Guernsey and Biberach will be tied together through a ‘Framework of Friendship’ eight decades after a thousand Channel Islanders were interred in a Nazi camp in the German town.
The States have unanimously agreed to back the ‘Biberach Framework of Friendship Arrangement’ which will see a document signed to formalise the relationship.
In reality the friendship framework is intended to lead to more cultural and educational exchanges between Guernsey and Biberach, with support for collaborative projects between the two places.
The agreement also sees Guernsey reaffirm its commitment to the international principles of peace, human rights, and reconciliation.
The agreement will be reviewed within three years so it can be tweaked where necessary for the benefit of both the island and the town.
Just over 1000 people from across the Channel Islands were deported from their homes after a retribution order was passed during the Occupation forcing the removal of any non-locally born residents. The order included the deportation of whole families where one of the parents was from England.
In an emotional example given to the States yesterday, Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen gave details of her mother’s early years after being born while her own mother was interred at Biberach.
The Skillet family story
“My maternal grandparents, Guernsey girl Gladys, with her English husband, Sydney Skillet and their year old son, my uncle Colin, were among the 800 men, women and children from Guernsey to go. Some went from Sark, others from Jersey. At least one on the deportee list never went, choosing instead to take their own life.
“My grandmother was five months pregnant with her second child at the time of deportation, and was the first of the Channel Island wartime deportees to give birth whilst interned.
“Like many local people, I was brought up acutely aware of the wartime experiences of my family. My grandmother always remembered her experience without emotion. She would recall the hurried then delayed departure, the long await on the Avenue, the food prepared by Frank Stroobant, the filthy coal boat, the awful journey and then walking along the railway tracks in St Malo, lined by armed German soldiers, while she showed no fear, holding her little son’s hand, pregnant with her second child, unknowing about what lay in store for her family.”
Deputy Dudley-Owen said her grandparents went through their war time experience in a “stoic, self sacrificing way, as many did during that time, accepting their fate without complaint”.
But, Deputy Dudley-Owen said the kindness shown to her grandmother by a pregnant German woman led to “one of the few long lasting relationships from that episode in our history, which is at the core of this friendship agreement”.
“My grandmother was taken to the Biberach hospital to give birth months later. She was left in a freezing, cold corridor to continue her labour and await her baby, because the doctor considered her an enemy. Maria Koch objected to this treatment and insisted Gladys be allowed onto the ward. Both women had sons, David and Hina, bonding over their babies, and despite the circumstances, managed to communicate and support each other.
“The boys became lifelong close friends, so called ‘milk brothers’. In early 1945 a third Skillet baby arrived, again, born outside of the camp. This was my mum, Gloria, one of the last of 100 or so Channel Island babies born in captivity in Germany in the last months of the war.”
The Skillet and Koch families maintained their friendship after the war, with Gloria Skillet living with their German friends for a while as a young woman, before making numerous visits through the Guernsey Biberach society.
“I tell this story because, in my view, this paved the way for the start of a special relationship between Guernsey and the town of Biberach an Der Vries, where the deportees were held. The friendship between the Koch and Skillet families grew deep and lasting, continuing to this day,” explained Deputy Dudley Owen.
“Maintaining these friendships requires more than good will, especially given the current financial circumstances, travel and accommodation are not cheap, and the States of Guernsey will likely need to bear some costs for continued support ensuring that the relationship remains vibrant and relevant, and I believe that this is acknowledged by the Policy and Resources Committee.
“EU funding is generous for partnerships of these type, but here in our small island, we have no such access to funding. I make this point because notwithstanding my support for this friendship agreement, the reality is that there will be a cost of ensuring that the relationship remains vibrant and relevant.”