Adolf Island: 'the largest murder case on British soil'?

Tuesday 18 June 2019

A documentary - Adolf Island - will air tonight following an in-depth study into the Nazi concentration camp that was located on Alderney during the Second World War.

A team from Staffordshire University led by Professor of Conflict Archaeology and Genocide Investigation, Caroline Sturdy Colls, went to the island with the aim of finding exactly where the concentration camp was.

Professor Sturdy Colls has been researching the matter for years, wanting to examine remnants of the camp or camps on the island and also to look in to official SS archives still in Germany. 

It was clues that came from those archives that have led her to believe Alderney was actually the site of 'the largest murder case on British soil'. 

The team behind the documentary went to Alderney in search of the Nazi SS concentration camp, which they believed was on the island along with the labour camps. Image from staffs.ac.uk.

Speaking to a Staffordshire University news team, Professor Study Colls said: "The story of what happened to the thousands of forced and slave labourers who were sent to Alderney during World War II needs to be told.

"For decades, many have tried to downplay the crimes committed by the SS and other Nazi groups on the island. Forensic investigation offers the possibility to uncover the truth about the fate of these victims, to tell their stories and finally offer a voice to those who suffered and died on Alderney so many years ago.”

The documentary will be shown on the Smithsonian Channel this evening. In a statement about the production, the States of Alderney said it wanted to echo its Chairman's statement from 2017: "we welcome academic research and supervised archaeological investigation which is carried out to high professional standards".

But the documentary makers seemed to suggest they felt the camp, its story, and the deaths that may have happened there have been kept secret. 

The Nazis occupied Alderney as well as the rest of the Channel Islands in the Second World War, but it is believed to have been the only island with camps on of any form. 

The States of Alderney spokesperson continued: "In March 2015, the States of Alderney directed its Building and Development Control Committee to take steps to give legal protection to the Lager Sylt Camp. In 2017 the States adopted a Code of Archaeological practice to guide any future archaeological work. The States also requested full and immediate release of any World War Two records held in the UK and other countries that could shed more light on what happened in Alderney.

"Alderney remembers and honours those who were brought to the island as slave labourers and died on the island through the Hammond Memorial and an annual service of remembrance."

The full States of Alderney statement is below: