In this zine I want to show objects and people of the occupation as one. I will be doing this through the use of my own images, through the use of archive images and potentially some text. I decided to focus on both people and objects as I believe they go hand in hand, and displaying them together can help explain the occupation through a more personal way. Because I think both objects and people go together, I will make sure to include a photomontage in my zine as my montages show images of people and objects merging together and this perfectly demonstrates how there is correlation between the two.
Sequencing:
Since my zine is going to contain a mixture of archive images, text, and my own images I want to make sure there is a specific order to make sure my zine doesn’t end up looking unorganized. I plan on using a mixture of full bleed, and single pages in order to display my images in a successful way. I may also experiment with different way of placing my images on the page, such as trying different types of borders in order to make my images stand out.
In this photo shoot I plan on taking image of the occupation objects in a slightly more artistic way. I will be using very vividly colored background as this is what Rafal did in his work, and I like how it makes the objects he’s photographing stand out more. I also like how he used geometrical patterns in order to symbolise being being enclosed or trapped, so I will be using different geometrical shapes in order to do the same thing as it symbolises how Jersey people must have felt under the occupation. I want to create a strong sense of displacement through contrasting colours, and a feeling of being trapped through the use of geometrical shapes.
Here are all the images I took, you can see the both the flagged and rejected images.Here is an image of just my flagged images, which are my best images.From my flagged images, I colour coded my best pictures green and my least favorite, red.
Best images
Further developing using archive images
1st montage:
Firstly, I used the patch tool to get rid of some marks that can be seen on the card as I wanted the background to appear very pristine and put together.I then cropped the image because I wanted the object to be at the centre since it didn’t look right having a lot of clear space to the left of the image.I then used to quick selection tool to highlight the area shown above as I wanted to place an archival image there. I then right clicked the area, and pressed layer via cut so that part of the image became a layer that I could delete at the end.I then dragged and dropped an archival image onto my initial image and placed it just above my background. I also decided to use the quick selection tool again to get rid of the lens of the object. I then moved the archival image in the background, so that one of the figures could be seen through the lens area.Final image.
2nd montage:
To begin, I used the quick selection tool in order to get rid of any markings on the backgrounds I used.I then used the quick selection tool to get rid of the area of my original picture that I wanted gone.As you can see above, I got rid of the area within the geometrical shapes as I thought this was the place where the archival image would look best.Final image.
3rd montage:
Similarly to before, I dragged my archival background picture onto my original image.I then selected certain areas of the picture that I wanted removed so that we could see the archive image in the background.Final image.
4th montage:
To achieve my final montage, I used the archive image seen above. I thought an interesting part of the image was the nurse and the soldier shaking hands, and also the medical sign. I selected both of these areas using the quick selection took, so that I was then able to place them onto my image. After selecting them, I used to eraser tool to clean up the edges as I knew they would be going onto a photo with a bright background.
After placing the two sections of the archive image, onto my own, I then went on to open another archival image of a Jersey landscape as I thought this would make my montage more interesting. I selected the blue area of my montage with the quick selection tool, deleted the selected layer and dragged the archival image on. Since the lighthouse would’ve originally been covered to the my placement of the medical sign, I then flipped the image horizontally.
Final image.
Initial images vs. Final images
1st montage:
Original Image
Archive Image
2nd montage:
Original image
Archive image
I thought these images would look interesting together because it shows a medicinal side to the occupation in 2 different time periods. It almost looks like we are looking into the past through the geometrical shape, and we can also see a medical product used back then, in the present.
3rd montage:
Original Image
Archive Image
I chose to place these 2 specific pictures together because I thought they had an interesting narrative together. My original image contains an emergency ration pot, with 2 little figures of old men sitting on top. By having the picture of the 2 young soldiers as a background, it could represent the 2 people in different time periods.
4th montage:
Original Image
Archive Image
Archive Image
I chose to put all these specific images together as they’re all quite similar in theme. I added the nurse and the medical sign onto my original image because the original image contains bandages as my object, so I thought something medical related would be fitting. I decided to add the landscape as my background as I thought it makes it more related to Jersey under the occupation.
This photo book was created by a Polish photographer named Rafal Milach. He was born in 1978 in Gliwice, a city in Southern Poland. He is best known for being a member of Magnum Photos and also for his photo book “The first march of gentlemen”.
In the summer of 2016, he was invited to take part in the Kolekcja Września artist residency program. While there he became ware of a children’s protest which had occurred when the German had occupied Poland, which the town had become known for. They attempted to change many things, such as getting rid of the Polish language from the school curriculum. This led to over 100 children from the Catholic People’s school going on strike as a protest against the Germanisation of their education and schools. This strike is remembered for its’ triumph and has since become an event that is always associated with the town of Września.
“The most important thing was to create a story that would be accessible to everyone because this is, in the first place, my vision of a society, in which individuals can protest in the public space, regardless of consequence,” he explains. “The initial idea of working with the archive was sustained, but the topic changed as I began looking for material that could occupy two spheres – discipline and pacification, and the sphere of freedom – and to bring these elements together in a series of collages.” – Source
During the time of his residency, there were also mass rallies due to the government trying to gain more judiciary power. The children’s march along with these rallies inspired his book. The photo book contains photo montages which show illustrations from the 1902 children’s strike along with characters who lived in the communist era, which he was able to create thanks to the help of archive images.
The book is very brightly coloured, contains many different types of shapes and is bound together with a long red string. This along with its size, makes it similar to the size of a children’s exercise book, and this all refers back to the children’s march, which was the initial inspiration for the project.
[the design is] “like a toy, like a candy – something nice to look at and to touch,” – Source
Analysis
Contextual: This is a montage from Rafal’s book which refers to political activism that came from the children’s march in 1902. Technical: This was created using archival images along with coloured backgrounds. This could have been made digitally using software such as photoshop, or it could have also been done by hand by simply cutting and sticking images, then photographing them. Visual: In this image we see a young man dressed in vintage clothing. The young man is also in black and white. This along with the clothing tells us that it is perhaps an older image. We can also see a very colourful, almost candy like, background which is half red and half blue. Both these colours are extremely overpowering to the audience, which helps draw our attention. The person in the photo appears to be enclosed in a sort of geometrical shape, yet his features do not show him looking scared or worried, instead he demeanour appears calm and put together. This book has a strong sense of contrast and displacement. Conceptual: The colours used and the geometrical shape in the centre is a conceptual metaphor which refers back to the children’s march as vivid colours are normally associated with younger people, and the geometrical shape may refer to mathematical teaching aids. The person pictured almost appears to be trapped, which could be a metaphorical way of showing how the young people must have felt to have their education system changed.
The light on the left is the continuous light, which is also known as a fill light as it has a diffuser of it. When photographing it should be set up to around 500 kelvin, and the dimmer can be adjusted in order to make the light brighter or darker.
The light on the right side if called a key light, which is the strongest light. It projects a very strong, clear light in for the camera to clearly be able to focus on the object.
Behind the backdrop, we also have a back light. This helps the backdrop appear slightly lighter, as it is translucent and allows minimal light through.
when photographing using this set up, you should use a slow shutter speed , which means it is a good idea to use a tripod and a cable release as it will mean the camera wont shake and make the images blurry. The white balance should be adjusted to match the type of light the continuous light is emitting. The F stop should be quite high, around 16 as this gives the image a shorter depth of field as the aperture is smaller.
This set up is effective when taking images of things with dimensions, as you can experiment with angles and lighting in order to emphasize different parts of the object. This is also useful when capturing lots of objects together, as it allows to a lot of space, and it contains a lot of different lighting set ups to effectively be able make the groups of objects look aesthetically pleasing.
Second light setup
This set up can be used to capture images from a higher angle. On the left, there is a flash head light which is triggered by the transmitter which is connected to the camera. It is also important to place a sandbag on the tripod in order for the weight to be balanced, so the camera doesn’t fall over. It is important to place the camera parallel to the 3rd leg of the tripod as this means the camera will be straight. To be able to see what is being photographed, there is a ladder placed on the right hand side, to help you be able to looking through the view finder.
This set up is highly effective when wanting to photograph things that appear 2D or almost flat, such as books, or newspapers since you may only want to be capturing these things from a front facing angle.
Photo shoot
Here are all the images i took.I then flagged my best images.From my flagged pictures, I colour coded my best and worst images, green being my best, and red being my worst.
Developing
To edit my image, I increased the exposure slightly in order to make the background of the image whiter. To make the object very prominent, I increased the contrast almost all the way.I also adjusted the tone curve in order to increase the highlights in the image, as it helped the object to stand out more among the background. I also cropped the images as I thought there was too much unnecessary background space.Final image.In order to make my edited images fairly similar, and is if they were part of a series. I increased the exposure to make the image brighter, and increased the contrast to make the colours stand out. I didn’t increase the contrast on this image as much as I did on the previous image as the lighting on this image was slightly warmer, and if I increased it too much the tone would be too yellow. Due to the irregular tone of the picture, I had to increase the whites in order to balance the tone. Decreasing the vibrancy also helped to even out the tone, as it made the image less saturated.I adjusted the tone curve so that the highlights were more prominent, and I cropped the picture as i didn’t like the slightly grayish parts of the outside of the image.Final image.To develop this image I decreased the temperature as the image looked too warm in order to match the other edited pictures. Increasing the exposure made my picture brighter, and I also increased the contrast so that the object would stand out in front of all the white space. I then adjusted the Highlights, Shadows and whites in order to get a good balance of light and darkness within the image. Increasing the vibrancy helped the object stand out, while making the background whiter.As I mentioned before, my aim was to make the object stand out and have the background whitened. I adjusted the tone curve to further achieve this objective better.Final image.
Initial images vs. Final images
I really like how the object in the image above stands out a lot more from the background. I also think the colours are a lot more vivid, and they stand out more as it almost appears as there is no background. I like how my final picture has more dimension to it due to the emphasized shadowing and the highlight on the objects.
The objects in this image all have their own different type of texture, which I think is brought out more in the final image. I like how you an see all the details in the parcel such as some staining, and scratches. You can also see the rusting on the emergency ration box a lot more clearly. I think this makes my image a lot more successful as it gives the photo a lot more character, and it emphasizes how there is a rich story and history behind each object, which otherwise may not have been as notable to an audience.
I like how the bicycle light looks a lot bolder and clearer in my final image, compared to my initial one. I think this makes the image far more interesting because it makes the object look slightly more mysterious, which may be intriguing to an audience. However, I think the final outcome could’ve been improved if I would’ve left the shadowing of the object on the bottom left hand side as it would help add a more dramatic effect to the picture.
Klaus was born in 1977. He lives and works in Vienna, Austria. His project titled “one third” is a prime example of still life images in the modern world.
“According to a UN study one third of the world’s food goes to waste – the largest part thereof in the industrialized nations of the global north. Equally, 925 million people around the world are threatened by starvation.”
“According to a UN study one third of the world’s food goes to waste – the largest part thereof in the industrialized nations of the global north. Equally, 925 million people around the world are threatened by starvation.”
“One third” is a photography series that draws attention to food waste. All the images in this series are of food items that have gone by their sell date. This project was completed over a period of nine months, in his own apartment, keeping different types of food in plastic containers in his bathroom.
In 2011, there was a survey on food waste completed by the UN. The report found that one third of all food produced for human consumption went to waste due to variables such as consumer decisions, which is shocking considering that more than 9 million people are starving.
All the images in the series were positioned and made to look very elegant, using backdrops and different types of dishes and plates, to mirror how food is portrayed in the media in an almost appealing way.
“From the beginning, it was obvious for me that I wanted to quote the aesthetics of advertising photography, because I thought there is a little bit of a twist if I really style the food and make it look perfect. On first sight you react with ‘ok that looks nice,’ and then you realize what you are looking at.” -Pichler on “one third”
Each food product that he pictures also contains a detailed history, that he researched himself, of where it was grown/produced and how far it traveled to reach the supermarket shelf, which you can see under the image below:
“Pichler gathered all of this data himself, which was as challenging as making the photographs. Since European law says that while the origins of food must be kept on record, retailers and producers are not obligated to share the information with consumers, Pichler met a wall of silence when announcing his intentions. “-Source
The UN were very interested in the creative narrative that Pichler was creating and showcase his photo series at their annual meeting and at food waste events.
Carrots Sort: Baby- carrots / Place of production: Tuvaila, Arumeru, Tanzania / Cultivation method: Outdoor plantation / Time of harvest: All- season / Transporting distance: 6.068 km / Means of transportation: Aircraft, truck / Carbon footprint (total) per kg: 6,59 kg / Water requirement (total) per kg: 24,0 l / Price: 39,95 € / kg
Technical: This image appears to be taken in a £studio setting” as we can clearly see a black backdrop. This image also appears to have been taken using a professional lighting set up. Context: This picture is part of the “one third” photo series captured by Klaus Pichler. Visual: In this image we can clearly see rotting carrots placed strategically on a white plate. The white plate stands out brightly amongst the black background helping to create an eye catching contrast. The placement of the carrots are also visually appealing, which is odd considering the food being photographed isn’t presented in a traditionally appealing way. The reason why it looks interesting is because it was placed in a specific order in which we can see the next carrot in a more decomposed form when compared to the one previous. Conceptual:This image is one of many from the series that was taken in order to try and show consumers how much food goes to waste due to our un-environmentally friendly shopping habits.
A still life is a painting of a range of inanimate objects. This became very popular in the 16th century in the Netherlands where it was called “stilleven”, however this form of art can be seen all the way back in ancient times.
History
Still life paintings were seen in as early as the 15 century during the Egyptian times where paintings of different foods such as meat, fish and crops were discovered in ancient burial sights. The Romans and the Greeks also made similar forms of art using a technique called Frescoes which is where they painted on plaster. In the middle ages this form of art was modified to include more religious elements. In the Renascence era, floral designs became more popular. Paintings from this time usually show a vast amount of flowers from different areas around the world all blooming in the same vase. During the Dutch golden era, this was adapted slightly to create painting known as Vanitas which are floral painting that were paired together with objects like human skulls and hour glasses to convey the concept of the nature of life. Closer to the modern day era, this technique was adopted by artists such as Van Gough who painted lots of images of objects such as sunflowers, water jugs and wine bottles.
Dutch still life
Dutch still life painting are known for depicting objects such as fruit, flowers and meat. When looking deeply into these painting we are able to focus on underlying metaphors. This era was known for its wealth. This was a time where overseas trading was prominent in the Netherlands and exotic luxuries from all over the world were imported into the country. Luxuries included things such as tobacco, spices, salt, gems, tea, silk and sugar. Dutch citizens wanted to celebrate their new found imports by incorporating them into their art. From this point on, these paintings became more elaborate and affluent.
Cherries and strawberries were used to represent men’s souls and dragonflies were used to show evil since it was seen as a subspecies to butterflies which represent salvation. Skulls and hourglasses were also very common in dutch still life paintings as a warning, and were often seen next to luxury goods as a reminder that such things would not be important in the after life.
Analysing Still life paintings
Banquet Piece with Mince Pie, 1635
by Willem Claesz Heda
In this painting we can see an abundance of goods and luxuries. The gold and silver jugs on the table shows a high status and symbolises riches, it also pops against the background. The tablecloth also reflects power as it seems to be a type of quite expensive cloth, perhaps silk. On the table we can see all sorts of foods from lemon imported from Mediterranean countries, to mince pie that was seasoned with spices from eastern countries. These imported goods show a high social status and an abundance of wealth.
An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life, c. 1640 by Harmen Steenwyck
In contrast to the image above this painting is slightly different as it is more religious in symbolism. Firstly, it is clear to see that it is a lot more monotone, and a lack of light shining which shows that the concept is darker or more serious. All the objects on the table are displayed in a chaotic order which could represent sadness or anger, and implies that someone may have been present at the scene and then left. We can also see that although the image contains some objects, there is quite a lot of bare space. This represents a feeling of emptiness that comes with having luxuries. The painting also refers to death as there is a very prominent skull on the table, that the steak of light is shining on to to highlight it further. The presence of books and instruments is used to indicate knowledge. Having the skull in front of the objects shows that when death comes luxuries will not mean anything.
Guiton was the founder of the Jersey photo archive, and he was also a prominent figure in establishing colour photography in Jersey, through using autochrome plates.
The autochrome process my created by the Lumiere brothers; Auguste and Louis in France. Autochrome plates allowed colour photography to be created. These plates were cover in microscopically small pieces of potato starch. When the light passes through, it mixes with the emulsion to create a full colour copy of the photographed scene. The grains of starch were separated into different groups to be dyed red, green and violet. All the different colored grains were then mixed together and put over a glass plate to finally be coated with varnish. Charcoal powder was then added onto the plate to fill in any gaps left by the colored grains. These plates could be used on regular cameras, no extra equipment was necessary.
When placing the plates in the camera, the plain glass side of the plate had to be facing the lens so that the light could pass through before reaching the emulsion. When using these plates, exposure time had to be slight higher, about thirty times longer than black and white plates. The complex manufacturing process of these plates meant that they were more expensive, which limited it to only certain people.
Autochrome plates were also harder to be able to display, for personal viewing it was possible to just hold them up to the light, however when it came to displaying them for others a stand was used in combination with a mirror, or they could also be projected using a magic lantern.
After we had learnt more about Joan’s history, we went into the photography studio to take some portraits of her.
Photoshoot process:
For this photo shoot we used a transmitter on our cameras in order to produce clear images. This transmitter caused the flash to go off when the shutter opened. In combination with this I used an ISO of 100, and my exposure time was 1/125.
Image selection
Here are all the images I took of Joan.Above, you can see all the flagged images which I felt were the best.From all the flagged images, I colour coded them to show which were the best. The green images are the ones I felt were the best, yellow being moderately ok, and red being my least favourite.
Edits:
Before:
After:
To achieve this outcome, I increased the contrast in order to make Joan’s features more prominent. I also slightly increased the exposure in order to brighten the background and to make Joan stand out more among the background. I think this is a successful outcome as it highlights all of Joan’s features clearly, I especially like how the irregularities in the skin such as wrinkles and age spots are clearer as it adds more texture and shows that she has a story.
Before:
After:
To get this image, I decreased the exposure and increased the contrast as the original image was slightly over exposed and made the subject look washed out in the background. Increasing the contrast and increasing the texture helped the subject stand out more and look more bold. I also cropped the image and centred it more towards the middle so the frame was proportionate.I was not fully satisfied with the outcome above so I changed the image so that it was black and white. I think that the black and white filter makes the image seem more dramatic and slightly more emotional as the black and white strips away colour disassociating the person from the audience. After hearing Joan’s story, and how she suffered hardship for all the years during the occupation I thought that this concept was fitting.
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.
The Jersey archive-located on Clarence road- is where all of Jersey’s history is stored and preserved, which contains collections recognised by UNESCO.
“The Archive is the Island’s national repository holding archival material from public institutions as well as private businesses and individuals. “ -Jersey archive website
Materials from private individuals as well as public institutions are stored in this location. The archive can be used to do things such as tracing family history, and learning further about Jersey during the occupation.
The archive contains many things such as occupation registration cards, Images from the Jersey Evening Post, hospital records, will and testaments and even textiles. The archive’s highest priority is the preservation of documents. Documents are carefully placed in acid free materials and kept in the correct conditions. Although collecting and preserving history is very important to the archive, they also want to make the archives accessible to the local and worldwide community which is why their collections are also online.
The role and purpose of the archive
The role of the archive is to help protect and preserve Jersey’s history so that residents and other people interested are able to learn more about the island’s history. This is important since remembering history is how societies learn from their past mistakes, learn and grow. The archive’s purpose is to give people a clearer understanding of why things are the way they are today, through teaching and providing knowledge of what happened in the past.
“Researchers can use archive resources to trace their family history, the story of their house or street and to find out more about the German Occupation of Jersey during the Second World War.” -Jersey archive website
Occupation registration cards
In December 1940, it was announced to the Jersey people that anyone over the age of 14 had to be officially registered under the Registration and Identification of Persons (Jersey) Order, 1940. This was put in place to control and restrict the movement of Jersey people during the occupation.
“The Archive holds over 31,000 registration cards of those individuals who lived in Jersey during the German Occupation. Each registration card contains personal details, such as name, address, date and place of birth, maiden name and occupation. The cards also include a passport sized photograph.” -Jersey archive website
These cards showed details of islanders living under the occupation, such as their picture, address and family details. Every islander was given a card and the Nazi authorities kept an official set which is now stored at the Jersey archive, after being kept in the bailiff’s chambers for many years after the occupation had ended.
“At first things weren’t too horrendous on the surface of it…it wasn’t until the Germans demanded that everybody be registered under the ‘Registration & Identification of Persons Order, 1940’ that things took a turn for the worse”– source
Each card was accompanied with a blue form that contained extra information that was not on the card, such as any physical peculiarities and any military service experience. Children who were under 14 had their names written on the back of their father’s cards.
The German soldiers required everyone to carry these registration cards as it meant they were easily identifiable if stopped by troops and also since the place of origin was readily available, it became easy to deport those of English origin back to England at the end of the occupation.
The cards were updated regularly and details were added if people had more children or if they moved address. As soon as children reached the age of 14, they were promptly issued with their own card.
Many of the Jersey occupation registration cards have been listed by UNESCO, which means they are registered as they have important cultural or historical significance.
Research: Harold Le Druillenec
Above you can see the registration card of Jersey Resident, Harold Le Druillenec. The card tells us that he was born in St. Ouen, which is in the North West of Jersey. Mary Isabelle Le Druillenec, who was born on 15/05/1938, is registered as his child on the back of the card. Below you can see his blue registration form showing that he was British, a school head master, married, had black hair and green eyes.
After researching Harold further I learnt that him and his family had a very interesting backstory. Harold had a sister named Louisa Gould, who hid a Russian slave worker in her house during the occupation named Feodor Burriy (nicknamed Bill) in 1942. Since Harold was an educated man, and a teacher, he taught Feodor how to speak English along with his siblings. An informer later reported them to German officials and Harold, Louisa and their sister Ivy Foster were taken to German court where they were accused of assisting an escaped prisoner.
This is the image that Louisa Gould had on her registration card.
Harold was found not guilty, however was imprisoned for 5 months since the Germans discovered a radio while searching for Feodor in his home. Ivy Foster who had taken Feodor in for a short time, and also sheltered a different prisoner was also sentenced to 5 months. Louisa was sentenced to 2 years in prison. Ivy avoided being sent to France with her brother and sister after a doctor at the Jersey General Hospital forged papers stating she was too ill to leave the island. Harold was sent to Belfort while his sister Louisa was sent to Ravensbruck, which was a concentration camp for women close to Berlin. This is where they saw each other for the last time.
Here we see an image of Louisa playing with her 2 sons; Edward Richard and Ralph Harry.
Before he was sent to Belsen, Harold spent time at Neuengamme. In 1945 while being transferred to Belsen, he had to spend 5 days on a cattle truck. He was at Belsen for another 5 days, then finally the camp was liberated by British soldiers. Harold was 1 of 2 British men who survived Belsen concentration camp. Harold later testified in the Belsen trial where he gave evidence on how he was treated during his time there:
“I do not know if I shall succeed in giving you an idea of what life in Belsen was like on those last five days. I would like to point out that we suffered from, firstly, starvation, absolute starvation; secondly, complete lack of water for some six days; thirdly, lack of sleep, a few minutes sleep near the burial pits was occasionally possible; fourthly, to be covered with lice and delousing onself three or four times a day proving absolutely useless. If one sat inside the hut or outside in the yard one was covered within five or ten minutes. Then the fatalistic attitude among the prisoners towards what the end would certainly be – the crematorium or the pits.” –Harold Le Druillenec, Belsen Trial.
The belsen trial was held in Luneberg in 1945 where 45 camp guards were accused of war crimes. Harold had to relive his terrible experience again after not being fully restored to health after his time spent there. Harold needed very serious hospital treatment after his experience at the camp.
“In the two previous camps there was an attempt made at cleanliness, although the atrocities or sadism in the other camps were worse than Belsen. I think I can fairly describe Belsen as probably the foulest and vilest spot that ever soiled the surface of this earth.”
Harold’s sister Louisa fell ill soon after leaving Jersey, and was taken to the gas chamber in Ravensbruck in 1945 where she died.
Memorial dedicated to Louisa Gould opposite St Ouen parish hall
The POW Feodor Burriy was never found by the Germans and continued to be sheltered by another islander Bob Le Sueur who in his 20s spent the last year of the war moving Feodor from hiding place to hiding place, along with 7 other POWs. The first time Bob went to Louisa’s house, she told him “Bill” was French, as she had taught him to speak English with a French accent, however it was clear to Bob that he was not actually French.
“One night Bill got so drunk he crouched down and started a Russian song and dance routine.”
Feodor was a talented artist, and sketched many pencil portraits during the 2 years he stayed with Louisa. Strict control in the soviet union meant that Feodor wasn’t able to contact Bob again until the 60s. They finally met each other again in 1992 when Bob travelled to Russia, after the USSR had collapsed meaning travel restrictions were not as strict. Feodor then returned to Jersey in 1995 for the 50th anniversary of Jersey’s liberation. 3 years later, he died at the age of 80.
“…he agreed to come and as the plane landed the pilot announced he was returning for the first time since 1945. All the passengers burst into applause.”
There was also a film made which is based on Harold, Louisa and Ivy’s story that was released in 2017. The script was written by Louisa Gould’s great niece, Jenny Lecoat. Bob Le Sueur also helped with the script. George Lawrie, who’s an extra in the film, is the great great grandson of Louisa Gould.
“It took a year to research it and two years before it was picked up”
