Marianne Grunfeld (1912-1942)
© Island Archives, Guernsey
Channel Islanders had similar experiences to those living in occupied Europe, but their war narrative was instead tied firmly to that of the British mainland. This emphasised the British victory and glossed over questions of victimhood and suffering. During the first post-war decades, emphasis was placed on military personnel, victory and patriotism.
More recently, the experiences of victims of persecution on The Channel Islands, including Jews, slave workers and those who committed acts of protest, defiance and resistance have been recognised. In 1996, The Lighthouse Memorial in Jersey was unveiled to commemorate the twenty-one people from the Island who did not return from concentration camps and prisons on the continent, and in 2015, a memorial was erected in Guernsey in memory of the ‘Guernsey Eight’ who died in Nazi captivity.
This new exhibition is part of this process of remembering. It draws upon The Wiener Library’s rich archival collections, files recently released by The National Archives, and items belonging to the victims of Nazi persecution themselves to highlight these often overlooked narratives.
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