CHAPEL AND SWASTIKA BY DAVID M CHAPMAN
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SYLT CAMP IN ALDERNEY – A UNIQUE REMEMBRANCE:Early in the morning of 23rd June 1940 the little Channel Island of Alderney was evacuated and the islanders scattered all over England and Scotland until the end of the War. None could have anticipated the horrific use which would be made of their homeland by the invading army. At first the occupying force established three Labour Camps run by an engineering group, the Organisation Todt, on the then virtually unoccupied island. Initially these mainly housed political prisoners who were transported from Europe, Russia and the Ukraine. The men were forced to do heavy manual work with very little food to eat or clothes to wear. But worse was to follow when Camp Lager Sylt, the only concentration camp to be run by the S.S. on British soil, was built and brutally administered at a remote part of the island. A thousand men were brought to Alderney between March 1943 and June 1944 to live in appalling conditions. Accommodated in poorly constructed huts there was little protection from the cold and wind so pneumonia and dysentery were frequent killers of the malnourished prisoners. Their constant companions were lice, fleas and rats – the latter being scorched and eaten when caught. Starving men ate grass and some died from eating poisonous plants. Four hundred perished, some from disease or starvation but others from brutal treatment and peremptory execution. They worked for the S.S.Construction Brigade using reinforced concrete and stone, building fortifications which were intended to make Alderney into a defence against invasion.
Two weeks after D-Day Camp S.S.Lager Sylt was closed and the prisoners taken away via occupied Guernsey. Two Methodist brothers recall seeing the emaciated, ragged prisoners as they shuffled by their parents’ farm. Riding their bicycles, the lads took a trailer with some tomatoes to the transit camp, so aghast were they by the men’s indescribable condition. Prisoners were lined up holding out their forage caps for a few tomatoes but the supply ran out. The Guernsey boys went back to pick more but as the starving men crowded forward the guards beat them back with their leather belts. The prisoners’ nightmare still continued as the men were shipped to yet other concentration camps in Europe where it is estimated that another two hundred and fifty died before the final liberation.
Sixty-five years on, their suffering was commemorated in Alderney at a simple ceremony held outside the remnant of Camp Sylt. In front of the concrete pillars, which were the gateposts of the Camp, islanders gathered for the unveiling of a simple polished stone plaque placed there by ex-prisoners and their families. A brief ecumenical service, in which all island clergy took part, was followed by moving stories and tributes from the one attending survivor and the twenty relatives of others. One family member travelled from the Dutch Antilles and others had also made long and difficult journeys in order to attend. The only survivor able to make the journey to Alderney was a Pole, Sylwester Kukula, who came with his English speaking daughter Yolanta. She has spent years in researching the terrible events which took place behind the gates in front of which we all stood. Through her he spoke of his initial arrest when as a student he was caught teaching Polish and sent to Dachau. Sir Norman Browse, Alderney’s President, spoke movingly of man’s potential for inhumanity and of the infliction of cruelty; it was fitting that future generations would be reminded of this when they viewed the plaque set up at such a site. After observing a silence the Last Post was sounded.
Also present were the sons and daughters of the Camp doctor Gommert Kriuger a Dutchman who also survived but for only a few years. He bravely confronted the S.S.Commandant and complained about the treatment and abuse, and about the theft of the prisoners’ food by the guards. The Obefeldwebel threatened to shoot him but his skills were needed. More than most he witnessed at first hand the extreme suffering of those who were brought to the sick bay. What benefit there was from the little available medication was nullified by malnutrition.
The poignancy of the occasion is exemplified by this photograph. It shows Sylwester kissing the plaque in tribute to those who did not survive. He said, "Let similar camps never be created anywhere. I bow and salute all Sylt prisoners"Later that day my husband and I met him again at the Airport, prior to his long journey back home. With no other means of communication we embraced and then he kissed my hand. As I choked back the tears I felt that I was the one who should be kneeling to kiss the ground on which he stood. Never must we forget the suffering of those who lived on our belovéd island during those dark days. It is said that when the islanders were eventually able to return there were areas where it was discovered that horrors unspeakable had been perpetrated, where no birds sang. Now when visitors walk in this remote part of Alderney absorbing the peace and beauty of the sea and sky they will come across three concrete pillars, read the plaque and realise the significance of the place. The birds have returned to a site where once fear stalked. Life has moved on, but the lessons of the past must never be forgotten.
Script: Eileen Mignot
Photo: courtesy of David Earl
February 2009