LISTEN: Acknowledging and remembering Alderney atrocities

Friday 24 May 2024

Alderney is committed to memorialising the victims of the Holocaust and better tell the story of the local evacuees going forward, the island’s President has said.

An expert review ordered by the UK government has doubled the death toll of people who died in the island during the Nazi occupation across four work camps, with many new names discovered over nearly a year of research and debate.

All the camps were originally run by Organisation Todt until, in 1943, one called Sylt was taken over by the SS and conditions for the prisoners worsened, being likened to conditions in concentration camps in mainland Europe and leading to an increase in the deaths of prisoners

Dr Gilly Carr, project coordinator for the review and IHRA representative for Guernsey and Jersey, said she’d like to see more information boards placed at key sites in the island packed with “really researched information”.

William Tate, President of the States of Alderney, said these issues “go to the root of Alderney”, and pledged to continue working with the IHRA to place more information at sites, with the government also considering extending conservation status to locations which don’t yet have those legal protections.

“The support given in the past five years [by the IHRA] is invaluable. Our commitment is to make as much information available as possible and use the benefits of technology to improve the way in which we do that.

“That's going to be the focus of our approach. So, we've already put up more boards. I think we will end up with the other three camps in the conservation area which gives them a level of protection. But I'd also like to think that we can work on something which will include the names that we've just discovered.

“We will do something which is fitting, but something which is very Alderney because we do have a unique way in which we approach this. So, we will continue to improve the quality of the information so people can understand not just what happened here, but what happened to our community when they were evacuated and spent five years in the UK. That's part of the narrative.”

Listen: An Express FOCUS podcast unpacking the expert review.

Mr Tate added: “It's a mixture of relief and sadness, it's relief that we're not talking about tens of thousands because that is painful. But by the same token, it's a tremendous sadness that we now know there are people who died in Alderney that we didn't know about. So now we can add them to our story.

“And we will look at a way of being able to memorialise those additional names so that their relatives and descendants will have somewhere to come where they can pay their respects.

“We have always cared about what happened on our island and any information which gives us a better understanding of that can only serve to reinforce our commitment to make sure that the message that we send out to the world never changes. It was a tragic loss of life. It was humanity at its worst. We want to show humanity at its best.”

Watch: Footage of Alderney from the documentary Adolf Island. Credit:

Lord Eric Pickles, the UK Special Envoy for post Holocaust issues, said while critics of the researched would continue to make their views known, he hopes this review can be held up as an example of real research.

“The people of Alderney are utterly sick of sudden, inaccurate, sensationalist stories that have no basis in truth. Now there is a substantial document in front of the people of Alderney so when the next, and there will be another story to come along, they have something to show,” he said.

He said his team would be standing by ready to assist on the wording and make-up of any memorials.

Mr Tate agreed: “I am really, really happy that we are now in a place where we have a document that we can hold up to the naysayers and say: this is the document which has delivered the answer to the question. It is evidence based”.

The States of Guernsey has echoed the view of the States of Alderney, labelling the review “rigorous and comprehensive” which would end decades of debate on the island’s history.

Commenting on the findings, Deputy Lyndon Trott, Guernsey’s Chief Minister, said: “This is a thorough and clear report which helps to counter some of the claims we have seen in recent years with solid, well-documented evidence. My thoughts are with the people who were brought to Alderney, those that suffered and those who died there during this time. Ultimately this review was carried out to shine a light on the truth of what happened to them during those years”.