Description
Object description
British schoolchild on Jersey, Channel Islands, 6/1940-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as schoolchild living on Jersey during German occupation of the Channel Islands, 6/1940-5/1945: arrival of German forces on Jersey, 6/1940; attempts of civilians to escape to GB; atmosphere on island; first impressions of Germans and their behaviour; attitude towards female collaborators; his treatment by German doctor; German importing of French prostitutes; display of Nazi symbols; contact with forced labourers; effect of Allied invasion of France on living standards, 1944-1945; his mother's bartering of her rings for food; his arrest and interrogation by Germans.
REEL 2 Continues: story of theft of German pistol; sabotage of German diesel train; release from jail; liberation by British forces, 9/5/1945; scramble for food on liberation; attempt to obtain German arms as souvenirs; his later disposal of liberated German rifles; stealing German blackout curtains; risk taken in removal of German flour sacks; diet during German occupation; failure of Germans to find his arms cache; clothing improvisation and wearing of clogs.
REEL 3 Continues: German priest who appealed to religion to obtain shop service; opinion of unreasonableness of allegations of lack of resistance on Channel Islands; extent of German fortifications on Jersey; German requisitioning of property; artefacts from the German occupation left on island; reception for British troops on Liberation Day, 9/5/1945; delights of white bread; his idea for flying glider to escape to France; stealing from Germans; construction of crystal radio set; information learnt from British Broadcasting Corporation; his development of a opportunistic attitude during German occupation; importance of listening to British Broadcasting Corporation radio broadcasts; impatience for liberation after D-Day, 6/6/1944; the V sign campaign.
REEL 4 Continues: retaliation against collaborators on liberation; difficulty of understanding accents of liberating troops; his sabotage of cable; desperation caused by hunger; inspiration for his acts of sabotage; explosion and fire at Palace Hotel, St Saviour, 8/3/1945.