The Channel Islands At War (32 page)

Tie
tz was removed from office for black market activities in A
pril 1943, but Adam Adler and He
inrich Evers were quite as evil. Francisco Font who was in Norderney, later recalled beatings by Evers as well as dousing with cold water. At Christmas 1943 he deliberately destroyed prisoners' mail in front of their eyes. According to Steckoll it was Evers who killed the only Chinese Todt prisoner who was then discreetly buried in the military cemetery at Le Foulon in grave number 104. Ki-Lieng Tien was lashed by the familiar stick which broke three of his ribs, and took 20 days to die.

It is usually stated that there were four camps on Alderney: Helgoland, Norderney, Borkum, and Sylt. Each camp was designed to take about a thousand prisoners and all were full in May 1943. Then numbers declined, and one by one the camps were destroyed, and the huts broken up for firewood. But there was a fifth camp at Hauteville in St Anne known as Citadella containing African POWs.

In Guernsey there were purpose built camps like that at Rue Sauvage, and areas of existing housing in St Peter Port which were taken over as camps. Richard Mayne has listed ten Jersey camp
s. Some of these like lagers Ude
t and Molders were camps in their own right; others like Prien or Ehrenbreitstein were sub-camps, and some like Schepke or Wick were set up on specific work sites. The list is not exhaustive because in August 1943 a camp for African POWs was opened at Pier Road, and they were involved in work on defences. Prisoners were to be found in places "not strictly camps' including Melbourne House, St John, West Park Pavilion, and Elizabeth Castle.

The majority of workers were housed in conditions which made their hungry, ill-clothed, and back-breaking existence even more wretched. There was some ho
spital provision at Avenue Vivie
r in Guernsey, and Rosemount in Jersey, but the buildings were poorly staffed to cope with the victims' construction accidents, typhus and other contagious diseases, and air raid victims from port areas. Medical affairs on
Alderney
were handled by the Krie
gsmarine medical officer, and there was a single ward in Norderney staffed by Russians. Francisco Font said lice, diarrhoea and dysentery were widespread, and the only medicine ever doled out was aspirin. At Sylt List and Klebeck had one remedy, to send 'the sick prisoners away from extermination".

Sixteen thousand or more foreigners pouring into small Islands in the mono-cultural days of the 1940s created an immediate impression among the inhabitants who tended to confuse races and the status of those they saw behind barbed-wire, marching in rags, sitting numbed on lorries or back to back on open cars on the railways, or toiling in all weathers at fortifications. The German forces themselves brought Austrians, Russians, and Italians. Among the Todt workers there were 27 different nationalities at one time or another. Mrs Tremayne's daughter Norah, visiting Guernsey, reported back to her mother rather confusedly to say the Island was full of what she called, 'Russians, Jews, Niggers, Americans, Italians, Poles and Swedes'.

Nazi racial ideology naturally extended to contempt for black people as their propaganda directed at black American troops was to show. When the Germans captured French black troops in the summer of 1940 this hatred was given free reign. In the latter half of 1942, over 5,000 of these Algerians and 2,000 Moroccans were among Africans still in German hands in France, and some of them found their way to the Channel Islands. Nearly all left in January and March 1944, and on liberation only five Africans, two Algerians and three Moroccans were left on Alderney, but at liberation there were still 88 North Africans on Guernsey.

The main group of Africans arrived in Jersey in August 1943. One hundred and fifteen were housed in a camp at Pier Road together with 24 transferred later from Citadella Camp. Their camp commander, Sergeant Mohammed ben Mohammed from Marrakesh, proved an excellent leader of men, and maintained morale and probably the best standards of cleanliness and efficiency of any camp on the Island. There were North African Todt workers on Jersey earlier than this as among the first deaths of Todt workers which occurred in February 1942 were four Algerians who ate hemlock by mistake. At liberation there were stated to be three Algerians and one Arab on the Island besides the POWs at Pier Road.

The Africans worked on the railway bridge over the English Harbour, the building of tunnels, and the petrol dump at Avranches Manor, and as POWs they were entitled to pay at the rate of 50 pfennings a day. The Germans sometimes seized this money, but ben Mohammed insisted his men form a common fund with some of it to purchase supplies.

Because they were POWs of an ally, and readily identifiable by colour, the Africans attracted considerable help from Islanders, and when they left ben Mohammed wrote an open letter in the
Jersey Evening Post
to thank the Islanders. Much of this help was channelled through Leon Dubras who negotiated the purchase of cosmetics, toothpaste and soap at Granville. As liaison officer with the Africans, he was able to channel complaints to the Red Cross as conditions in the camp worsened during 1944.

Margaret Ginns has studied the Africans in some detail and besides Dubras and Gouedart mentions a considerable number of other helpers including stall holders who gave them free produce, farmers in St Clements, shopkeepers who did things like repair their clothes, people in the General Hospital, and even the Jersey Bowling Club who sent them playing cards and skittles.

There were 3oo
French Jews mainly confined in Norderney Camp, their presence on Alderney recalled by a carved Star of David, and the named graves of eight of them later given a permanent memorial. Monsieur Albert Eblagon was one of these Jews who surviv
ed who described to Solomon Stee
koll his introduction to
Alderney
at three o'clock in the morning when, 'in darkness we were forced to run
two kilometres to Camp Norderne
y, while the German guards stabbed into our backs with bayonets while also kicking us all the time.' How many Jews died is a matter of dispute, but there can be no doubt that many did in transit from the Island when their usefulness as workers had been exhausted.

Tragically it was the British who would be responsible for the deaths of some at least of these departing Todt workers. On 3 July 1944, the
Minotaure
set out from St Helier with several hundred Todt prisoners on board. On 4 July the
Minotaure
was attacked by British light craft. The bows of the
Minotaure
were nearly blown off, and the ship drifted towards St Malo. It is estimated that half, perhaps 200 or more drowned, including French Jews.

Military Intelligence documents name three Dutch firms contracted to Todt employing Dutch harbour workers and at liberation there were still 38 on Guernsey, and 36 on
Jersey. Attempts by Solomon Stee
koll to obtain a list of Dutch Todt workers who died in the Channel Islands failed although he was able to establish that among prisoners killed in the break out at Toul in 1944 from the death train were two Dutchmen, C. Van den Oever, and G. Wulder. Among those seeking to escape from the Islands there were Dutch names, including Kosta who failed, and Quist who succeeded in the autumn of 1944.

In France the Germans found Republican Spaniards in refugee camps who had fled Franco's regime. Some arrived in December 1941, and early in 1942 over three hundred were brought to the Channel Islands. Many of them were withdrawn in August 1943 to be replaced with Italians, but at liberation there were still 35 on Guernsey, and 56 on Jersey. They were quartered first by the airport in the open air with only pieces of corrugated iron for cover and then constructed their own camp on Grouville Marsh. One of the Spaniards was Francisco Font who was sent to
Alderney
and found himself in Norderney in October 1943. He worked at Brave Harbour as a bricklayer 12 hours a day watching with horror the treatment of French Jews and Russians in the camp. He was moved to Jersey in June 1944, but after the loss of the
Minotaure,
transports had stopped, and he remained there to the end of the war. Later he married Kathleen Fox and returned to live on Jersey.

The Russian prisoners including Poles, Ukrainians, Baltic peoples, and other Slavs were treated worst of all. A thousand arrived in
Alderney
in July 1942 and were followed by another 1,800 a month later. They made up the majority of prisoners on the main Islands, and there were still about 300 there at liberation. So badly were Russians treated, that Islanders made numerous efforts to help them, and on Alderney the German Commandant even had
to issue an order forbidding We
hrmacht troops from giving food to Russian prisoners. Similar warnings were given to the Islanders in November 1942 and April 1943, and they were warned of a penalty of six weeks in prison, or a fine of £3,000. The Germans issued warnings about helping escaped Russian prisoners, and the fate of Mrs Louisa Gould dying in Ravensbruck was a reminder of what might happen for committing this offence. In August 1944 the Germans had to admit there were still 13 Russians hiding on Jersey, and the efforts of those like Robert and Connie Vaynor to conceal them have already been described. Their rations were supposed to consist of half a litre (1 pint) of coffee substitute for breakfast, half a litre of cabbage soup for lunch, another half litre in the evening, and a kilo (two pounds) of bread varied very occasionally with a little butter, sausage, or vegetables. Even this diet by no means always reached the prisoners. In Alderney, there were cases of diverted supplies. Two quartermasters in the Wehrmacht were charged in June 1944, and one committed suicide while two Todt officials were also tried for the same offence. Prisoners would go to any lengths for food. When two Russians were shot, the police reported that they had been living in a cave on straw beds with mussels to eat. Death rates were considerable. On Jersey, for instance, between August 1942 and March 1943, 59 Russians died and their women and children no doubt suffered even more, although little i
s known about them. Ronald Mauge
r saw a prisoner killed at the underground tunnels for asking for another bowl of soup, and Edward Blampied caught sight of a slave hanging by his heels. On Alderney of course there were hardly any witnesses, but there is evidence about brutality from four sources: s
tatements given to Major Pantche
ff in 1945, survivors' accounts
, reports given to MI9 by escape
rs, and List's trial record.

Pantcheff cites the death of a Pole, Antony Onuchowsky which was described by a friend from the same village. He had swollen feet. 'One day, after work when our squad was marching back to camp, he could not keep up, and fell behind. I saw the Truppfuhrer remain with him and get to work with his truncheon. Later we lost sight of him ... The next morning after reveille when I went to the latrine Onuchowsky lay there on the other side of the barbed wire at the side of the camp.' He died on 28 September 1942. William Wernegau and Robert Prokop, who were inmates had given accounts of what they saw. Lieutenants Klebeck and Braun were
active. So too were Corporal Re
bs, a French army deserter, Corporal Wesc, a Czech, said to have shot a German political prisoner, Rudi Busch, and Private Rometsch, a Croat, said to have killed Josef Lammel. One of the German prisoners, a member of the Gestapo sentenced for some offence, called Franz Eschke, was said to have b
een hanged in the kitchen. Werne
gau referred to shooting and strangulation as the main methods of killing. According to an escaper's evidence, a German political prisoner was shot dead in Oliver Street, and another was killed by an Alsatian dog.

During his trial for negligence, List said he had considered the transfer of sick prisoners from Sylt unnecessary because he 'could deal with the matter on the spot'. This chilling reference raises the issue of how far Sylt was a small scale death camp; it was certainly the annex to other death camps like Neuengamme. Total extinction was a possibility before evacuation was decided upon instead. Some inmates have argued
a death tunnel was made at Norderne
y for the purpose of killing prisoners, and statements were made about this in 1945 by Jean Joseph Bloch and Henri Uzan. Both of them claimed that Heinrich Evers held a rehearsal and, 'forced us into the tunnel which had an entrance, an exit and air vents. These were all sealed. At the entrance there was a concrete s
tructure with a machine gun. Eve
rs told us that we were being put into the tunnel for our own safety because the Allies had mounted a seaborne invasion of Alderney.' They were kept in this tunnel for a quarter of an hour and many became ill from asphyxia and vertigo.

The answer to the questions: how many Todt workers died, and how many Sylt prisoners died,
are
difficult to provide. Robin Cox made a study of 29 Island graveyards, and reached a total of 509 for all camp burials on the Islands. Of these 433 have been identified by name, and 76
are
uncertain. 387 of them were on Alderney clearly showing a higher death rate there. Unfortunately, this total is not the whole story. There is evidence from survivors about individuals whose graves cannot be traced. Two Russian survivors testified to a number of names: Gorbatch, Pashko, Bojko, as being untraceable. Nor is there any trace of those like Rudi Busch and Josef Lammel shot at Sylt. There is also evidence that
Alderney
victims were buried elsewhere - the solitary Chinese killed by Evers ended up in Le Foulon, and Italians were buried at St Brelades in Jersey until Italy changed sides in the war.