Sun! and lots and lots of history

Tuesday we went to Herm (a smaller island nearby). It was absolutely beautiful weather, which I was excited about—perfectly sunny, with enough wind that you didn’t get too hot. The island is pretty close to Guernsey, but I was surprised at how much water you have to cross to get there. And pulling away from Guernsey, it looked really small. Most of the time I don’t think about being on an island, because Guernsey’s big enough, but on Herm you really can’t forget it. There were trees on the cliff side, and on the hill, but the northern side of the island was beautiful sandy beaches and beach grass. We also saw some of the Neolithic burial sites, the one on the top of the hill was absolutely massive. It’s mostly destroyed of course, because of all the granite that the quarrymen took, but even collapsed it makes you wonder what it actually looked like originally. 

Pulling away from St Peter Port-where I live

The harbour where we got off--the water looks beautiful
but it's freezing!

The ferry

This fisherman waded to shore because it was low tide. By the time we
left, his boat was completely on dry land, the tides are really drastic here

the sand was soo soft. Reminded me of NC

inside the chapel

a pheasant

a collapsed dolmen

the water came up from under the sand and started here

Today I went to the Occupation museum. It was amazing how much stuff, for lack of a better word, they had. I knew that the Germans had left behind a lot, but wow. It was unbelievable that all of it was just sitting there. In fact most of the museum was the actual objects, with maybe an explanation, not really exhibits. It was crazy. Even the everyday things survived, like letters, tins of food, and ‘V for Victory’ signs, not to mention the weapons, uniforms, vehicles, pamphlets and signs. I was really amazed to see it all—it brought everything I’ve read about to life. I found all the things I read about the Occupation fascinating, but it wasn’t until I could actually see everything that I could really imagine it. 

What really got me was a letter from an informer that said “one door above Jory’s coal store in St Julian’s Avenue there is a wireless aparatis.” (You could be deported to a POW or concentration camp in France for having a radio) I guess I had just assumed that informers got some sort of reward for betraying their friends and neighbors, but it was an anonymous note, written purely out of spite, I guess. I’m not sure why that had such a big impact on me, I guess it’s just the realization that they couldn’t trust anyone—it must have been awful. The display did say that fortunately many postmen didn’t deliver such letters, but it must have been a risk for them not to do so.

the informer's letter

This is a V for Victory sign and the telegram
from the King, informing the islands that they would
be demilitarized. 

Another thing that had an impact on me was a public notice of the death of a man for releasing a pigeon with a message for England. Releasing a pigeon seems so trivial to me, yet he was killed for it. It really brought into relief how careful the islanders had to be. You could be killed for releasing a pigeon, sent to a concentration camp for having a radio. That’s awful. I think with all the talk of the ‘good ole days’ and the romance of WWII films and stories it’s easy to forget the reality of war. 

It was also quite a shock to recognize some of the places that were in pictures or referred to. Like that informer’s note—I walk down St Julian’s Avenue everyday to get into town. And there were pictures of German soldiers marching down High Street—I was there this afternoon, in that exact same spot. There were also pictures of the bombed tomato lorries and other things I’ve read about. It blows my mind that people are still alive that lived through that. Most of them were teenagers, but still. I can’t even imagine how strange modern technology must seem to them now, after growing up with that. There was a fire truck that had been brought over during the war, apparently it was manned by half Germans and half locals, but it was still in service until 1961! Most of the machines in the museum I wouldn’t be able to guess what they were for, without the plaque explaining it. There were climbing shoes for the telegraph poles, morse code machines, typewriters, and then homemade machines that were made illegally, mostly for different types of food. 

I was also really interesting to see how much the little luxuries in life were prized. In the exhibit on the prisons, they found hair curlers that someone had made, and a little model oven set made out of scrap metal that someone had made for a Christmas present for their daughter. There were also a couple of photo albums of couples that married after the war, one fell in love with a German soldier in 1941, and they married in 1947 and stayed on Guernsey. 

I also really liked how they included the stories of ordinary people in the exhibits—one lady used to reply to the German officer living in her home, “Heil Churchill”, when he greeted her with “Heil Hitler”. She was eventually sent to prison for insulting Hitler to the officer's face. I had known, academically, of the cult of personality that Hitler built up around himself, but I hadn’t realized how much of an impact it had on people. There were even model toys of the four Nazi leaders in one of the displays, a napkin with swastikas on it, and even a swastika necklace with diamonds on it. I guess I had just never imagined it like that before. Anyways, it was a really good museum and it was fascinating, I could have spent a couple more hours in there, just reading all the newspaper articles on the walls.