Website Introduction

By Sir Philip Bailhache, Bailiff of Jersey

The story of the German Occupation of the Channel Islands between 1940 and 1945 is one that has excited more uninformed speculation than objective historical analysis. Virtually nothing was written by competent historians until Dr Charles Cruickshank published his official history for the Imperial War Museum in 1975. Yet even then few Islanders who had endured the Occupation committed their experiences to writing. It was not until the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Liberation on 9th May 1995 that the dam of silence was effectively breached. Today there are many personal memoirs in print, and several important works of scholarly research have been published. Why has it taken so long to occupy a field hitherto usurped by a few authors more interested in sensation than the truth?

The answer to this question seems to me to lie in the emotional and joyful release of tension and humiliation that Islanders had suffered. Few wanted to dwell on the misery and deprivations that had passed. People wanted to look forwards and not backwards. The Occupation was a period of darkness to be forgotten. It is not insignificant that many victims of the Holocaust in Europe reacted in the same way.

Half a century later the importance of accurate historical record appears more important. Generations born after the Liberation in 1945 ask questions and need answers. In the Channel Islands, as elsewhere in occupied Europe, there was undoubtedly some collaboration with the enemy just as there were examples of individual heroism and personal sacrifice. The vast majority of Channel Islanders endured the five years of Occupation with stoicism and resignation. They could do little else. Most of their men folk of fighting age had been evacuated in 1940 and were contributing to the Allied effort. Hitler was obsessed with his possession of the Channel Islands and poured entirely disproportionate resources into their occupation and fortification. Active military resistance would have been futile.

This website fulfils many purposes. It is designed to educate and to instruct. It is a memorial to those who suffered and died in the cause of freedom. It is a tribute to those who endured the stresses of occupation. It is designed to show that hope can emerge from despair, and that friendship can grow out of enmity. Above all it is designed to show that peace and freedom can only endure where there is an understanding of the dreadful power of racism and prejudice to subvert democracy and to enthrone tyranny in its place.