Secret documents leaked about concentration camps on British islands

By OMRI RON

Published: JUNE 1, 2021 10:15

As part of the Atlantic Wall, between 1940 and 1945 the occupying German forces and the Organisation Todt constructed fortifications around the coasts of the Channel Islands such as this observation tower at Battery Moltke, Jersey (photo credit: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/MAN VYI) — As part of the Atlantic Wall, between 1940 and 1945 the occupying German forces and the Organisation Todt constructed fortifications around the coasts of the Channel Islands such as this observation tower at Battery Moltke, Jersey

(photo credit: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/MAN VYI)

The Channel Islands were conquered by the Nazis in 1940 after then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made the decision that they were of little strategic importance.

Leaked documents which were supposed to remain classified until 2045 revealed the atrocities which were committed in the only concentration camps the Nazis managed to build on the British Channel Islands, according to a report by Mako.

The report came from a 24-year-old British officer who held interviews with many witnesses who described the atrocities to him. The camp housed mostly French Jews, as well as well as Russian prisoners of war and German political prisoners.

The prisoners described to him some of the atrocities, including beatings, starvation and one event in which a prisoner was forced to sit for half an hour on a burning stove.

The islands were conquered by the Nazis in 1940 after then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made the decision that they were of little strategic importance. The Nazis then began constructing a fortress and the labor camps, with an estimated 6,000 prisoners, according to the report.

The documents confirm that the British investigated what transpired on the islands after the war, but did not indict anyone due to fear of creating an embarrassing international incident.

The document was apparently leaked from a copy given to the Russians, according to the report.

In April, German prosecutors said they had insufficient evidence to prosecute a 95-year-old man who was deported from the United States on suspicion of involvement in Nazi war crimes.

Cnaan Lipshiz contributed to this report.

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