The British Channel Islands under German occupation, 1940-1945 - Paul Sanders

The British Isles have only been successfully invaded and occupied once since 1066: the German occupation of the Channel Islands from 1940 - 1945. This book commemorates both a defining period in the history of the islands and an important, but neglected aspect of contemporary British history. The book is the result of an exhaustive collecting effort in archives across Europe, some as far as the former Soviet bloc. In unparalleled depth this fascinating book goes to the very essence of the occupation, recasting old questions and providing many new answers. It describes and analyses the issues of collaboration, resistance, survival culture and relations between Germans and islanders. In addition it provides a novel approach to the fate of the slave and forced workers brought to the islands to work on the fortifications. Also the circumstances of the Islands' Jews, some of whom were deported to concentration camps, are explored. For the first time, this book also presents an in-depth account of British post-war policy towards island collaboration and of the divergences of war memory in the Channel Islands and Britain. The source of profound misunderstanding, this has overshadowed the relationship over the past sixty years.