Alderney has "a moral duty"

Sunday 24 April 2022

A politician in Alderney wants the States to be more open to assistance from organisations outside the island which have an interest in the Second World War and the Holocaust.

Graham McKinley hopes the recent publication of the book 'Adolf Island' will encourage the States of Alderney to invite greater assistance to help the island "safeguard and memorialise Longis Common", which was used by the German occupying forces to bury the bodies of victims of labour and concentration camps which they ran in Alderney.

At this week's States' meeting, Mr McKinley said he thought this was the States' "moral duty and therefore our obligation".

He put questions on the issue to Bill Abel, the Chairman of Alderney's senior committee, Policy & Finance.

Mr McKinley asked: "Would the Chairman agree that in the light of the publication of...Adolf Island, which raises the likelihood of hundreds of further bodies being in mass graves on Longis Common, and the recent request from the Jewish community...that the government of Alderney should be requesting the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance to intervene in order to safeguard and memorialise Longis Common?"

Pictured: Alderney States' member Graham McKinley used material in the book 'Adolf Island' as the basis for questions in the island's Assembly this week.

In reply, Mr Abel said that the States had worked with a range of people and organisations outside the island and understood that the Occupation and Holocaust must be treated respectfully and sensitively given their impact on victims and the island.

"As you will recall, we have engaged with members of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance this last year – with Dr Gilly Carr, an academic, and Lord Pickles, the UK Government's representative," said Mr Abel.

"And more recently we put out a questionnaire to the community with regard to International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance recommendations. The results are currently being collated for discussion and action.

"With regard to your suggestion that Alderney should request the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance to intervene, I would ask you to put your question at next Monday’s Policy & Finance Committee to consider."

Pictured: Bill Abel, President of the Policy & Finance Committee, said he had read a large part of the book 'Adolf Island' and that it aided his understanding of the events in Alderney 80 years ago.

Another States' member, Boyd Kelly, was more sceptical than Mr McKinley about inviting the involvement of outside organisations other than the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Mr Abel agreed with Mr Kelly that "the whole process needs to stay in the management of the States of Alderney in conjunction with interested parties in the island but with sensitivity and in terms of what makes sense".

The authors of 'Adolf Island', Caroline Sturdy Colls and Kevin Colls, say of their book: "[It] offers new forensic, archaeological and spatial perspectives on the Nazi forced and slave labour programme that was initiated in Alderney during its Occupation in the Second World War.

"Drawing on extensive archival research and the results of the first in-field investigations of the crime scenes since 1945, the book identifies and characterises the network of concentration and labour camps, fortifications, burial sites and other material traces connected to the Occupation, providing new insights into the identities and experiences of the men and women who lived, worked and died within this landscape," they say. 

"Moving beyond previous studies focused on military aspects of Occupation, the book argues that Alderney was intrinsically linked to wider systems of Nazi forced and slave labour."

Pictured: Caroline Sturdy Colls, author of 'Adolf Island'.

Mr Abel said he had "managed to read a good portion" of the book.

"I certainly gained a better understanding of the camps that were here in the island and the organisation and deployment of aid workers, forced labourers and internees from other camps in Europe," said Mr Abel.

"Dr Coles highlighted – as many historians and interested parties have also highlighted – that many more people died here during the war than the records seemed to indicate. If I recall correctly, Dr Coles’ book showed that at least 900 people who died here were buried – or disappeared, if I can use that word.

"It is acknowledged that, although numerous people were removed from graves within Longis Common in the 1960s...that it is likely that further human remains are buried within the Longis Common area within either single sites or mass graves.

"Longis Common and the surrounding area is protected – not only in terms of being in the green belt but it is also classed as a conservation area of special historic interest in terms of Section 46 of the Building and Development Control (Alderney) Law."

Pictured: It was claimed in the States' meeting that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had failed to honour a commitment to release confidential documents from the National Archives relating to Holocaust activities in Alderney.

Mr McKinley said that relevant documents held in the National Archives at Kew had not been released despite assurances from the UK Government that they would be released by now.

Mr McKinley asked: "Is there any way in which we can persuade the Government to release the classified documents?"

Mr Abel said he understood that "more documents were opened up in the latter part of last year".

"With regard to here on the island, I still don’t clearly understand if there are any documents to be released because every time we ask the Alderney Society they feed back to us that there are no further documents here," said Mr Abel.

"Certainly, I know that in Guernsey there has been discussion. Some documents have been released but some documents in terms of sensitivity have been held. In terms of Europe and the world, I understand there are more documents out there."

In response to a supplementary question from States' member Alex Snowdon, Mr Abel said the States had not recently received any communication on the matter from either Lord Pickles' office or the Prime Minister's office, although the Chief Executive of the States was trying to contact the former's officials.

READ MORE...

FOCUS: Searching for the truth about the Nazis in Alderney

FOCUS: Protecting the facts of the Holocaust in Alderney

'Adolf Island' published to "restore victims' humanity"

"Absolutely wrong to say nothing happened on Alderney"

Adolf Island: "Alderney was my most difficult job"