I've just been reading the excellent "Never to be Forgotten" by Joe Mière the Occupation Years.
In the section on the Deportation of UK People to Germany 1942-1943, he notes how "not all deportation notices were served by German servicemen. Many of the notices were served at the deportees door by local uniformed and honorary police." He notes how only sometimes was a German soldier present, more often than not just the local people, so that when his friends Fred and Jenny Thomas had a notice on them, it was delivered by a Centenier all on his own.
He notes how the Island authorities were complicit in providing names, because "The Germans could not have found the addresses of so many people in so short a time without the help of the Jersey police forces". The picture is not all bad. Some local police, like his cousin and uncle "refused to serve the notices on their own people."
What happened then? "They both were informed that the order came from the Jersey Attorney General's office. To refuse to carry out the police order they could be dismissed from the force." So much for the impartial workings of justice! In the end, they were sent home "on sick leave", a face-saving exercise by the Attorney-General.
One English born couple were concerned because both their two children were mentally handicapped. They went to the Constable of St Helier for help, to be told that the children could stay, but they would have to go!
Apparently, Joe tried to find the parish files on this period, but was informed by Bob Le Brocq, then Constable of St Helier "that a lot of old time files were dumped to make room for more up to date documents"! If you believe that was the reason, then the moon is made of green cheese, and pigs can fly.
It is a shameful period of Island history for the Island authorities. Coutanche emerges as a pretty good Bailiff, who did manage to "act as a buffer" at the right times, getting death sentences commuted to prison terms. Le Quesne also stood firm.
But the Attorney-General, Duret-Aubin, was in his actions little more than a quisling of the German authorities, ready to sacrifice any morality to "the greater good", in a piece of double-think that discarded all notions of morality in favour of expediency. Quite how he managed to stay in his post, and not suffer any prosecution after the war is extraordinary.
The next time you hear about an unbroken 800 years of justice in Jersey, read "Never to be Forgotten", and see how little of that was around during the Occupation years.
In the section on the Deportation of UK People to Germany 1942-1943, he notes how "not all deportation notices were served by German servicemen. Many of the notices were served at the deportees door by local uniformed and honorary police." He notes how only sometimes was a German soldier present, more often than not just the local people, so that when his friends Fred and Jenny Thomas had a notice on them, it was delivered by a Centenier all on his own.
He notes how the Island authorities were complicit in providing names, because "The Germans could not have found the addresses of so many people in so short a time without the help of the Jersey police forces". The picture is not all bad. Some local police, like his cousin and uncle "refused to serve the notices on their own people."
What happened then? "They both were informed that the order came from the Jersey Attorney General's office. To refuse to carry out the police order they could be dismissed from the force." So much for the impartial workings of justice! In the end, they were sent home "on sick leave", a face-saving exercise by the Attorney-General.
One English born couple were concerned because both their two children were mentally handicapped. They went to the Constable of St Helier for help, to be told that the children could stay, but they would have to go!
Apparently, Joe tried to find the parish files on this period, but was informed by Bob Le Brocq, then Constable of St Helier "that a lot of old time files were dumped to make room for more up to date documents"! If you believe that was the reason, then the moon is made of green cheese, and pigs can fly.
It is a shameful period of Island history for the Island authorities. Coutanche emerges as a pretty good Bailiff, who did manage to "act as a buffer" at the right times, getting death sentences commuted to prison terms. Le Quesne also stood firm.
But the Attorney-General, Duret-Aubin, was in his actions little more than a quisling of the German authorities, ready to sacrifice any morality to "the greater good", in a piece of double-think that discarded all notions of morality in favour of expediency. Quite how he managed to stay in his post, and not suffer any prosecution after the war is extraordinary.
The next time you hear about an unbroken 800 years of justice in Jersey, read "Never to be Forgotten", and see how little of that was around during the Occupation years.
I found it profoundly disturbing to read, because it is unsettling to see how easily the legal authorities - such as the Centeniers, Attorney-General, Constable of St Helier, Aliens Office - became lackeys of the Germans, complicit in actions that almost certainly led to the death of some Islanders.
What is so disturbing is not just that they signed orders - the Germans would have made the laws anyway - but the way in which they followed those orders so diligently and even, at times, enthusiastically.
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