Occupation memories shared with new generation

Monday 22 April 2019

Islanders who lived through the German Occupation will next month come together in an event aiming to take islanders "down memory lane before these historic recollections are lost forever".

The group, who all lived on the island between 1940 and 1945, will be recalling their memories at the Opera House on 12 May to share them with a new generation.

The stories shared during the collective recollection with be collected for a book to be published in time for the 75th anniversary of the Liberation.

Pictured: The event will take place at the Opera House.

Therese Tabb had the idea to organise the event in a bid to unearth "undisclosed memories".

Despite the plethora of publications available about the Occupation, she said there are still many memories held by a diminishing number of local people who lived through the period and which have yet to be recorded for posterity.

She said: “These will be the personal stories of the German Occupation of Jersey from people who actually lived through those five long years, and some anecdotal memories shared with them by parents and grandparents.

Video: Occupation images merged with the present day. (Paul Bourke - Occupation Ghosts/Express)

"The Opera House Studio is an ideal intimate venue in which to be taken down memory lane before these historic recollections are lost forever.

"Free tea and biscuits will be available afterwards to enable the audience to talk among themselves about what is bound to yield many more stories.”