THEY were witnesses to Nazi rule on British soil – and they had to choose whether to collaborate, resist, or walk the line between them.
In June 1940 took control of the Channel Islands in an occupation that would last 1,774 days.
As the hung over the islands, strict rules were brought in for Jewish residents, with many deported to concentration camps in Europe to their deaths.
Other islanders had their homes commandeered to house German officers, and informers and young women who chose to strike up relationships with the occupying soldiers were ostracised by their friends and neighbours.
Now a new has used diaries and memoirs from the wartime occupation to bring to life the stories of those who lived under Nazi rule – including some heroes of the resistance.
Historian Dr Louise Willmot says:“Some people did collaborate, and some people did resist. I’m very glad I never had to make that choice.
“There was also Hitler’s own obsession with the Channel Islands, for him it was a propaganda prize.”;
On 15 June 1940, Churchill ordered the withdrawal of all military troops from the Channel Islands, leaving 94,000 islanders behind.
Residents were given the choice to evacuate – but 69,000 chose to stay in their homes on the islands, undefended by the British military.
began straight away. Winifred Harvey, a 51-year-old middle class Guernsey housewife wrote in her diaries: “The story goes that, at a concert in the Kommandant addressed the crowd and asked who could speak German.
“Three or four people put up their hands. Then he asked those who could not speak German to put up their hands.
“Hundreds did – and immediately a photograph was taken and was published in a German paper as the Jersey people ‘heiling’ Hitler.”;
Historian Dr Willmot explains: “Hitler insisted that the Channel Islands be turned into an impregnable fortress and not taken back.
“He wanted to turn St Peter Port into some kind of U-boat base, the rest of the islands he wanted to use as a holiday resort. It is Hitler’s obsession that it will become permanently part of German territory.”;
But he wasn’t counting on the bravery of some of the islanders – including local journalist Frank Falla, who launched an underground newspaper to debunk the , and artist and anti-fascist Claude Cahun, who risked her life to try to encourage mutiny amongst the German troops.
Claude lived with her ‘step-sister’ Suzanne Malherbe, who changed her name to Marcel Moore. But the pair were in fact lovers.
Hitler insisted that the Channel Islands be turned into an impregnable fortress and not taken back
Historian Dr Willmot
Claude had a Jewish father and in 1937 the had pair escaped tensions in pre-war Paris and bought a house in Jersey.
When the Germans arrived, they believed it was their duty to make a stand.
They scribbled anti-Nazi slogans on cigarette packets, strewn where Germans would find them.
Then in 1942 they began distributing leaflets, typed in German, under the pseudonym ‘The Nameless Soldier’ – seemingly a rebel Nazi stirring dissent.
The leaflets were rolled up like ‘paper bullets’ and left inside shops and cafes, pushed through the windows of army vehicles, slipped into the pockets of soldiers’ uniforms and stuffed into postboxes.
These paper bullets were small, but the impact was significant.
In Claude’s diaries she wrote: “I write the news bulletins in English, manifestos and slogans in French. I want to give the Germans the illusion that there are several typewriters.
“I make every effort to vary the strikes and format to make it look like several typists. My imaginary creation becomes an organised group and not just a solitary writer.”;
As Cahun and Moore grew bolder, their messages instructed troops not to fight, and called Hitler a vampire, with slogans like: “Idiot that you may die, so the Fuhrer may live a little longer!”;
Claude wrote: “I have to do whatever I can – by speaking or writing. When I try to induce German soldiers to lay down their arms, I’m true to my principles.
“I am against war and against repression by our enemies. Perhaps Jersey is almost the only place where that luxury can be indulged.”;
They smuggled leaflets into labour camps to boost morale and helped escaped
Historian Dr Louise Willmot says they knew they were risking their lives to do so: “By choosing to do this work, they were saying, ‘I am prepared to die in order to do this work, which is so important.’
“And it worked for a long time. The Germans did think that there must be a number of people involved and some of them must be German soldiers.
“They were able to do it for almost three years before they were caught.”;
‘Jerrybags’ scandal
It is staggering how cheek to jowl the islanders and the Germans lived – on average, there was one German soldier for every three islanders.
And the occupation continued, not everyone on the islands was hostile to the enemy.
Local Methodist Minister Douglas Ord wrote in his diaries: “I saw a young Luftwaffe man walking out with a local girl, their arms intertwined behind their backs, her head on his shoulder.
“Uniform fascinates a type of female, no matter what’s inside it. I can’t think that any woman who goes with the occupying forces has much self-respect.”;
Journalist Frank Falla wrote: “Because I work at night... I see the girls being driven home by their German boyfriends. Britain does not deserve these traitors even if she has given birth to them.”;
Even German officer Hans Max von Aufsess wrote: “There is a good understanding between the German soldiers and English girls.
“As long as it occurs in sufficient secrecy, the girls give in to temptation. English women are straightforward, uncomplicated and easy when it comes to love.”;
As long as it occurs in sufficient secrecy, the girls give in to temptation. English women are straightforward, uncomplicated and easy when it comes to love
German officer Hans Max von Aufsess
Douglas Ord later added to his journal: “An unpleasant report is going round that a wretched woman has been holding cocktail parties for German officers and local girls.
“There’s another ugly rumour that before Christmas some 500 local girls will have had children to Germans.”;
Dr Louise Willmott explains: “It did happen. You can argue that it’s a natural thing in an occupation that lasts for five years, in which enmities break down and relationships are made.”;
She continues: “During the war, there was condemnation of the so-called , the women who had relationships with German soldiers. But really, they’re a small minority.”;
The issue of young women residents left with babies after having relationships with German soldiers was brought to life in the film The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, starring Lily James.
Guernsey resident Dolly Edwards fell for German signaller Willi Joanknecht and theirs was the UK’s first Anglo-German wedding after the war, in 1947 — but they were banned from returning to the island.
Their marriage lasted more than 50 years, and they had five children.
‘Traitor babies’
Hitler wanted to build an Atlantic Wall – a huge fortification down the French coast of almost 1700 miles long – so they also had to bring in 16,000 labourers to the Channel Islands.
Many of these were , starving and emaciated, causing great conflict amongst the islanders, who felt desperately sorry for them, but were also rationed and fighting for survival themselves.
Next Hitler ordered the of anyone not born on the islands, then radios were banned to stop Islanders from listening to BBC news.
But on 23 June 1943 the Islanders were given an opportunity to show their own resistance to the Germans.
More than 400 sailors were killed when was sunk by German E-boats off the Channel Islands.
The islanders were to give them a burial – and more than 5,000 people turned out to pay their respects, draping the coffins in union flags.
Frank Falla wrote: “The people of the island decide that this is their chance to show their loyalty to Britain. 5,000 of us make our way to the funeral. The Germans are completely taken by surprise.
“They’re almost lost in this great mass of passive demonstrators. There can be no doubt where our true sympathies lie.”;
The people of the island decide that this is their chance to show their loyalty to Britain. 5,000 of us make our way to the funeral. The Germans are completely taken by surprise... There can be no doubt where our true sympathies lie
Frank Falla
But soon Frank’s was uncovered by the Germans, and he and four others were convicted of spreading BBC news and deported to a prison in Germany.
And in July 1944, Claude and Marcel’s house was raided, where officers found a suitcase full of leaflets, a banned radio, camera, a typewriter and a revolver.
The couple were sent to prison and sentenced to death for ‘inciting the troops through propaganda’.
But the threat of execution was lifted when Bailif Coutanche – the head of Jersey’s government – appealed on the grounds it would traumatise the islanders.
The war was declared over on May 8, 1945 – and Cahun and Moore were released the same day.
In July, Frank Fall returned to Guernsey determined to get justice for victims of the islands’ Nazi occupation – a fight that took him 20 years.
historian Professor Gilly Carr says: “After the war, people who committed acts of resistance were ignored.
“They were not recognised as having been the brave people who did the right thing. Instead, the bailiffs of the Channel Islands were given knighthoods.
“Never being able to identify precisely the collaborators meant that for decades afterwards, the whole thing became a bigger taboo.
“My mother, who was from Guernsey, was told, for example, that she wasn’t to talk to another girl in her class because her father was reputed to have been a German soldier.
“These sorts of things go on for generations. In fact, discussion of these matters is still taboo in the Channel Islands today.”;
Britain Under the Nazis: The Forgotten Occupation airs on May 29 at 8pm on Channel 4 and is available to watch on Channel 4OD.
