The Isle of Guernsey during the German Occupation

            For as long as I can remember, I have read about and studied World War II.  Mostly what I have looked into has been the Holocaust, which is probably why I missed the information about the German occupation of the Channel Islands.  That, however, cannot be the full reason.  With all the things I have read and watched, and with having taken more than one class that covered World War II, one would think somewhere along the line this occupation would have been mentioned.  Either I completely missed it, or it truly was not mentioned.  That is why, when I started watching the show Enemy at the Door, I found myself learning an entirely different part of World War II that I knew nothing about.

Image provided by Acorn DVD.

Enemy at the Door follows the lives of the citizens of the Isle of Guernsey during the World War II German occupation, as well as the ruling Germans that occupy it.  While the acting in this show could be dry and overdone at times, the stories were fascinating.  There were so many conflicting emotions on both the Guernsey and the German sides with no two people ever quite believing the same thing.  The citizens were very split as some did their best to make life difficult for the Germans, while others became friendly.  In between were those simply trying to live their lives peacefully and as best as they could amongst the circumstances, whether they chose to befriend the Germans or not.

Image provided by Acorn DVD.

                Then there were the conflicts amongst the Germans.  Some believed they should be as strict as possible with the islanders, taking everything away from them and dolling out strict punishments for the most minor of infractions.  Other Germans did not feel this way.  Yes, they still took possessions such as cars and bicycles away from the islanders, but they were more willing to listen to reason as to why a citizen should not get their possession taken away or why a citizen may have acted out when they did. 

                The two people who faced the most conflict, and who I felt the most sorry for, were Dr. Martel (Bernard Horsfall) and Major Richter (Alfred Burke).  As the community representative and the top German official, Dr. Martel and Major Richter often went head to head over things that were happening on the island.  To make matters between them even more difficult, both men were being pushed at from multiple sides, having them at times fight for things they did not truly believe in.  Dr. Martel did not want to fight about everything that was taken away, and I don’t believe Major Richter actually wanted to take everything away.  In truth, I believe both Dr. Martel and Major Richter would have much preferred living peacefully as neighbors instead of one occupying the other.           

                My watching of Enemy at the Door led me to the book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  My mom found it, and since she knew I had been watching Enemy at the Door, she suggested I read it.  The book is set shortly after World War II when Juliet Ashton, a London writer, comes in contact with one of the Guernsey residents.  Through Juliet’s letters to Dawsey Adams, and to others on the island, Juliet learns about life during the occupation.  She becomes so fascinated by their stories that she decides to write a book about them, moving to the island as a way to get closer to and a better experience of what happened.  Through Juliet’s research and the stories she is told, Juliet learns that despite everyone living on the island together, everyone’s stories and feelings about what happened are different.  The only thing everyone has in common is a single woman, a woman who always seemed to be there when she was needed.  A woman who was sent to a prison camp.  A woman no one knows if she is still alive.             

                While I did find this to be a good book, the fact that it was completely in letter or telegram form did get annoying after awhile.  I also could have done with less of the writer’s personal problems throughout the book.  These complaints do not mean that I don’t believe the book should be read, though.  The stories from the islanders were really interesting.  Some definitely told more stories than others, but I enjoyed reading all of them because they gave such vast points of view and experiences.            

                The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society led me to The Soldier’s Wife by Margaret Leroy.  My library connected the two and I decided to give the book a try when I saw it was about Guernsey.  This book is set during the occupation.

                Vivienne de la Mare’s husband is away at war.  She is raising her two daughters alone and caring for her mother-in-law, all while living next door to the Germans.  Everything Vivienne does she has to keep the security of her loved ones in mind, which is why it may come as a surprise that Vivienne finds herself falling in love with one of the Germans and regularly sneaking him up to her bedroom at night.  Captain Gunther Lehmann is a German officer, and because of the tensions on the island, it is imperative that Vivienne and Gunther keep their relationship a secret.  So many problems could arise if they don’t.  Even just getting a ride from a German in the pouring rain and with a punctured bicycle tire has led to Vivienne receiving scrutiny from others in the community.  If it were to become known that she was having a full-on relationship with a German, everything would become much worse.  On top of that, both Vivienne and Gunther are married; a fact that rarely gets brought up.         

                As happy as Vivienne is to have this relationship, events start to happen that forces Vivienne to face what is going on around her.  It starts with her witnessing a prisoner being beaten to death by a German soldier, for the simple reason that he could.  The glee the soldier got from this beating disturbs Vivienne, and there is little Gunther can do to settle her.  There is even less he can do when Vivienne starts to help a man in need and hears about the horrors occurring on the island firsthand.  Horrors that are being dealt by Germans like Gunther.

                I must say, that even though I liked this book, I did frequently find myself anxious for things to happen.  There were a lot of parts where I felt the story should have moved along more, sometimes to the point where I skipped ahead to decide if I would keep reading.  Despite this, I found it very interesting reading about the thoughts people had while living through the occupation.  As with the other two works I’ve spoken about, everyone’s thoughts were different, leading to conflicts amongst the islanders themselves.  That is something I don’t think anyone expected to happen. 

                These three works, so far, are my experience with the German occupation of the Isle of Guernsey. I don’t know how many other books, TV shows, or movies there are on the subject, but I would be interested in looking into anything that involved it. The occupation of the Isle of Jersey I would also find interesting. It was mentioned in at least two of these works, but I have not found anything specifically about that occupation. Hopefully I do, and I hope others look into what happened during this time. While I know some people do not like learning about history, it is important to remember what happened and learn from it. If we don’t, history is all too easy to repeat. Then where will we be?