Revealed after 80 years: Faces of Britons from occupied Channel Islands who died in Nazi focus camps
They were Britons as ordinary as they come, but who died hundreds of miles from home in the depths of despair.
Now, 80 years on, the details of 16 residents of the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands who died in German concentration camps can be revealed for the first time.
Among them was 22-year-old printer’s apprentice Henry Le Goupillot, who passed away on June 1, 1945, less than a month after the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Sixteen people from Guernsey, Alderney and Sark perished in camps, along with a further 22 (21 of whom were British) from Jersey.
The details of the 16 – and photographs of most – have been revealed as part of a major digitisation project by ancestry website Findmypast.
Among the victims were two babies and a three-year-old boy, who was his parents’ only child.
The youngest deportation victim to die was just four months old, whilst four were aged 68.
More than 1.7million previously unseen records related to the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands can now be searched through online.
Overall, 2,300 residents of Britain’s Channel Islands were deported and held in camps on Hitler’s orders.
Also among the dead was 22-year-old Henry Le Goupillot, who was working as a printer’s apprentice in Guernsey when he was deported. He died on June 1, 1945, less than a month after VE Day
The registration form of Henry Le Goupillot, who died aged 22 on June 1, 1945
German officers outside the Alderney branch of Lloyd’s Bank, which they turned into their headquarters
The first deportation took place in September 1942. It was in retaliation for British troops rounding up German expats in Iran in August 1941 and sending them to prisons in Australia and India.
A notice that was issued to islanders to announce the deportations explained how they were deciding who to send.
The Nazis selected people aged between 16 and 70 who had not been born on the Channel Islands, along with their families.
They also selected ‘persons who have their permanent residence not on the Channel Islands, for instance, those who have been caught here by the outbreak of the war’.
Another round of deportations was carried out in February 1943, after Operation Basalt, when 12 British commandos carried out a raid on the occupied island of Sark.
Three-year-old Rex Wearing died on January 2, 1945 at Biberach concentration camp.
He was the only child of Rose Emmeline Clements and Reuben Wearing, who had moved to the Channel Islands from London’s East End for work.
Four-month-old Brian Skipton died on June 27, 1942. He was the son of Bradford-born Francis and his Yorkshire woman Phyllis Grey.
Francis Skipton had been working as an agricultural worker when he and his family were deported.
He had also been a driver in the Army between 1916 and 1923, first in the Dragoons and then the Tank Corps.
The other infant who died was eight-month-old Cecil Norman. Nothing is known about his life or the date and circumstances of his death.
Also among the dead was 22-year-old Henry Le Goupillot, who was working as a printer’s apprentice in Guernsey when he was deported.
He died on June 1, 1945, less than a month after VE Day.
Ruth Catherine Cockayne had been deported along with her husband Frederick. She died aged 48 in a Nazi camp.
Guernsey-born Florence Montague Marr died of a stroke on Christmas Eve in 1944.
Her husband Sidney, who was also deported, went on to find love again with Violet Burge, who had also been an internee at Biberach and had been a friend of Florence’s.
Eight of the 16 were aged 60 or over. Among them was 68-year-old Ernest Boon, who had served in the Army Education Corps in India before moving to Guernsey.
He was working as a schoolmaster when the Nazis invaded.
The records of the 16 feature among thousands of ID forms that have been digitised.
The records were taken by the German occupiers as part of their efforts to establish control in the first months of the occupation.
Foreigners living in the Channel Islands included 56 Hungarians and 45 people from Estonia, Romania, Poland, Lithuania and Yugoslavia. There were also 27 US citizens.
Ruth Catherine Cockayne had been deported along with her husband Frederick. She died aged 48 in a Nazi camp
The registration form of Ruth Catherine Cockayne
Three-year-old Rex Wearing died on January 2, 1945 at the camp in Biberach, just months before the end of the war. He was the only child of Rose Emmeline Clements and Reuben Wearing (pictured), who had moved to the Channel Islands from London’s East End for work
German troops march through the main street of Alderney during the occupation
German soldiers parading through Marais Square, Alderney, during their occupation of the Channel Islands
Guernsey-born Florence Montague Marr died of a stroke on Christmas Eve in 1944
The registration form of Florence Montague Marr
Eight of the 16 were aged 60 or over. Among them was 68-year-old Ernest Boon (left), who had served in the Army Education Corps in India before moving to Guernsey. He was working as a schoolmaster when the Nazis invaded. James Waters, also 68, died on October 10, 1942 at Dorsten camp
Florence Manning died aged 51 on November 11, 1942 at Dorsten Camp. She was there only five weeks
Deportation victims Albert Brych and Cyril Rickard. Brych died aged 65 on December 13, 1943. Rickard died aged 68 on November 26, 1944
Arthur Petty died aged 68 on January 14, 1944 at Biberach camp. Richard Worth, also 68, died on September 20, 1944 at Biberach
Stanley Jackson (left) died aged 63 on June 29, 1944. He worked as a painter in Guernsey. He was blind in his right eye. Augustus Dunkley died on November 24, 1944 at Laufen camp. He had a daughter with his wife Susan, who he had lived with on Guernsey
As camps in Europe were liberated amid the defeat of Nazi Germany, Channel Islanders who had been among the prisoners were able to return home.
Among them were 2,000 islanders who had been held at a concentration camp in Biberach, Germany. They were flown to England on May 29, 1945.
More than 800 pages of German-issued ‘Occupation Orders’ have also been digitised.
They give a chilling insight into the moves to restrict the islanders’ movement and suppress British culture.
There was a ban on the National Anthem being played without permission and clocks had to align with German rather than British time.
All weapons had to be surrendered, an 11pm curfew was imposed and public entertainment was banned.
There was even a pigeon census to prevent illicit communication.
Harsher measures included imposing the death penalty on anyone aiding escaped prisoners, while Jewish assets were confiscated on January 17, 1943.
A notice that was issued to islanders to announce the deportations explained how they were deciding who to send
More than 800 pages of German-issued ‘Occupation Orders’ have also been digitised
The project was undertaken in collaboration with the Bailiwick of Guernsey Digitisation Partnership.
Mary McKee, UK archives manager at Findmypast, said: ‘This rich and varied collection allows us to delve deeper and discover previously unknown details about British life under occupation, as well as uncover individual stories of resilience, hardship, and above all community.
‘The remarkable scale of this digitisation project, which could only be achieved through the collaboration of institutions across Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, has made this vital new resource accessible to historians, researchers, and descendants alike, exclusively on Findmypast.co.uk.’
Steve Foote, CEO of Priaulx Library and digitisation project lead, said: ‘The collaboration with Findmypast has made it possible to share these essential historical records with a global audience.
‘The occupation of the Channel Islands is a chapter in history that deserves greater recognition, and this digital collection will play a crucial role in preserving and sharing the stories of those who lived through it as we celebrate 80 years of the Liberation.’
The records can be searched through at http://www.findmypast.co.uk/
The horror of the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands
In June 1940, the Allied forces were defeated in France.
The UK government decided the Channel Islands would be too costly to defend and began evacuating military personal and equipment.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill was reportedly reluctant to simply abandon the oldest possession of the British crown but succumbed to the reasoning of military advisers.
Thousands of residents of the channel island fled to mainland Britain to avoid the incoming Nazis.
On Alderney, the most northerly of the main Chanel Islands, the vast majority of the 1,400 natives left the rock that is just three square miles in size.
Many people evacuated from the larger Guernsey and Jersey but a large portion of the population opted to stay.
Alderney commandant Oberst Schwalm Germany surrenders to Brigadier Alfred Ernest Snow after Nazi Germany’s defeat in 1945
The Nazis were unaware the Allied forces had stopped protecting the islands and over the next two weeks began reconnaissance fights over their shores.
In total, 44 islanders were killed in a sequence of raids on the ports by the Luftwaffe.
The Nazis soon occupied the islands, which became the only part of the British Empire conquered by the German Army.
German authorities changed the time zone from GMT to CET in line with the rest of the Third Reich.
German occupation also saw the island change to driving on the right hand side of the road.
Residents were forced to sell their cars and houses; speak German in schools; give up weapons, boats and cameras; and had limited access to beaches.
Hitler believed the occupation of the islands had value as a propaganda tool. As a result, they became heavily fortified.
Hitler sent one-twelfth of the steel and concrete used in the Atlantic Wall defence network to go to the Channel Islands.
The islands were some of the most densely fortified areas in Europe, with a host of Hohlgangsanlage tunnels, casemates, and coastal artillery positions.
Group of German soldiers coming from the Channel Island of Alderney
Forced labour camps were built on some of the islands, with so-called volunteer camps springing up on Guernsey and Jersey.
This forced labour led to the creation of bunkers, gun emplacements, air raid shelters, and concrete fortifications.
In 1942, camps on Alderney, called Sylt and Norderney, were built to hold a few hundred forced labourers.
However, a year later, on March 1, 1943, they were placed under the control of the SS-Untersturmführer Maximillian List, turning them into concentration camps.
He was succeeded by SS-Obersturmführer Georg Braun in March 1944. Both men were long-serving members of the Nazi party. List ordered the ‘security to treat the prisoners harshly’ and Braun was ‘brutal to excess’, according to archive information.
The labourers were forced to build coastal defences as part of Hitler’s ‘Atlantic Wall’ and it is thought 20 per cent of the camp’s population died in the first four months alone.
The broken remains of Sylt concentration camp on Alderney which was destroyed by the fleeing Nazis in 1945
Sylt concentration camp was closed in 1944 and the SS destroyed much of it to hide their crimes.
During D-Day on June 6, 1944 the British troops bypassed the heavily armoured islands.
It took until May 9 1945 for the Nazis on the islands to surrender, 24 hours after VE day for most of Europe.
Guernsey and Jersey were liberated by British troops and ships on this day. Sark was liberated on 10 May 1945, and the German troops in Alderney surrendered on 16 May 1945. Prisoners of war were removed from Alderney by 20 May 1945.
Alderney was the last German garrison to surrender following the conclusion of the war.
