. In late 1946 Hennig was glad to accept a job as a clerk with the Bord na Móna (Irish state peat-extraction enterprise) at a somewhat isolated location at Newbridge, County Kildare, 40 miles from Dublin, where he was obliged to lodge during the week. He kept the job for three and a half years, during which he made the most of his long hours of solitude to pursue studies and writing. From there he found a similar job with the state electricity company, but this time at their central office in downtown Dublin, which reunited him with his family and gave him ready access to the city's libraries. Literary output Hennig's literary output in Ireland included many newspaper and magazine articles, mostly short, many couched in the style of popular journalism, but all betraying his very serious academic formation and abilities, a lively intelligence, an enquiring mind and a committed and reasoned Catholic faith. Although in the early 1940s the idea of possible emigration to the United States had surfaced from time to time, in 1945 he succeeded in obtaining an Irish passport. Personable, interesting and witty company, if a little gloomy at times, Hennig endeared to himself a large circle of friends and acquaintances in many sectors of Irish society. In 1948 his scholarly status was recognized by admission to the Royal Irish Academy. Return to the Continent Notwithstanding the increasing involvement of the family in Irish life, in 1956 the Hennigs made the decision to return to the Continent, largely for the sake of the daughters’ future, but also to allow Hennig to take control of the Meyer business,