Exhibition "The Bird-Cage"
The Channel Islanders in Ilag VII
Schloss Laufen held a significant number of British citizens, always in greater numbers than those who held papers claiming American citizenship. These Britons came from the Channel Islands, which were occupied by German forces from 1940-1945: the only British territory to be occupied.
Those identified for deportation were taken from the Islands in two waves: September 1942 and February 1943, numbering 2,300 people in total. They were deported in retaliation for the Anglo-Soviet invasion of pro-Nazi Persia (Iran) in August 1941, and the subsequent deportation to Australia of the German nationals working there.
Men from Jersey, Guernsey and Sark born outside the Channel Islands were targeted for deportation in September 1942. In February 1943, those targeted included men who fought in the First World War, those who had spent time in prison for acts of resistance, British Jews, and conscientious objectors. In total, 525 men were sent to Laufen.
The journey to Laufen took several days and sometimes months. After a rough sea crossing to St Malo, France, Islanders were put into second class train carriages. Those deported in September 1942 were held either in Dorsten camp in North Rhine-Westphalia, or Biberach camp in Baden-Württemberg for up to 7 weeks. Those over 64 were deported to Compiègne transit camp outside Paris in February 1943 before being sent to Laufen. Younger men went straight to Laufen.
The first British Camp Senior was Frank Stroobant from Guernsey, followed by Ambrose Sherwill, who took over in mid-1943. Sherwill had been Attorney General in Guernsey before his deportation. Stroobant described the ‘mixed bag’ of Islanders in Laufen as follows:
We included the ex-colonel who had shot tigers at a range of three feet and the simple fisherman from Sark … There were the intellectual types who claimed that life was unbearable without their music and who almost wept on your shoulder when you suggested that they should learn to play a comb covered with tissue paper … The student of religion found it very heavy going sharing a room with 40 men who all swore like troopers …
Images:
Right: A page from the 1942 deportation list; note the name of artist Henry Barnett (©Jersey Heritage).
Below: Groups of some of the Islanders in Laufen (©Jersey Heritage).