Channel Island Nazis Inquiry Under Pressure to Find Out Why Perpetrators Never Faced Justice

THE OBSERVER: Thousands of people may have perished on Alderney during the second world war but their murderers never stood trial

Alderney was the only Channel Island to be evacuated during the second world war as the island became part of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall defence. Photograph: No Credit
The official inquiry into Nazi atrocities committed on Alderney in the Channel Islands is under pressure to investigate why those responsible for committing war crimes on British soil were never brought to trial in the UK.

Prof Anthony Glees, the security and intelligence expert who advised Margaret Thatcher’s war crimes inquiry, told the Observer: “This is a vital opportunity to establish all the facts, and it must examine why those who perpetrated such heinous war crimes were never brought to trial in this country. The review into the atrocities on Alderney is to be warmly welcomed, but I believe it should not just focus on the numbers killed, as important as that is.”

Last week the Observer revealed that the UK’s Holocaust envoy, Lord Pickles, would be launching an inquiry into the number of prisoners murdered by the Nazis in the British crown dependency. But Glees said the investigation needed to delve more widely into the events on the Channel Island to uncover the truth about one of the darkest episodes of British history. He added that the events on Alderney had been excluded from his inquiry in 1989. » | Antony Barnett and Martin Bright | Saturday, July 29, 2023