Sunday Reflections: Liberation Day

There is something very special about a day celebrating freedom, even if many Islanders now had no ancestors who were hear during the dark days of World War II. But that is something about freedom, that after a war in which people were divided they come together. 

There were divisions: Jersey folk here from their kindred who had evacuated from the Island, those deported to Bad Wurzach, Biberach and Laufen, those brought over from Spain as enslaved prisoners of war, or from Russia and Poland as slave workers, and also Germans, torn from their families back home, many just ordinary young men.

Liberation day is a celebration of freedom, and also looks to reconciliation, and that is why it is important for those who have made Jersey their home since the war. It is a national day to come together and celebrate freedom, and of healing divisions.

As Martin Luther King said: "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred."

Bailiff Tim Le Cocq said this year:


"As we mark this 80th anniversary, let us all stand together as members of our island community, who are all, whether born here of not, inheritors of a legacy, a legacy of endurance, of hope, and of liberation.


And I finish with the words of Trevor Green (from 2020)

"Liberation Day should be celebrated in as many ways as possible involving all who live here, regardless of colour, race, or creed."

"We live in a paradise and enjoy two of the most precious things, freedom and peace."

"Unfortunately, these are not enjoyed by many others the world."

"For those islanders who endured the Occupation years, they paid a heavy price for today's freedom and peace."