German Occupation of in WW2

FIVE YEARS 1940-1945

PHOTOGRAPHS OF WARTIME ARTIFACTS & INSTALLATIONS

KATHRYN LERCH & MARLENE MENDONSA’S 2019 TRIP The Included the of Guernsey & Bailiwick of along with smaller islands: , , , Lihou, , and Brecghou. In June 1940 they become part of ‘Hitler’s Island Madness’ Channel Islands De-Militarized & Abandoned by British War Cabinet in June 1940 I

CAUSE EFFECT

Brits: “ABANDON”. . . Not Germans: Strategic ! . . . strategic! “OCCUPY”

Germans arriving in St Peter Port, Guernsey on June 30, 1940

Why Abandonment & Then Occupation? II. Occupation brought new rules . . . II

• “Shared” governance: Guernsey Controlling Committee to assist German Kommandant

• Imposition of strict new rules brought life-changing conditions

Kommandant Graf von Schmettow served 3 times in the Channel Islands Guernsey Controlling Committee Cooperation or resistance? II

‘V’ for victory painted all over island as form of disobedience, but a German added a wreath underneath. The Germans offered ₤25 reward to informers of those who Guernsey citizen’s identity card painted these ‘V’s What are citizens to do? Commander of German forces II in , Stülpnagel had ideas!

Consequences could be severe: Cooperation was essential . . . II

April 1941 . . . “Notice” regarding act of sabotage . . . Soldiers went “missing” Biased Local Press, Underground “V” Press & Liberation Press II

Instructions from German officer to Editor Typed “V” or Underground Victory Press newspaper. This of The Star was established by GUNS (Guernsey Underground News Service) by Frank Falla (more later on Falla) Life Under the Occupation II

Brandeis University Archives: The Diary in Guernsey Museum scrapbook, made by “W.T. Oliver, 8 Rouge- Val Road, St Johns, Guernsey Photo Album in Guernsey Museum • Diary around Christmas when many were close to starvation in 1944. (Food had begun to run short in 1941) . . .”I’m getting downhearted” • “₤10 Reward . . .will be paid for information on person who raided . . . and stole vegetables and poultry.” • Some local women had affairs with the Occupiers . . . Guernsey: La Collinette Hotel & III German Signals HQ Underground German Signals Station III at La Collinette Hotel

The construction itself was a triumph of engineering, slave labor and shuttering. Guernsey, Alderney & Jersey St Peter Port on Guernsey III

German FLAK map coverage for three islands

The islands were the only British territory to endure German occupation during WW2. Anticipating invasion, some 30,000 of the islands’ then 104,000 residents evacuated before the arrival of German forces at the end of June and beginning of July 1940. Establishing Military Facilities on Guernsey: III A Hospital, but at what cost?

Eastern European POWs built facility which was used only a few months Island Fortress: great scenery, but bleak III posts with little action Coast Watch & Defenses III Pleinmont Tower at Torteval Cost: POWs as Slave IV Labor

Was Guernsey and the Occupation worth it for the Germans?

“The Atlantic Wall [in Normandy and northward] could have been doubled in strength, so far as excavated works are concerned, had the resources devoted to the islands been retained on the mainland.”

List of Russian POWs buried on Alderney or dumped into the sea Press & Liberation, May 9, 1945 IV Harbor Memorials to Citizens of IV Guernsey

Memorial to those who protested & resisted “Cost” of Occupation for Guernsey IV

Deportations of Islanders

Marianne Grunfeld

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportations_from_the_German- occupied_Channel_Islands Suggested Reading, Movies & Channel Island Websites Recommended Books Video Clip & Websites of Interest • Liberation Day events 2020 (video) https://www.visitguernsey.com/heritage75 Simon Hamon, Voices from the Past: Channel Islands Invaded • German Underground Hospital Frontline Books (2015) http://www.germanundergroundhospital.co.uk/

“This story came from the mouths and pens of • Nazi Occupation of the Islands of Guernsey those who lived through the occupation” https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Nazi-Occupation-Channel- Islands-WWII/ Charles Cruickshank, The German Occupation of the Channel • Deportations from the German-occupied Channel Islands http://www.museums.gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=113836&p=0 Islands History Press (2009) • The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (from book) on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/80223371

• About Movie: Another Mother’s Son: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4344518/Another-Mother-s-Son- gripping-story-Jersey-WWII.html

• Link for list of more Channel Occupation books: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/35097.Stories_of_the_German_Occupation_of _the_Channel_Islands Continued . . . FOR MORE DETAILS GO TO “VISIT GUERNSEY” WITH ADDITIONAL CLIPS

Invasion: https://movie.visitguernsey.com/invasion.html

Fortifications: https://movie.visitguernsey.com/fortification.html

Slave Labor: https://movie.visitguernsey.com/fortification.html

Evacuation etc.: https://movie.visitguernsey.com/evacuation.html Selected Bibliography & Online Sources

Charles Cruickshank, The German Occupation of the Channel Islands History Press (2009)

Simon Hamon, Voices from the Past: Channel Islands Invaded Frontline Books (2015)

Photos, (unless otherwise credited) were taken by me in Sept. 2019 while visiting Guernsey

Websites: • Liberation Day events 2020 (video) https://www.visitguernsey.com/heritage75

• German Underground Hospital http://www.germanundergroundhospital.co.uk/

• Nazi Occupation of the Islands of Guernsey https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Nazi-Occupation-Channel-Islands-WWII/

• Deportations from the German-occupied Channel Islands http://www.museums.gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=113836&p=0

• About Movie: Another Mother’s Son: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4344518/Another-Mother-s-Son-gripping-story-Jersey-WWII.html

• Link for list of more Channel Occupation books: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/35097.Stories_of_the_German_Occupation_of_the_Channel_Islands Video clip: Another Mother’s Son go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Va6mILX4dk

One of the main passages off 75th Anniversary Liberation of Guernsey wreath laying go to: the main square in St Peter Port https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OWbx4pE2cc&feature=youtu.be

Gilly Carr and Resistance Movement “Forgotten Heroes” go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHEHvUAI_B8