Jersey
under the Swastika!

Page 26 - Philip Frederick Le Sauteur

CHAPTER EIGHT

Deportation

We are now in the month of September, 1942. During the early days the occupants of the entire district of Coin Varin, St. Peter's were warned to be ready to clear out, lock, stock and barrel, at very short notice. This order was probably linked up with the very extensive tunneling work which was being carried out herein.

On the 7th of that month hopes were raised, only to sink again, when a very large ship lay in St. Aubin's Bay with its escort of three destroyers — a really perfect target. At about 1.30 p.m. all the guns around went into action against a solitary plane, and everyone thought the fun was due to begin. The only result, however, was that one of the numerous shells sent up failed to explode until it fell on the Coast Road near Pontac, where it did a little material damage, but caused no casualties. It was during this month that some important orders were issued, important from the angle that they affected in a very personal way many of the Islanders.

The more important orders were usually preceded by rumours — not invariably correct in detail, but still giving some bearing on what was to follow. On September 15th, however, the EVENING POST contained the notice:

By Order of the High Authorities the following British subjects will be evacuated and transferred to Germany:

(a) Persons who have their permanent residence not on the Channel Islands, for instance those who were caught here by the outbreak of war.

(b) All those men not born on the Channel Islands and 16 to 70 years of age who belong to the English people, together with their families. Detailed instructions will be given by the Feldkommandatur.

Der Feldkommandant, Knackfuss. Oberst.

Apparently the Germans had made all the necessary arrangements secretly, for during that night and the following day, accompanied by Members of the local Police, they were busy delivering notices to many of the people affected by the order, instructing them to present themselves at the Weighbridge at 4 p.m., taking a certain minimum of luggage.

Some people did not receive their notice until mid-day, and so were given very little time to pack and make the necessary arrangements, and none at all to acquire the warm clothing and other items specified. It was pitiful to see hundreds of people, often accompanied by young children, herding down towards the harbour, having been routed from the homes and all that mattered most to them, now on their way to a foreign country where the general conditions were unknown to them. Many of them were not British at all, having been born of Jersey parents and brought to the Island as infants, whilst almost all of them had lived in Jersey for many years.

In this, the first deportation, exemption was given to those working for the Germans, doctors, clergy and certain essential service workers, although, it must be stated, in the subsequent shipments there were almost no exemptions. Certain rejections were made on medical grounds, and, in the first instance, of those with more than four children. In the later batches, it almost seemed that there was a preference for deporting those with larger families.

The deportees were kept waiting about for several hours while the red tape formula was being gone through, and meanwhile the States had arranged for a picnic meal, and each person was provided with a tin each of milk, meat and beans, and a slab of chocolate, to help them while travelling to their destination. St. John Ambulance Members were on duty, rendering valuable assistance, and when eventually the two ships left for St. Malo with 555 evacuees aboard, there were a St. John man and nurse, as well as a local doctor, on each ship.

Large crowds gathered in the roads leading to, and overlooking, the harbours, but, anticipating demonstrations, the numerous Germans on duty ostentatiously paraded with full kit, rifles, tommy guns and boxes of hand grenades. The singing of Tipperary and other British songs by the deportees as they were leaving the pier at 9 p.m. was taken up by the many onlookers, whereupon the German guards quickly dispersed the crowds.

During the time while these unfortunate people were waiting, the German officers were practising a refined form of cruelty by assuring the people that they were being taken to Germany for repatriation to England. There were many very hurried marriages amongst those affected by the order — in some cases, girls married in order to avoid going with their British-born parents, and in others in order that the girl might go with her man in preference to being separated.

The second batch of deportees left on the 18th, but only one shipload went on this occasion. Of the two ships which left on the 16th, only one returned to Jersey, and another ship earmarked for the purpose was, at the last moment, rejected as unfit for carrying passengers, so that half of those warned to go were sent home with instructions to be ready again in a week's time. This respite was appreciated by some, who felt that something might happen in the week to prevent their being sent to Europe, but in many instances the evacuees had employed the few hours at their disposal to get rid of their houses — and even food stores - amongst their friends while in a few cases, the returning unfortunates discovered that their homes had been ransacked during their few hours absence, and so had nothing to come back to for that week. It is very difficult to believe that there are those who will take advantage of other people's trials in this way. Yet it did happen, even in Jersey!

There were fewer exemptions and rejections for health reasons in this batch of deportees, and in some instances where the person concerned was unable to present himself at the depot because of illness, the local doctor's certificate was not regarded as sufficient, and a German doctor himself visited the patient to make sure that here was no "dodging".

During these few days of great nervous strain, there were several cases of suicide, as well as several unsuccessful attempts at suicide, but on the whole it was amazing how pluckily and cheerfully those affected by the deportation order took the complete upheaval of their lives. As an example of the type of courage which, though genuine, does not qualify for medals — a small shopkeeper, no longer young in years, and not long in business either, was amongst those sent back to wait for another ship. He re-opened his place of business, for one week only! It so happened that in the long run he never went away, but that was a most unlikely contingency at the time. He was lucky, but he was a courageous man none the less.

Altogether, there was every reason for being proud of the courageous and philosophical manner in which people carried on without displaying their natural fears and anxieties to the Germans.

Bad seamanship on the part of the German Captain of this second evacuee ship resulted in her ramming some barges, running aground, and then ramming the pier heads before getting clear — a performance which must have been very distressing to the unfortunate passengers. Heavy weather followed for a few days, with the result that the doctor and St. John man and nurse were marooned in St. Malo for some days. A more pleasing episode was that the S.S. DIAMENDE, a vessel of some 1,000 tons, became firmly fixed on the Dog's Nest reef. She became a total loss, and the local garrison was kept very busy along the beaches salvaging flotsam. Rumour had it that several bodies were recovered during these operations.

A broken telephone line near Samares Manor (alleged to have been cut, but almost certainly broken by straying cattle) annoyed the Germans, and civilian pickets were posted all night for several nights as punishment.

Continued gales caused a postponement of the date of the third shipment of deportees until September 29th, and in addition to those sent back from the previous batch and further English-born people who expected to be called, quite a number of "undesirables" received notice at the last moment to go. Some of the latter were of the genuinely undesirable category - regular drunkards and the like — whilst others were those convicted and punished at some previous date for such "heinous" offences as curfew breaking, having a radio, or being concerned in a traffic accident.

Some 600 people were taken in two vessels, the remainder (about 200) of those who had been warned to appear being informed that the specified number had been taken. These remaining persons were advised to return home and resume their normal occupations, as there would be no further evacuations in the immediate future. So once again there was the spectacle of people returning to empty homes, faced with the stupendous task of recovering their belongings. There were some who had attended the assemblies of each of the three evacuations, and had been left each time.

There were one or two incidents during the evening amongst the crowds assembled at the various vantage points, when the people broke through the cordons of troops, and had to be "persuaded" back with fixed bayonets. Quite a number of the younger element spent the night in goal as a result, and there was some damage to clothing and cycles in the melee. Later, those concerned were given sentences ranging from three years downwards, the culprits under 18 years of age being subjected to a fine in lieu of a prison sentence.

During November the first news trickled through from the unfortunate deportees in Germany. Their whereabouts were not then disclosed, but it later became known that they were in internment camps at Wersach, Bibrach and Lafen, and were being kept in close confinement. The food conditions were very poor indeed until, after they had been there for some weeks, they began to receive Red Cross parcels containing many little luxuries, things which had become just memories during the previous two years. Indeed, it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that the Red Cross saved the lives of many of these evacuees, and certainly by bringing them something to look forward to, helped in no small measure to save their reason under the trying conditions under which they were being compelled to live.

Early the following year (mid-January, 1943) a special mail delivery to those who had held commissions in the British Forces, requested their attendance at College House, where they were interviewed and medically examined with reference to their fitness for evacuation to Germany. The medical examination was very perfunctory. It seemed that excuses were being put into the mouths of those who were being examined. Later on, they were re-examined by another German doctor, who upheld the previous reports. Checking up on each other seemed to be a regular process with the Germans, who did not appear to trust each other too far.

Others interviewed included officials of "secret" societies and "undesirables" — the latter included a dentist who let his feelings get the upper hand of him to the extent of punching a German officer, one indiscreet fellow who was seen using a camera, another who had sabotaged the war effort persistently by peeling potatoes too thickly at the German hotel where he was working, and some habitual drunkards, as well as many others who had offended against one or other of the myriads of petty regulations which the Germans deemed necessary to keep the population in order .

After several day-to-day postponements, those selected (between 60 and 70) were taken to internment camps on  February 13th. Only five officers were due to go, and one of these was so affected that he committed suicide.

More interviews at College House for those regarded as "undesirables" foreshadowed yet another evacuation, and further names for the German "Black List" were gathered by taking the Identity Cards of offenders against minor traffic orders instead of fining them on the spot. This shipment was made on February 25th, and the 27 who went included a few men and women who had volunteered to work in Germany, one  or two members of the "idle" class, and the remainder "undesirables", some of whom could not recollect or find out what their offence had been.

During July, quite a few people who had been indirectly connected with offences against the occupying authorities (for instance, Advocate Ogier, whose son had been accused of espionage, but who was found to be "natural") were taken to Germany at very short notice. There were several people who had been recently convicted for such offences as stealing from the Germans, and these accompanied this batch of deportees.