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Handcrafted toys and other items made by island residents deported to Germany during the Second World War have been loaned to a museum in the country.
Guernsey Museums have temporarily donated the items to the exhibition in Biberach, Germany, which is highlighting how from 1942, 1,000 British Citizens and their families were taken from Guernsey to a camp just outside the town.
It shows the history of how they were held in that internment camp, which was a former Wehrmacht barracks.
“Lager Lindele – life behind barbed wire” is now displaying memorabilia, models, films and photographs to show what daily life was like for the deportees. Many of those items come from the loan from Guernsey Museums.
The camp’s name “Lager Lindele” comes from a colloquialism given to the camp because of its location near the Lindele vantage point on the outskirts of the town.
Former deportees and their descendants were able to attend the opening of the exhibition.
Frank Bunkecker, Director of the Museum in Biberach, said: “It is a historic stroke of luck that Guernsey Biberach enjoy a lively cordial exchange today.
“It is fortunate – and brings along hope – that war and enmity, imprisonment in camps and injustice can turn into lifelong friendships and a close partnership that unites nations.”
Pictured: Some of the items being loaned to the German museum.
The Guernsey families were taken to Germany as retaliation when German nationals were expelled from British Iran. The German Authorities retaliated by rounding up anyone not born in the Channel Islands and sending them to the camp in Biberach.
Overall some 2,200 people were forced to leave their homes in Guernsey and Jersey, and were sent to camps not only in Biberach, but also Wurzach, Laufen and Compiegne.
The Guernsey families in Biberach were eventually liberated by French forces on 23 April 1945.
The exhibition itself is now running until the 3 March 2019 – for more information please click here.
Pictured: Some of the Guernsey people who were deported to Biberach and some of their possessions.
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