Guernsey’s forgotten heroes revealed

A previously unseen archive featuring the testimonies of people who were deported to German prison camps during World War II has been uncovered by a team of researchers working in Guernsey. The unique record, which had lain untouched in an old wardrobe since its compilation, contains the first-hand accounts of Guernseymen and women who were arrested for acts of resistance during the wartime occupation of their island. Many of the statements, which were made to claim compensation money after the war, describe in graphic detail the appalling experiences they had to endure. Others reveal what happened to people who were taken from their homes by the Gestapo, leaving neighbours and friends able only to speculate about what had happened to them, or why. Some never returned. The discovery was made by a team of three academics - Dr. Gilly Carr, Dr. Paul Sanders and Dr. Louise Willmot - who are planning to write the first ever definitive account of protest, defiance and resistance in the Channel Islands during the German occupation of 1940 to 1945. A film about the find and the British Academy-funded project is also being released on the University's YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/cambridgeuniversity) on Thursday (18 November) as part of the "Cambridge Ideas" series of short films.