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Display of lights for Queen's Jubilee. New gallery in the Old Quarter announces first exhibition. Related News Work on wartime convictions could resume early in 01 Dec Sixteen policemen were deported to prisons and forced labour camps in Europe, where many experienced awful conditions. Tuck wrote of the cruelty he experienced from guards: "I was kicked and knocked down and beaten with a pick handle and flogged with the butt of a rifle.
Herbert Smith was the only one of the policemen to die overseas. Tuck recounts that Smith was "deprived of food and clothes when it was terribly cold… and beaten with a shovel and a pickaxe in the stomach" and left to die in a Gestapo prison. When Charles Friend was liberated by US forces he weighed only seven stone 45kg and was unable to use his legs. He suffered for the rest of his life as a result of "those terrible days" and died in from a heart attack on the way to an exhibition featuring the story of what happened to him and his colleagues.
His son Keith said: "He was scarred by his experience both mentally and physically and never recovered from it. Due to their criminal convictions, the men were unable to return to their roles in the police or claim a pension. Mr Friend remembered his father being resentful of Guernsey's authorities, who had told him they would "sort everything out when he got back from prison". It's not a crime for personal gain; it was to feed hungry people, and as policemen they were in the position to do something about it.
After the war, most of the men applied to the West German government for compensation for their ordeals. In , eight of the men tried to appeal against their convictions but were unsuccessful on most counts, meaning they all had criminal convictions when they died. The case was heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which is the highest court of appeal for certain British territories, including Guernsey. Dr Sanders said: "In the s the illusion was upheld that British administration and justice in Guernsey had continued without being influenced by the Nazi occupation.
This narrative continues right up until now. In , an approach was made to the Privy Council to re-examine the appeal for three of the men. Barrister Patrick O'Connor QC, who took up the case pro bono, said: "It was a longstanding injustice for which the courts were responsible, and which the courts should therefore remedy. In its ruling, the Privy Council said: "There are a number of difficulties with this application, including the fact that the complaint of mistreatment inducing confessions could have been raised before the Privy Council in , but was not.
Mr O'Connor said: "There is no other procedure to overturn these convictions. Unfortunately, this leaves this show-trial as a stain against the Guernsey system of justice which will remain for good.
The 'hero' who helped victims of the Nazis. Finding the graves of the two Joes. On 3 December , Bailey was taken first to Munich Prison which had just been bombed for the night, then the Gestapo prison which was next to the Gestapo HQ. Bailey described the prison as:. The floor was covered with brown linoleum.
They were built to hold two men; there were two beds which let down from the wall and also a small table with a seat on each side. We were four, so two had to sleep on the floor. I was one who slept on the floor and was supplied with a mattress and two blankets.
While Bailey was imprisoned, a major RAF raid took place and the Gestapo building was hit but his building was unharmed. On 19 December he was taken by lorry with a group of other prisoners to Dachau concentration camp , despite being told that he would be taken to a British civilian internment camp.
Bailey described the camp thus:. Dachau covered an area of about one square mile, the whole being surrounded by high-voltage electric wire, about six feet high.
Machine-gun turrets were built at 20 yard intervals all around the camp … Between each machine-gun post were placed high-powered searchlights, which could flood the entire camp with light. With his fellow men, Bailey was pushed into the showers, had his hair shaved off, given camp clothes and wooden sandals, and taken to Barrack 19 after being kept outside in heavy blizzard for half an hour. There were three lines of wooden beds, one on each side of the room and one down the centre.
The beds were … placed together and three beds high. As far as I could see into the room, I could see one continual line of half-starved glaring faces, each one with the head shaven bare, making the face seem even more terrible in its greenish hue. The air stank with the smell of dirty bodies and, everywhere, was filth such as I had never seen before.
The noise of countless voices in various languages was terrific. The whole place seemed like an overcrowded lunatic asylum … Our room measured about thirty feet by twenty and, as we were strong, we had to sleep five men to two beds, having two blankets for the five … The mattresses on the beds were in a shocking condition, most only having straw dust as filling, and swarming with lice and fleas. I cannot describe how I felt that first night in Dachau; sleep was impossible, I could not get warm, and in a very short time could feel the bites of the fleas and lice.
I was glad when morning came, to be able to get away from the filthy bed. Bailey was very fortunate to meet other Englishmen in Dachau, an RAF and an Artillery officer, who helped him with gifts of clothes and bread. Through him, Bailey received double rations, although still lost two stone over three months. It seems that Bailey was free to remain in his barrack while in Dachau — he did not describe being sent on any work party.
His nationality and the influence of friends probably helped in this regard. However, each barrack was soon surrounded by barbed wire to stop the movement of prisoners and the spread of typhus. This meant that Bailey could no longer receive extra rations from his friend. He also contracted dysentery. However, he was fortunate to be snatched from the jaws of death, probably in around March , but maybe as late as May as Bailey claimed in his compensation testimony although Red Cross records suggest that he left Dachau on 31 January , by being taken from the camp by the SS to be sent back to the hands of the Munich Gestapo.
He was then taken by ordinary train to Laufen civilian internment camp. His weight was now 6 stone and he was put in the camp hospital for several weeks to regain his strength. On 4 May the camp was liberated by American troops.
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