For my A2 theme in photography, I will be looking at the German Occupation and the war. To start off my project, we went to the Société Jersiaise to look deeper into the war and to look at interesting pictures taken during the time.
The story of Jersey’s occupation:
The German Occupation of Jersey began one week after the British Government had removed all military forces from the island, fearing the safety of the people who lived there. On the 28th of June, the German air force bombed and machine-gunned multiple sites on the island, not knowing of the demilitarization. The attacks killed 10 people and wounded many more. A few days later, on the 1st of July, Germany dropped an ultimatum from the air demanding the immediate surrender of the island. White flags and crosses were placed in prominent places, and later that day Jersey was taken over by air-borne troops.
With the Germans in power, supplies ran out and left the soldiers and the civilians with very little to make use of. Food shortages on Jersey were finally relieved by the arrival of the Red Cross ship SS Vega, bringing food parcels to Jersey. Before then, substitutes had been used to replace everyday foods, with seawater replacing salt, for instance, and a mixture of parsnip and sugar beet replacing tea. A Red Cross relief ship arrived in Jersey on 30 December with food parcels, and cases of salt, soap and medical supplies. The visits of the Red Cross ship proved a lifeline to the starving islanders.
Hitler ordered the conversion of Jersey into an impregnable fortress. Thousands of slave workers from countries like Russia, Spain, France, Poland, and Algeria built hundreds of bunkers, anti-tank walls, railway systems, as well as many tunnel complexes. All of the fortifications built around the island were part of Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall”. Today, traces of Jersey’s defenses and wartime occupations can be discovered across the island, especially in St. Ouen’s Bay.
The occupation of Jersey lasted for 5 years, starting from 1st of July 1940, and eventually ended on the 9th of May 1945.
To gain some start photos for this theme and to give me an idea of what I could do, I went around town and took images of things which were either part of the war, or places which pictures were taken of during the war which are still there now.
Contact sheets:
