The only Nazi concentration camp on British soil
The northernmost inhabited Channel Island, Alderney, played host to Nazi forced labour and concentration camps from 1942 to 1945.
Image: A Nazi gun emplacement on Alderney | Shutterstock.com
During the course of World War II, the British Isles remained fortuitously free from any fighting on the ground, with all conflict restricted to the Battle of Britain in the skies. However, that’s not to say that the Nazis didn’t set foot on British soil.
The Channel Islands became a key component in Hitler’s strategy to attack the UK and protect his armies on the continent. The northernmost outpost of these Isles, Alderney, was even home to four Nazi prisoner camps.
Part of the Atlantic Wall
As the war rumbled into its second year, the British government took the decision to demilitarise the Channel Islands in June 1940, with historian Trevor Davenport claiming them to be ‘of little strategic value’. Almost the entire population of Alderney (approximately 1,800 people) were evacuated to England, with only a handful remaining behind.
Unaware of this move, the Germans bombed Jersey and Guernsey that same month, before moving in to occupy the islands over the following weeks. Hitler apparently saw the archipelago as a key outpost from which to launch invasions into Britain, as well as an important link in the defensive chain of the Atlantic Wall project. This was developed to protect mainland Europe from westward attacks.
As the northernmost of the Channel Islands, Alderney became the most developed in terms of German bases, with four strongholds soon in place. These were Lager Borkum, Lager Helgoland, Lager Norderney and Lager Sylt, the last of which fell under SS control in March 1943 and served as a concentration camp led by the notorious death squad.
‘Terrible things happened here’
It’s believed that Alderney was home to over 4,000 prisoners from 27 different countries, with almost 8,000 people shipped there throughout the extent of German occupation. They were forced to toil endlessly in desperately poor conditions, with insufficient food rations, nominal medical care and frequent punishment in the form of beatings and even hangings.
‘I always look at Alderney... not so much a place where you would go to enjoy the scenery – even though it's a beautiful island – for me it's an island where so many people were persecuted and were buried and terrible things happened there,’ explained Gary Font, whose father spent nine months in one of the forced labour camps.
An initial investigation into the Alderney camps concluded that 389 people were executed there. However, controversy also surrounded this figure, with some speculating that the death toll could have crept into the thousands. There is also indignation that no prosecutions were ever brought to bear against those who conducted the calumny. While Nuremberg is possibly the most infamous trial of all time, the architects of the human rights abuses on Alderney went unpunished.
Unpicking the past
In an attempt to bring closure to the families of the victims, and to alleviate the concerns of current-day Alderney residents over this clouded past, Lord Eric Pickles ordered a review into the subject last year. It was to be conducted by 11 leading experts on the topic. At the same time, a dedicated website was set up to provide a source of experienced academic research into Alderney’s troubled history.
In May 2024, the review was published. It confirmed that the death toll is indeed likely to have been higher than the previously reported figure of 389, but not in excess of 1,134 people in total. Of course, this is a shockingly high number but falls short of the claims being made by some quarters.
The devastating nature of the events which unfolded on Alderney means that the wounds of the past may never fully heal. Nonetheless, it is to be hoped that the publication of this comprehensive review can help to answer some questions and eradicate the doubt surrounding the four German camps here, bringing a form of resolution and closure to those affected.
