Internee Letter 16.1.1943
The text reads
Dear Betty; thank you very much for your most welcome letters, which we receive pretty regularly. So your Bernice is still a pickle, of course they are at that age, when girls start to take notice. They have taken to make up, personally, I don't blame them, a little bit makes such a difference doesn't it? We ought to know? Betty I know I am a nuisance , but if it is ever possible could you or Elsie possibly get me a summer frock, light one preferred, I'm still small, not put on an middle-aged spread yet, have you? with a collar preferred. Bob received 200 fags yesterday, still smokes pretty heavily, surprised to hear Bern has given up smoking, couldn't imagine my old man doing that. Heard from Mum and Em about fortnight back, they are quite alright and still as bright as ever. Mum is really wonderful, how she can see the bright side of everything, wish I could sometimes, it seems endless. Well Betty must close now thanking you and wishing you all the very best, hoping to see you all again, soon, gee what a day? Heaps of love to you, Bob and Betty and Bernice, Love Doll and Bob
Dolly expects to be there into the summer and is asking for a frock well in advance as it sometimes took months for things to get there.
I know I have shown you this one before, but it was replied to on 16.10.1943 and seems to have gotten back to England on 21 March 1944.
Channel Islands Monthly Review February 1944
In a previous blog I quoted from Islanders Deported by Roger Harris on the funeral of Mr Bull. There was a formal announcement of his death in the Monthly Review. Although not part of my family, I put it here as a tribute to all of the internees in every camp.
The text reads
Died in Germany
We regret to announce the death of Mr Stephen Lewis Bull, late of Bellozanne Road, Jersey, who with his wife and little girl was deported to Germany in Sept,1942. Mr Bull, who was aged 40, died on Nov.29,1943, after a fortnight's illness. The funeral took place in deep snow. Mrs Bull says the doctors and nurses did everything that was possible and that friends in the camp at Wurzach are very kind. Mr Bull had been on the staff of Le Riche's Stores. He and Mrs Bull were well known by their work in connection with Belmont Hall. Since deportation Mr Bull had taught children in the camp school and also conducted services on Sundays.
The next bit will come as no surprise to you all I am sure. D-Day, 6th June 1944 was launched, and it was decided by the Allies that the Channel Islands would be by-passed and liberated after the rest of Europe. The Germans could not launch a counter offensive from there, and they were cut off from mainland Europe by the success of the Landings. The Germans were forced to sit out the rest of the war in Hitler's Impregnable Island Fortress.
The German Occupation of Jersey b L.P.Sinel
'June 6. INVASION. From the early hours we guessed something unusual was happening, owing to the large number of planes passing over. --- The Germans immediately took over the telephone service, but in spite of this, news spread, smiling faces indicated that the day had arrived for which we had waited so long. --- German secret police are now in uniform and at the moment there are about 7,000 troops in the Island. -- German nurses --were embarked (for France). The majority of the troops have been spread around the coasts.'
Both the Channel Island people and the Germans were cut off from any kind of aid and relief. German military personnel who escaped from mainland Europe landed on the Islands, swelling the total population, to live on the depleted resources left by the German exports. There were very few Jersey or Guernsey cattle left, either for meat or milk, most had gone to Germany over the previous 4 years. The famous tomato and potato crops were reduced by blight and an exceptionally wet winter. The thousands of slave labourers imported by the Organisation Todt were starving, the Germans were getting thinner and sicker, and the Islanders were starving and feeling cut adrift by the British Government. 'By the end of August, it was perfectly evident that, unless relief came speedily, the coming Winter would bring with it a degree of suffering that few could have foreseen or anticipated.' Jersey under the Jackboot. R.C.F. Maugham
Rations had been in force for 5 years and the States Assembly, (the civilian ruling body) decided not to cut the rations further but to maintain the already starvation levels to the civilian population and let the chips fall where they may
List of Rations over the 5 year period of the occupation.
from The German Occupation of Jersey by L.P.Sinel
Everyone was getting closer to starvation, and the German Troops and the slave workers(when they could escape from the camps) were stealing any food they could. Seed potatoes were dug up after planting to be eaten, pets were stolen and killed for food (not that there were many left) and hedgerows were picked clean of edible weeds. At one point 5lbs of potatoes were given on the ration, but 1/2 of them were rotten, so another 5lb had to be given out.
Nov 22 1944 A rumour went round that negotiations for supplies had succeeded and that help for the civilians was on the way. The States Assembly consider a plan to sell seawater to the population as supplies of salt had run out.
December 1944
November's fuel ration still not received by many, so no heat, light or cooking. The paraffin ration is now 1/2 pint per month, so again no heat, light or cooking. The Germans demand 2,000 head of live poultry be collected in to feed the troops Christmas dinner. Suicide by gassing disappeared from the islands as there was no gas left and no coal to produce it from.
Finally in Dec 1944, It was announced that the Red Cross ship SS Vega, sent from Portugal, Britain's oldest ally, would arrive with Red Cross Parcels for the Islands, stopping at Guernsey first and then Jersey. The Germans immediately began confiscating any food they could, supposing that the civilians were being fed from outside. 3,000 Chickens were finally taken away, the oats for the farm horses, and the seed potatoes in store for spring planting.
Red Cross SS Vega
The Vega finally arrived on Dec 31 1944 and left on Jan 4 1945. The Swiss Red Cross workers were kept away from the locals, who presumed it was to keep them from reporting the German atrocities. The ship was unloaded by Germans and cargo went straight into a set apart warehouse under German
control.
The Red Cross Parcels were donated by the Canadian, New Zealand and British Red Cross. There were medical supplies, (there had been no anaesthetics for operations for months), a supply of salt, and tobacco. Lady Campbell, the wife of the Ambassador to Portugal had supplied 'a number of layettes' for the babies. Clothing was irreplaceable so there were no clothes for new babies on the island, they had all worn out with repeated use. A fund for the Red Cross was immediately started by the Islanders, which eventually reached £130,000. The parcels were given out on Jan 4th, 5th, and 6th 1945.
Contents of the average WW2 Red Cross Parcel, reproduced from the website of the
British Red Cross.
There is a family story that a ration of tea was included in the parcels, and one family reverently made their pot of tea in their trusty teapot, which had not been used since the tea ration ended in Dec 1941. They all sat down at the table and someone picked up the teapot by its handle, which promptly fell off. So no tea was had in that house.
That's all so far, next time I will tell you about the same period in Wurzach and finally I hope to end with the Liberation, in Wurzach in April 1945, and Jersey in May 1945.
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