The Photographic Archive of the Société Jersiaise contains over 80,000 images dating from the mid-1840s to the present day (with around 36,000 images from the collection being digitally transferred onto the
Société’s online archive) and is the principal Jersey collection of nineteenth and early twentieth century photography. On the 9th of May 1840 photography; in it’s early development, was introduced to Jersey. Just nine months after first being publicised in urban centres of England and France.

During the visit to the archive, I learnt about a few of the major pioneering photographers of Jersey; these include Will Collie, Charles Hugo, Thomas Sutton, and Henry Mullins, Their subjects, and methods of developing their photographs.
https://societe-jersiaise.org/photographic-archive

Following the introduction to the photographic archives, we were shown a few folders containing archived photographs taken during the occupation of jersey. Their subject matter also varied; such as lifestyle and development of coastal defences, taken by German soldiers and local islanders with photography permits. While viewing the images we also recorded archive numbers onto a check sheet, to request digitised versions of any images which we found interesting.

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Afterwards we were arranged into groups and all given the same pack of photographs to arrange into a narrative. For my group’s narrative, we decided upon condensing the pack into twelve final images, where there were four different images in three scenarios; armament development, guarding the coasts, and lifestyle, respectively. All in ascending order of a focused, simple subject, developing into a larger scene.

On Tuesday the 4th of June we went on a trip to the Societe Jeraise archive which is run off donations and memberships. The visit was an opportunity for us to see how archives function and to identify their purpose in todays society. The A2 project theme was presented to us as being the Jersey Occupation, we were introduced to it via a compliation of videos taken in the time of the occupation then we were given a talk on the brief history of the archive, how it came about, when it was created, what is photos are kept their. After we were given 40 images that are stored at the Societe and had the task of ordering them to create a narrative sequence, ours we focused on the idea of agriculture and rationing, rather then the violent side of the war photography, we wanted to highlight the importance of food within the occupation, how and where it came from. The final task was too go into town and take photos of landscapes, objects and people who had any significance with the occupation. I decided to go to antique shops to look for objects and I found postcards from that era, with writing on the back with stories of the war.

The German Occupation of Jersey began one week after the British government had demilitarized the island fearing for the safety of civilians should there be any conflict. On the 28th of June 1940, the German Air Force, not knowing of the demilitarization of the island, bombed multiple sites on the island; including civilian farming lorries which were mistaken for troop carriers, killing 10 civilians and wounding many more.

Soon-after, on July 1st 1940, General Richthofen, The Commander of the German Air Forces in Normandy, dropped an ultimatum from the air demanding the immediate surrender of the island. White flags and crosses were placed in prominent positions, as specified by the Germans, and later that day Jersey was occupied by air-borne troops under the command of Hauptmann Gussek.

Under German command, the timezone was changed to Eastern Day Time, vehicles were ordered to drive on the right side of the road, the use of radio was banned, access to news from the mainland was negligible and attempts by civilians at making their own radio sets risked imprisonment. Shortages to supplies like food and fuel also began to dwindle, and by the time of the D-Day attacks and control of France was regained, the delivery of German supplies which fueled Jersey ceased.

Shopping hour schedules also became tighter as goods became scarce. By the time almost all supplies had run out, the SS Vega Red Cross ship arrived, delivering supply parcels. These proved as ‘lifelines’ for the civilians.

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. In late 1943 the Tunnel Complex Ho8 in St. Lawrence was converted from an artillery workshop and barracks to an emergency casualty clearing station able to cope with up to 500 patients.. All of the fortifications built around the island were part of Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall”.

On my trip to the archives we were displayed with a numerous amount of WW2 images. We are then assigned the task of selecting which images we thought were aesthetically pleasing and challenged to lay them out in a series to create a story. The image above is my groups final result. We chose not to focus on the guns side of the war, and to instead focus one the everyday regular aspect of the individuals lives. Our story is about the rations and the process of getting the food and supplies for the food. 

I tended to prefer the images that focused on the people involved in the war rather than just the guns, as many people who want to learn about the occupation of Jersey tend to be fixated on the actual warfare side of the occupation. 

This trip has given me an insight in what I want to do. I would like to further explore the idea of the people involved in the occupation of jersey or maybe the more personal objects that they owned during the war. I could explore personal archives of people such as my family and compare them to public archives. Or I could visit places such as the War Tunnels or peoples own personal collection of objects and photograph them. 

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Here are some of the archival images that I liked and requested in high resolution. We got a brief history into the photographic archives and looked into the lives of both the German and Jersey people.

 The Channel Islands were the only part of the Britain Isles to be occupied by German forces in WW2. The five-year occupation came to an end on 9 May 1945.

 The German Occupation of Jersey began one week after the British government had demilitarized the island fearing for the safety of civilians should there be any conflict. The codename for this was “Operation Green Arrow” and the initial German Air Force reconnaissance flights mistake civilian farming lorries for troop carriers. On the 28th of June , the German Air Force, not knowing of the demilitarization, bomb and machine gun multiple sites on the island. The attacks killed ten people and wound many more. A few days later on the 1 of July 1940 General Richthofen, The Commander of the German Air Forces in Normandy, dropped an ultimatum from the air demanding the immediate surrender of the island. White flags and crosses were placed in prominent positions, as stipulated by the Germans, and later that day Jersey was occupied by air-borne troops under the command of Hauptmann Gussek.  

https://www.jersey.com/discover-jerseys-occupation-story

 
At 7.15am on 9 May, on the quarter deck of HMS Bulldog, Second-in-Command for Guernsey General Siegfried Heine signed the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the German Command of the Channel Islands, effecting their capitulation. On completion of this, General Heine was then ordered to “immediately cause all German flags and ensigns now flying in the Channel Islands to be lowered”.  At Midday an overjoyed Bailiff Coutanche accompanied a German delegation led by the island Commander, General Major Rudolf Wulf, aboard HMS Beagle anchored in St. Aubin’s bay, where the separate surrender of Jersey was to take place. Arriving at the same time in St. Helier’s harbour was a small naval inspection party sent to report on the health of the islanders, who were promptly overwhelmed by an enthusiastic crowd delighted at seeing their first liberators landing on Jersey soil. 

https://www.jersey.com/discover-jerseys-occupation-story

An archive is a collection of historical records or an actual place that they are located in. Archives contain documents which have been collected over a longitudinal period of time. These primary documents are then stored and used to showcase the function and or story of a particular person or organisation. Archives are used to allow us to gain a more in depth understanding of the historical factors at a particular moment in time, and act as a repertoire allowing us to reflect on the history of that specific place and time. Records stored within an archive is varied, from diaries, legal documents, financial documents to photographs and film. An archive can act as repositories of cultural memories of the past, as we are able to store reliable documents, which are memories of the past, which when we reflect on the documents will clearly show cultural memories. Although they are reliable, imagery is highly subjective which can lead to misinterpretation of the objects stored within an archive. Archival memory can be considered a social construct as they can show power of relationships in that society at that particular time in history.

At Jersey we have 2 archives, the first being Société Jersiaise , this archive was founded in 1873 for the study of Jersey Archaeology, history, natural history, the ancient language and the conservation of nature. The photographic archive of the Société Jersiaise contains over 80,000 images dating back from as early as mid 1840’s.

The other archive we have on island is, Jersey Archive. This archive is slightly different compared to the Société Jersiaise, in that the Jersey Archives is set up specifically for the collection, preservation and restoration of records, laws and photos. The Jersey archives hold over 300,000 documentations and photographs, which date back to the early 19th century.

About Societe Jersiase

The Societe Jersiaise is an archive in Jersey Channel Islands which preserves Jersey’s important history. The Societe Jersiaise was founded in Jersey Channel Islands in 1873 and it explores the archaeology of jersey, history, the acident language and the conservation of the environment. The group of Jersey individuals who founded this archive were interested in Jersey history and make these actions in order to follow their passion of wanting to keep Jersey history so it can be shared with generations. Once this Societe grew, it was made into a museum and now includes archaeological sites in order to preserve them.

Our Day

In order to gain more of an insight to the chosen subject we were given two presentations by representatives of the Jersiase Archive where they told us background information on the archive such as that it opened in 44, and includes over 100,000 images from the mid 40s. Jersey is known for its development of Photography and that it has a large history in photography. The first images which were collected in Jersey were from photographers such as William Collie and Thomas Sutton and they were brought over in 1840.

We were also given a brief explanation of what the German Occupation was. This being that the Germans occupied Europe from the times of 1939- 1945 which was when WWII started. We were also told that the occupation was carried out by the government of Nazi- Germany and the military forces. The occupation is well-know for the terrifying outcome of starvation which ended up with occupied and occupiers dying during the winter of 45. The presentations also included information as to where all the first edition photos of the Occupation are kept which were explained to be kept in boxes, sealed in a carefully watched temperature room which they keep very cold of avoid fingerprinting on the photographs.

We then went through collections from the archive and personal collectors work. They were kept in plastic covers at all time for protection.

While looking at the different images we were told to try to make a story out of the different images we saw, to try and put yourself in this situation and to help expand you’re thinking of how people lived and the surrounding they were in. This helped to broaden our knowledge of what the kind of atmosphere would be like in the crowds and when you were by yourself at home.

Our story…

After our second activity, we then ventured into the town center to take images of objects in jersey which linked up to the German occupation in st. Helier. Carrying out this activity helped open my eyes to how much historical objects we have in jersey which i had never noticed before.

My images..

In conclusion i think that attending the archive center was a good way to start our photography project as there was lots of information given to expand knowledge and evidence to study so that there is a clear understanding of the style the images in those days were taken, the type of images that were taken, and the location of the images.

A2 PHOTOGRAPHY

PERSONAL INVESTIGATION

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A2 PHOTOGRAPHY

PERSONAL INVESTIGATION

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A2 PHOTOGRAPHY

PERSONAL INVESTIGATION

BUNKER ARCHAEOLOGY