The Nazis Close to Home: The Occupation of the Channel Islands
By Aine Ray, Fourth Year History and French
Content Warning: This article discusses themes related to the Holocaust, including descriptions of violence, persecution, and trauma.
‘The History of Britain’s relationship to the Holocaust was much more difficult in many respects and there were certainly, not only shades of grey, but shadow as well’− Dr Marcus Roberts
Today, the 27th of January, marks the International Holocaust Memorial Day, an anniversary that brings how hate can affect the world to the forefront of our minds. In the narrative of World War Two, Britain is often depicted as the liberator and the land of refuge for many European Jews. However, we have failed to appreciate how close to home the Nazi atrocities truly were.
The photograph above shows Nazi soldiers marching past Lloyds Bank in Guernsey. For many, this image seems incomprehensible. Yet for those on the Channel Islands during the war, this was the reality under Nazi Occupation. Germany invaded the islands in the summer of 1940 after their victory over Northern France. A quarter of the population fled as the British authorities decided not to defend this land which had been under British rule since 1066. The islands saw the swift implementation of repressive policies including the compulsory registration and curfews of Jews. On the island of Alderney, the northernmost inhabited land of the Channel Islands, concentration and forced labour camps were established. This article will specifically explore the dark history of Alderney’s camps. It will also reconcile the legacy of looming silence on the islands and in the history of the UK.
A map of the United Kingdom, showing Alderney in the English Channel.
When the occupation began, almost all the residents of Alderney were evacuated. This small island, sixty miles from the British coast and eight miles from France, was left nearly completely deserted. The Nazi authorities arriving on this shell of land − once filled with families, life and community− erected forced labour camps and two concentration camps. It is estimated that between 7,608 and 7,812 people of around thirty nationalities were sent there to work. This included thousands of Eastern Europeans and hundreds of Jewish victims. Labour was used to build fortifications such as bunkers, air raid shelters and tunnels. These military preparations contributed to Hitler’s ‘Atlantic Wall’: a defensive coastal wall for an anticipated Allied invasion. Conditions were unimaginable with a lack of suitable clothing for protection from the harsh ocean winds, dismal hygienic conditions, long working days and minimal food. The island saw the deaths of between 641 and 1,027 people from starvation, overwork, disease and murder.
In 1945, islanders slowly returned to their home. They were greeted with nothing but heartache and destruction. The island’s landscape had been ravaged, overtaken by imposing stone military fortifications and the omnipresence of death. On the 16th of May 1945, a report by the British military revealed the atrocities committed in Alderney stating, ‘crimes of a systematically brutal and callous nature were committed on British soil’. Over 3000 interviews were collected which implicated key Nazi figures for war crimes. Tragically, the Alderney case was dropped, and the report was classified.
The 1980s and 1990s saw an upsurge of interest in Alderney after some of the British investigative files were declassified. Until recently, the truth of what happened in Alderney has been highly disputed amongst historians. Thanks to pressure from key historians, survivors and their families, a governmental investigation was launched. 80 years on, the truth about Alderney's crimes is public. Lord Pickles, UK Special Envoy on Post Holocaust Issues, led the investigation to recount the dead and put names to as many of those who died as possible, stating: ‘if you remember them as individuals, then it’s another blow against Hitler’. The report was published in May 2024.
What is left of the camps is slowly being swallowed up by the island’s shrubbery, seemingly fading into silence. However, local efforts have not gone amiss. A memorial plaque was placed on the entrance gate of Lager Sylt, one of the four principal camps, by survivors in 2008. Each year, an annual commemorative service is held where many survivors and families make a pilgrimage across the ocean to honour the dead.
This chapter in Alderney’s history shows the far-reaching limits of hate and extreme violence which permeated borders not only across land but also across the treacherous seas of the Channel. Recent findings are encouraging Britain to reevaluate its own relationship with the Holocaust, and some are requesting more transparency on the mainland. For the islanders and the survivors, the memory of the horrors is an unavoidable part of their everyday life. The history is still largely unknown to the larger British public. However, the island of Alderney stands as a pertinent reminder that the crimes of Nazi persecution and the Holocaust still shape the world in which we live.
Learn more:
BBC Radio 4, ‘Alderney - The Holocaust on British Soil’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001vkwx
Weiner Library Online Exhibition, ‘On British Soil: Victims of Nazi Persecution in the Channel Islands’: https://wienerholocaustlibrary.org/exhibition/on-british-soil-victims-of-nazi-persecution-in-the-channel-islands-online/
Edited by Ben Bryant