A comprehensive history and research website dedicated to documenting the Nazi occupation of Alderney has been unveiled.
Lord Eric Pickles, the UK’s Post Holocaust Issues Envoy, has introduced www.occupiedalderney.org, a companion platform to a review initiated on July 27th, aimed at assessing the number of prisoners who perished on the Channel Island during World War II.
This website will serve as a platform for presenting cutting-edge research and, over time, will spotlight crucial documents currently stored within historical archives.
It will also function as a repository for the most recent evidence concerning the individuals, including Jews, Spanish, Ukrainians, and Russian prisoners of war, who lost their lives due to the Nazi policy of 'extermination through labor' (Vernichtung durch Arbeit) in the construction of Hitler's Atlantic Wall.
The occupiedalderney.org site contains prisoner biographies as well as the latest findings regarding the camps, their routines, and their histories.
Lord Pickles underscores that this portal underscores the review's dedication to transparency, remarking, "It provides a comprehensive overview of the latest published evidence and offers an additional channel for individuals possessing evidence to reach out to us. It is an ongoing effort with plans for new entries. Furthermore, the website provides access to the latest research and documents related to the Alderney occupation."
Professor Caroline Sturdy-Colls and Kevin Colls MSc from Staffordshire University shared, "Our aspiration is that this website will serve as a significant resource for anyone with an interest in the history of the Nazi Occupation of Alderney and the sites linked to the coerced and slave labor initiatives. Most importantly, we aim for the website to heighten awareness about the stories of those who lived, toiled, and perished there between 1941 and 1945."
Dr. Gilly Carr from the University of Cambridge expressed her conviction that the website will become a valuable asset. "Seeing one of the recommendations by IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) for Alderney, made in 2019, materialize is truly gratifying. It is of utmost importance that both the local populace and visitors to Alderney, as well as researchers globally, have access to trustworthy and peer-reviewed sources of information regarding the island's German occupation heritage. The majority of information pertaining to these sites is either scattered across archives in Europe or buried in the ground, only accessible through archaeological efforts."
Those possessing additional archival material and estimates of the deceased are encouraged to contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Support for the website comes from the University of Cambridge, Staffordshire University, and the UK Government. Photo by Andree Stephan, Wikimedia commons.