The British island and the Nazi labour camps

During World War Two, a small island just 70 miles off the English coast became part of Hitler’s strategy for dominance – and home to the only Nazi concentration camp on British soil.

Alderney is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands, which were occupied by the Germans in 1940.

Most of the 1,500 residents had been evacuated to the UK but a small number remained, living an often precarious existence in the shadow of forced/slave labour camps.

Historical archives show prisoners from 27 countries were held in brutal conditions, subjected to inhumane treatment at four camps, including the SS-run Lager Sylt, with an investigation after the island’s liberation in 1945 finding 389 inmates died.

Many experts believe the figure is higher, while others, including some Alderney islanders, have expressed frustration at “speculation” around this horrific period in history and its impact on the island.

The UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation has tasked a panel of 11 international experts with finding an accurate figure for those who lost their lives and investigating why no UK war crime trials were held for those responsible, with findings due to be announced on Wednesday.

Lord Pickles, the UK’s Holocaust envoy who ordered the review, said: “Numbers matter because the truth matters. The dead deserve the dignity of the truth; the residents of Alderney deserve accurate numbers to free them from the distortion of conspiracy theorists.”