Joan Tapley

Joan was 6 years old when the occupation of Jersey began, and we were lucky enough as a class to have her come in a hear her experiences first hand in order to help us gain a more personal insight into what things were like.

Joan lived on the North cost of the island, meaning she was closer to France so she could hear all the bombing that was happening over there. The British completely demilitarized the island, and Joan recalled everyone on the island having to hang white sheets outside of their houses to show the Germans that they surrendered. Joan spoke about having a younger friend who lived near her, with whom she watched the German planes flying above Jersey with from the bushes where they were sheltered.

Joan spoke about having ration books, and she also said how in desperate times people would try anything in order to have access to more rations. Joan’s mother registered with the farm across the road from where they lived which meant that they got extra rations of certain things per week.

Joan recalled how the Germans wanted to control movement in the island, so they introduced curfews in the military zone. Everyone who lived in this area had to be inside their homes at 9PM in the winter, which was extended to 10PM in the summer, and no one could leave their house before 6AM. Blackouts were also introduced in Jersey meaning that everyone had to cover their windows and doors, so that the British couldn’t find any areas to attack in Jersey. Despite being restricted, Joan spoke about one night where they took all the covers off the windows and they were able to very clearly and vividly see all the stars in the sky since there was no light pollution.

We were also told about the art of substituting, which became very common practice during this time. Since the amount of rations people got were very little, islanders came up with smart ways to recreate things such as tea and coffee. Parsnips were commonly baked until they were brown and then submerged in boiling hot water to make coffee and tea.

I was very interested to know more about the treatment of the Jersey people by the German solders. Towards the end I asked Joan how, on the whole, people were treated and she said that generally, if you followed the rules and didn’t cause trouble you would be left alone.

One story that stuck with me was when Joan told us about the German soldier who came to her house asking to buy an egg. Joan recalled how one day she came back home to find her father sitting down at the table with his head in his hands. When she asked what was wrong he said that he had denied a starving and ill German soldier and egg, and he said that he “never thought he would be part of man’s inhumanity to man“. Joan said that the German solder said he had been diagnosed with TB and he had not heard from his family in a couple of months. He also said that he had been working in London just before he was conscripted and had to go home and fight in the military. This story stuck with me since Joan mentioned how much her parents despised the German soldiers, but after hearing his story they were very sympathetic of him. It also made me realise that when thinking about the occupation, it is very easy to see the occupying forces as the enemy, however some of those individuals probably did not believe in the cause they were being forced to carry out.