Read the rest of "Alderney Fortress Island" as above and there is some more info regarding Jews on Alderney:M19 MADMAL wrote:Hi,
The following is extracted from "Alderney, Fortress Island" By T.X.H. Pantcheff
Major Pantcheff himself was the official Military Intelligence Interrogator who questioned the whole German garrison and many of their prisoners and civilian labourers in 1945 in Alderney.
On Lager Sylt there is no mention of any Jewish prisoners: "There were about 1,000 inmates and about 500 were Russian prisoners of war; 200 Germans classed as work-shy (Arbeitsscheu) including conscientious objectors, habitual criminals or political prisoners, a number of whom were former members of the International Brigade in Spain; and the balance a mixed bag of political prisoners from Czechoslovakia, France, Holland and Poland."
A breakdown of OT workers for Alderney in September 1943 (Approximate figures) is as follows;
700 Russians in Lager Helgoland.
400 volunteer workers of various European nationalities.
100 women, mostly French.
300 French Jews in Lager Norderney .
700 German OT workers located as follows: 400 in Lager Borkum, 150 in Lager Helgoland, 150 in Lager Norderney.
Micheal Ginns book "The Organisation Todt and the Fortress Engineers in the Channel Islands" note that regarding Lager Helegoland "Two Guernsey men who escaped from Alderney in April 1944, six months after the rundown of the OT, described Helgoland as being "a camp for Jews" at the time (Public Records Office Document WO 199/209A 55851)"
This is quoted by Pantcheff as being stated to him by Johann Hoffmann who was an OT Haupttruppfuehrer as from January 1943 on Alderney:
Lager Helegoland was then destroyed."Between September/October 1943 and January 1944, all the Russians except about 20 were evacuated from Lager Helegoland. Even before that date, most of the German personnel had left and the remainder was reduced to about 40. In March 1944 Lager Helegoland was disbanded and transferred to Larger Norderney."
As a partial replacement for the loss of Russian labour, there arrived on the Island in October 1943 an intake of 250 French Jews and 150 civilian prisoners, all of whom were accommodated in Lager Norderney.
Johann Hoffmann continues:
In a nut shell: French Jews were brought to Alderney in October 1943 and evacuated after D-Day in June 1944."In Lager Norderney almost all the Russians were withdrawn between September/October 1943 and January 1944. In June 1944, after the invasion, all the Jews, Frenchmen and Moroccans were evacuated."
Regards,
Malcolm
