Occupation resistance and defiance

Occupation resistance and defiance

This page is based on an article in the Jersey Heritage
website history section

During the German Occupation, from 1 July 1940 until 9 May 1945, the civilian population of 41,000 lived under the overwhelming presence of 11,000 German troops on an Island of nine by five miles.

While large-scale organised resistance activity was not possible, acts of protest, defiance and resistance were undertaken by many Islanders at great risk to themselves.

Typical offences tried by German courts included the possession of a radio – these were confiscated in June 1942 – spreading the BBC news, distributing anti-Nazi propaganda, insulting a member of the German Forces, sheltering escaped Russian slave workers, stealing German goods, attempting to escape from the Island by boat, and possession of a weapon or camera.

Here is the story of some of the important people and places of resistance.

Victoria College House

This Mont Millais building at the top of the school playing field was the Headquarters of the German Civil Affairs Department (Feldkommandantur 515), where Occupation laws were created for the civilian population, and offences against them were tried in a military court.

Islanders given prison sentences in excess of three months were deported to France, with a risk of being moved from a prison to a concentration camp. Prisoners with shorter sentences and those awaiting trial were incarcerated in Jersey’s Newgate Street Prison.

19 Pierson Road, St. Helier

Led by Leslie Huelin and Norman Le Brocq, the Jersey Communist Party (JCP) first met here at Huelin’s flat in late 1943. They soon began circulating translated BBC news sheets amongst the foreign workers and offered shelter to Russians who had escaped from their labour camps. Later the JCP contacted a German anti-Nazi soldier named Paul Mülbach, with whom they produced six propaganda leaflets inciting mutiny in the ranks.

1 Silvertide, Havre des Pas

This was the headquarters of the German Secret Field Police (Geheime Feldpolizei – GFP) who, aalthough not the Gestapo, both dressed and acted like them. The head of the GFP was Hauptmann Bode; his second in command was Hauptwachtmeister Heinz Carl Wolfle, known as 'Wolf of the Gestapo' .

Many Islanders thought to be guilty of offences were brought to Silvertide for interrogation, which was often accompanied by physical abuse. Of this experience Joe Mière wrote: ‘This time three Germans had a go at me and kept knocking me down with nearly every blow. And before I knew it, I was spitting out blood, I reached into my pocket for my handkerchief and I wiped my lips. I could feel bits of teeth in my mouth and as I spat into my handkerchief, there were bits of teeth in the saliva. My lips were cut and I could feel that some of my front teeth were missing. I placed the handkerchief with the bits of teeth in it back into my pocket. I do not remember much after this, being in a state of shock, and found myself back at the prison. The brutal treatment and questions went on for weeks.’

Marina Hotel, Havre-des-Pas

This hotel was owned and managed by John Harris, whose eldest son, Francis, was a member of a small group of youngsters who carried out thefts of German weapons and equipment, small scale sabotage and intelligence gathering. V-Sign, Royal Square During the war the letter ‘V’ was used as a symbol of Allied victory; BBC broadcasts inspired Islanders to use it. Despite it soon being forbidden, many Islanders painted roads, walls and signs with Vs to make the Germans feel as if they were surrounded by a hostile resistance army.

Sisters Lilian Kinnard and Kathleen Norman were deported to prison in Caen for their resistant graffiti. A large 'V' was incorporated into the paving of the Royal Square by stonemason Joseph Le Guyader in the closing months of the Occupation. It was revealed at the time of the Liberation to ‘shouts of triumphant laughter’

7 West Park Avenue

Dorothea Le Brocq hid her Jewish friend Hedwig Bercu in this terraced house for 18 months. When the Island was liberated on 9 May 1945, Hedwig was finally able to come out of hiding. Dorothea’s brave action almost certainly saved Hedwig’s life and in 2016 she was posthumously awarded the honour of Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel.

Occupation Tapestry Gallery, Maritime Museum

The Occupation Tapestry was created to mark the 50th anniversary of the Liberation in 1995. Its 12 panels, one for each parish, represent specific themes and events of the period, and include symbols of resistance such as the V-sign in the Royal Square, use of forbidden radios and escape by boat. A panel named ‘Reflection’ was commissioned in 2015 to mark the 70th anniversary of Liberation.

St Saviour’s Church

On the southern wall of the nave is a memorial plaque to Canon Clifford Cohu, who was the parish minister from 1940. Cohu called out the BBC news while cycling through St Helier and passed it on to patients in the General Hospital. His source was news sheets compiled by cemetery worker Joseph Tierney and Arthur Wakeham, who listened to a forbidden radio belonging to John Nicolle and his father. Eighteen people were eventually arrested in early 1943, with Cohu, Tierney, Nicolle and Arthur Dimmery deported. All died as a result of brutal treatment and disease during their journeys or while at concentration camps.

Pier Road and South Hill

In September 1942 Hitler announced that all English-born residents of the Channel Islands would be deported in retaliation for the deportation to Australia of German civilians working in British-occupied Iran.

Crowds gathered on Pier Road to protest as hundreds were herded onto boats; patriotic singing erupted and echoed back and forth between those on land and on board. On 29 September as many as 1,000 people were present; the demonstration became a riot and many were arrested, Maurice Hill among them. He recalled:

"I was among many people who went up to Pier Road so that we could see across to the boat and give them a good farewell. The first deportation wasn’t quite so bad, the second was a little more boisterous and the third one, there were literally hundreds of us up there.

"The German occupiers didn’t like that very much because we were singing patriotic songs – There’ll Always Be an England, Land of Hope and Glory and that sort of thing. They turned the troops out and they started moving us down Pier Road. Some went to the left, to The Esplanade, and foolishly I joined them.

"The soldiers moved us all along The Esplanade and turned us into Kensington Place, which is a much narrower street, and they had more control over us there. There were a couple of hotels there which were billets for the Germans, and they turned out more troops and started arresting people. A German soldier grabbed hold of me, put a revolver in my back and said, 'come on', so I went."

After three weeks in prison and some interrogation, Maurice Hill was released. In February 1943 he was deported to Germany and interned in Laufen Castle until its Liberation on 4 May 1945.

Greenwood, 45 Roseville Street

On this site stood Albert Bedane’s home and physiotherapy surgery where, at great risk to himself, he sheltered a Jewish woman named Erica Richardson for two years.

Bedane also took in escaped Russian slave workers and others on the run from the Germans. In 2000 Bedane received posthumous recognition of his bravery in the form of Israel’s highest Holocaust honour, 'Righteous Among the Nations'; his medal and certificate are on display in the Occupation Tapestry Gallery of the Maritime.

9 Roseville Street

Clement, Winifred and Vivienne Mylne who were arrested in February 1943 for possessing a forbidden radio, lived here. Radios had been banned in June of the previous year; and cameras.

Vivienne was found guilty of distributing news sheets and valiantly refused to incriminate her friends who had done the same. She was sentenced to three years imprisonment, reduced to ten months, to be served in France.

La Fontaine, Millais, St Ouen

In late 1942 Louisa Gould and her sister Ivy Forster began sheltering a Russian slave worker named Fyodor ‘Bill’ Burriy, who had escaped from his labour camp. They were eventually betrayed by neighbours and traces of Bill’s presence, a forbidden camera and radio were discovered.

Louisa, Ivy and their brother Harold Le Druillenec and friends Dora Hacquoil and Berthe Pitolet were arrested. Louisa, Harold and Berthe were deported, and the others were imprisoned locally. Berthe later escaped from prison in France, but Louisa died in the gas chamber at Ravensbrück in February 1945. Harold, then believed to be the only British man to still be alive at the liberation of Bergen-Belsen , later testified at the Nuremberg Trials.

General Hospital, Gloucester Street

This 18th century building functioned as the Island’s hospital during the German Occupation, when the hospital chaplain was Canon Clifford Cohu, Rector of St Saviour. Despite the ownership and use of radios having been outlawed in June 1942, Cohu spread the BBC rather openly, including to hospital patients to help raise their morale. Many Islanders still fondly remember his acts of defiance, most spectacularly the rendering of the news while riding down the Parade on his bicycle. Cohu and 17 others were eventually tried for receiving and disseminating BBC news in 1943. Cohu received an 18-month sentence and was deported to a prison near Dijon in the first instance, before being moved to prisons in Frankfurt and Naumburg. He was released on 30 August 1944 but was then moved to a ‘work education camp’ at Zöschen where he was treated with merciless , leading to his death on 20 September. He died with a small Bible tightly pressed against his breast.

Political Prisoner Memorial, Gloucester Street

This memorial tablet marks the location of the former Newgate Street Prison, where many Jersey people were incarcerated for acts of resistance. Such acts included defacing German signs, disobeying orders, protesting against the deportation of British-born Islanders, distributing BBC news, attempting to escape, stealing from the Occupiers, being caught out after curfew and sheltering Russian slave workers. Those found guilty of such charges have since become known as ‘political prisoners’ . One was Joe Mière, who for many years campaigned for formal recognition of the Island’s ‘forgotten people’. The plaque was unveiled in 1995 by the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache, who stated: ‘The prison has gone, and the people incarcerated behind its walls are a diminishing band. The site beyond these forgotten walls holds hundreds if not thousands of stories of courage and resilience, most of which will never now be told.’

Grave of Maurice Jay Gould, Allied War Cemetery, Howard Davis Park=

Maurice Gould attempted to escape from Jersey to England in 1942, with friends Dennis Audrain and Peter Hassall. Dennis drowned, Maurice and Peter were arrested and later deported to France.

Having passed through various prisons and camps, Maurice contracted tuberculosis and died in October 1943. Peter survived the war and petitioned for many years to have Maurice’s body returned home; he was eventually reburied here in May 1997.

Lighthouse Memorial, New North Quay

In 1996 this decommissioned lighthouse became a memorial to the 21 Islanders who died in Nazi prisons and camps, having been tried and deported for breaking German Occupation laws. Their names can be read on the plinth around its base, where wreaths are laid each year on 27 January to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

Fauvic Embarkation Point

It was from here that the majority of escape attempts took place in the last months of the Occupation, with escapees being offered assistance from those who lived in the area.

It has been calculated that 152 individuals attempted to escape from Jersey, often in the hope of joining the armed forces and contributing to the war effort, but also to take intelligence to the Allies.

Nine Islanders are known to have drowned during their attempts. At the end of the Occupation, around a half of all political prisoners in Jersey’s jail were imprisoned for attempting to escape or for aiding those attempting to escape.

La Rocquaise, St Brelade’s Bay

This was the home of Suzanne Malherbe and Lucy Schwob, who were also known by their pseudonyms Marcel Moore and Claude Cahun. They were avant-garde surrealist artists and life partners who distributed BBC news bulletins among the German troops, placing them in pockets, briefcases or parked cars – purporting to be the work of ‘the solider without name’. They were apprehended in July 1944 and sentenced to death. Alexander Coutanche, the Bailiff, and the French Consul appealed and they were eventually pardoned.

45 Hill Street

At this address two Russian-born sisters, Augusta Metcalfe and Claudia Dimitrieva, provided a refuge for a fugitive Russian slave worker, and a regular meeting place and information exchange for others.

27 Hill Street

During the Occupation this was the address of the General Accident, Fire and Life Assurance Corporation where a young Bob Le Sueur worked as an office clerk. He was part of a network of islanders who, at great risk to themselves, sheltered Russian slave workers who had escaped from their camps.

The business premises acted as short-term shelter for Fyodor Burriy, known as Bill, who had to be quickly moved from the home of Louisa Gould in the parish of St Ouen, when she was tipped off that the Occupiers had been made aware of Bill’s presence by a neighbour.

Bill stayed at 27 Hill Street for a few days before being moved to a property in St Clement, owned by the des Vergez family.

SS Vega Plaque, Albert Pier

In December 1994, to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Red Cross ship, the SS Vega, a commemorative plaque was installed in the granite wall of the Albert Pier, which forms part of a large red cross. Beside it a large letter V, for Vega, and for Victory was carved into the stonework and highlighted with gilding. The Vega visited the Channel Islands six times, bringing lifesaving food parcels and medicine for the civilian population, averting widespread starvation.

Pavement Quotations, Charing Cross

In 2005, to mark the 60th anniversary of Liberation, engraved pavement slabs were installed in the Charing Cross area of St Helier. Each carries a moving quotation by an eyewitness to the German Occupation and gives an insight into the trauma and suffering of captivity, and joy of liberation.

Those quoted include forced and slave labourers and Islanders who risked severe punishment for assisting them – Bob Le Sueur was one such Jerseyman. He recalled:

"Nazi racists ranked their Russian slave workers as sub-human. Any racial prejudices we personally may harbour are first steps on that same viciously slippery slope."

Together the quotations make a powerful and memorable statement about the resilience and generosity of the human spirit in times of desperation.

Bust of Lord Coutanche, States Building

Alexander Moncrieff Coutanche (9 May 1892 – 18 December 1973) was Bailiff of Jersey throughout the Occupation. The withdrawal of the Lieut-Governor of Jersey meant that the Bailiff had also to take over his responsibilities. Coutanche and his administration had to treat a difficult path and make difficult decisions in their role as a buffer between the Occupiers and the civilian population. Coutanche has since been assessed as a ‘versatile, clever administrator who rose to the challenge of his position even under difficult circumstances’. He was knighted in 1946. The bust of Lord Coutanche sits on a plinth beneath the window of the States Building from which he announced the impending Liberation of Jersey on 8 May 1945.