GALLERY: Yom Hashoah marked in Guernsey

Tuesday 18 April 2023

A sombre congregation gathered at the White Rock to honour the memories of all the slave workers brought to the Bailiwick, and the Guernsey Eight and the three Jewish women deported from the islands during the Occupation.

Led in prayers by the Dean of Guernsey, members of the Jewish community and others who wished to pay their respects gathered at midday on Yom Hashoah.

Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Memorial Day - is a moving date that falls in either April or May each year in the Jewish calendar.

It is Israel's day of commemoration for the millions of Jews murdered by Nazi Germany and its collaborators and the Jewish resistance during that time and is separate to Holocaust Memorial day which is marked annually on 27 January in the UK.

Pictured: Darren Vogel lit candles in front of the plaque honouring the many slave workers brought to Guernsey and Alderney during the Second World War.

The Very Reverend Tim Barker recounted how the Bailiwick was the destination for thousands of slave workers captured by Nazi forces across Europe.

Reverend Barker expressed how the Holocaust affected so many people with Ukranians among those forced to work on Hitler's Atlantic Wall - the name given to the fortifications built around Guernsey and Alderney. 

He led the gathered mourners in honouring the memories of all slave workers, before Darren Vogel lit a candle in their memory and a wreath was placed beneath the plaque commemorating their lives on the White Rock.

Pictured: The plaque honouring the lives of the slave workers in Guernsey and Alderney is at the White Rock.

After taking a silent moment, to pay individual respects to the many slave workers who lost their lives during the Occupation, the congregation moved the short distance along the White Rock to the plaque in honour of the 'Guernsey Eight'.

The Dean explained who the Guernsey Eight were and he read out each of their names.

Again, candles were lit and a wreath was laid to honour the lives of the eight men and women who "committed acts of protest, defiance, and resistance during the German Occupation".

Pictured: The plaque which honours the Guernsey Eight is on the White Rock.

Seven names are engraved on this plaque: Charles Machon, Percy Miller, Marie Ozanne, Joseph Gillingham, Sidney Ashcroft, Louis Symes, and John Ignorable.

Herbert Smith is the eighth member of the group but his name is not engraved on the plaque at the request of his family.

The ‘offences’ committed by the Guernsey Eight included listening to the radio, producing and sharing newspapers, stealing from the Germans, protesting, sheltering a commando, and threatening resistance.

Each of them was either imprisoned or deported. They all died as a result of their actions. Marie Ozanne is the only one who died in Guernsey having been released from detention before her death. Some are buried in Guernsey, some remain in Europe and some have never been found. 

Pictured: The Dean of Guernsey led prayers at the White Rock on Yom Hashoah.

The Yom Hashoah service continued at the third plaque at the White Rock, which names three Jewish women deported from Guernsey during the Occupation.

Marianne Grunfeld was living in Guernsey and Auguste Spitz and Therese Steiner were working as nannies in Sark when the Occupying Forces arrived meaning they were trapped here.

Jewish residents were obliged to register with the German authorities, and Miss Spitz and Miss Steiner had to move to Guernsey, where they are Miss Grunfeld remained until 1942.

The three women were deported to France where they are reported to have been able to work initially. However, the three women were sent to Auschwitz, where they were killed in a gas chamber on arrival.

Pictured: The three Jewish women deported from Guernsey during the Second World War are remembered at the White Rock.

Reverend Barker recounted how the three Jewish women were victims of the Holocaust during the Yom Hashoah service at the White Rock.

He invited Matthew Newman to read the Mourner's Kaddish - a Jewish prayer - while he and a woman were invited to light the candles before a wreath was placed at the foot of the wall where the plaque bearing their name stands.

Pictured: Matthew Newman read the Mourner's Kaddish in front of the plaque commemorating the three Jewish women deported from Guernsey to their deaths during the Occupation.

Among the congregation were the Bailiff, and the President and Vice President of the States Policy and Resources Committee.

The congregation spanned the ages from the very young to the very old, with people taking time out of their lunch breaks from work to join others at the White Rock.

Following the short service, the Dean and the Bailiff were both seen speaking with members of the congregation, while a group of people hugged each other before leaving the White Rock.

Pictured: A baby girl was with her parents at the Yom Hashoah service.

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