The States of Alderney President William Tate has welcomed an official UK Government inquiry into the scale of Nazi atrocities on the Island during World War II.
Lord Pickles, the UK’s Special Envoy on post-holocaust matters, has announced a review of the numbers of people who died during the Occupation. Alderney is the site of the only Nazi concentration camps on British soil.
“We welcome this announcement from Lord Pickles to appoint a panel of experts who are gathering all the evidence, including from those on our island who witnessed the atrocities first-hand or from their descendants who hold records, and they will decide whether it possible to say how many died.
“Above all, this will bring clarity and put an end to the arguments about numbers when as an island our priority is to show our respect for those who suffered and died here, however many there were.”
Anyone who has evidence or verified information that would help inform the inquiry are encouraged to submit it – details of how to contact the Inquiry will be published in the Alderney Journal in due course.
Although the majority of prisoners used as slave labour to build Hitler’s concrete defences on Alderney were Russians and Ukrainians, it is known that many Jews, north Africans and Spanish republicans were also taken to Alderney.
Meanwhile, the States of Alderney has been working with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance on the appropriate ways to express the Island’s respect and is hoping to announce the outcome in the near future.
