He has dedicated substantial amounts of time into understanding what happened in Alderney while it was occupied by the Nazis during World War II. Most recently, he published an investigative piece into the Pantcheff Report.

Captain Theodore Pantchett travelled to Alderney after the war to document war crimes and his final report recorded at least 337 deaths.

The document was later reported to have been added to the Island Archives in Guernsey after being stored in Moscow for decades. 

The report is clear that 337 does not necessarily represent the total number of foreign workers who died on the island.

Pictured: Marcus Roberts, Holocaust historian and founder of jTrails.

Mr Roberts explained that the report contains "numerous witness statements" suggesting a higher level of fatalities, and that, if the numbers quoted from these individuals are counted up, it amounts to more than 3,000 deaths.

Mr Roberts said he welcomed the UK Government's decision to undertake a full investigation into what happened on the island in a statement summarising his many years of research and the conclusions he has since formed:

"...I have campaigned for this for a number of years, particularly as it has become evident through my research and that of others that the received historical account of events and number of deaths is simply inadequate and that the cover-up of German war-crimes and of the Holocaust on British soil by the British Government is simple historical fact, not 'conspiracy theory'.

“My article two years ago with Gabriel Pogrund at the Sunday Times, showed the British withheld vital evidence that should have been used in the prosecution of SS camp leaders by the French military tribunal and thus thwarted justice to French Jewish victims.

“Several SS mass-murderers operated on Alderney, including Kurt Klebeck, who was accused of killing 350 prisoners at SS Lager Sylt and another 350 prisoners in a German camp and alsooperated as a group commander for a number of camps in Germany.

“My research, based on a survey of high quality survivor testimony, indicates that thousands probably died on Alderney... Last year, I carried out an aerial survey which showed the survival of a potential Jewish mass grave pit at Longis Common, as indicated by the testimony of George Pope and additionally, I spotted another probable mass grave site near to Fort Albert (next to reported SS executions sites and Jewish work-sites) missed by other researchers (but who have noted possible additional graves to the Eastern side).

“My research has also shown that the number of Jews taken to Alderney and the Channel Islands as slave labourers and political prisoners has not been properly recognised and is considerably higher than acknowledged.

“In particular, I was able to tell the full story of the transport of 850+ Jews from Drancy camp to Alderney in 1943 as part of Transport 641 for the first time in the Alderney Press and my research has found numerous statements from both survivors and Germans that there had been a plan to exterminate the 850 French Jews on 4 May, 1944, but it was called off at the last moment by the island commander.

“I believe the review has been necessitated because the UK Government will have the Chair of the IHRA in 2024 and without the inquiry the British Government would have been accused of 'Holocaust hypocrisy' and it could also have derailed efforts to build the UK Holocaust Memorial at Westminster, which is over-committed to the stories of the Kindertransport and the Windermere Boys.

“I also sent a request to King Charles to consider visiting the site of SS Lager Sylt, during his official planned visit to Alderney and I am sure that the diplomatic problems that could have been created by the King fulfilling one of his key official roles in simply paying respects to Holocaust victims on Sovereign British soil would have been noted. The review will need to be genuinely independent and open and there must not be the impression that the UK Government is 'marking its own homework'.”

The review of the Alderney atrocities was this week confirmed by Lord Pickles, the UK’s special envoy for post-Holocaust issues, but Mr Roberts said it should cover "the whole of the Channel Islands".

"I believe it is important that all aspects of the Holocaust and slave labour are addressed across the whole of the Channel Islands, and not just in Alderney, as the evidence shows that Jews were prisoners and victims in Jersey and Guernsey as well and that there were many other slave labourers in numerous camps across the islands, often carrying out works at a far greater number and scale than even those in Alderney," he said.

The review will be led by an expert group, who will share their findings in a report to be published in March 2024. Among them is well-known Occupation researcher Dr Gilly Carr of the University of Cambridge. Joining her are:

• Chair: Dr Paul Sanders (NEOMA Business School, Reims, France)

• Professor Marc Buggeln (Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany)

• Dr Daria Cherkaska (Staffordshire University, UK)

• Mr Kevin Colls, MSc (Staffordshire University, UK)

• Dr Karola Fings (Heidelberg University, Germany)

• Professor Fabian Lemmes (Universität des Saarlandes, Germany)

• Benoit Luc, MA (Directeur du Service Départemental de l’Office National des Combattants et Victimes de Guerre de Loire-Atlantique, France)

• Jurat Colin Partridge OBE (Alderney)

• Professor Caroline Sturdy Colls (Staffordshire University, UK)

• Professor Robert Jan Van Pelt (University of Waterloo, Canada)

READ MORE... 

Hopes that inquiry into Alderney Nazi atrocities "will bring clarity"

FOCUS: Searching for the truth about the Nazis in Alderney 

Report into Alderney Nazi camps to be added to local archive 

Pictured top: Lager Sylt, one of four camps built in Alderney during the Occupation.