School project reveals how Guernsey man survived Nazi camp

A photograph, a dog tag and an original letter telling him where and when Mr Priaulx should report for deportation are among the mementos.

It was a period the Canadian-born Guernseyman never spoke of until the end of his life.

His family said Mr Priaulx feared he would never survive.

Judith said: “My dad was born in Ontario, Canada, and this is one of the reasons he was deported to Laufen.

“It happened because, in late 1941, Hitler ordered the deportation as a reprisal for actions in Persia of non-island-born British residents of the Channel Islands.”

In late 1942, two German officers and a policeman arrived at his house, but he was not at home.

“He said: ‘If they want me, they will come and get me,’ which is what they did,” Judith recalled.

“They went back with a letter that said he had to report on 23 September 1942 at the cinema.

“As with lots of people who were involved in the occupation and deportation, we knew he had gone away but we never knew exactly what had happened. He would never ever talk about it.

“It was never spoken about and my sister and I only found out about what had happened when his granddaughter Nicky was doing a project on World War Two at school and asked if he could give her some information.”