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78th Internee Liberation Celebration Jersey War Tunnels

We were so lucky to have such  settled  weather to hold our service of commemoration and remembrance . It is always held on the Sunday nearest to April 28^th the day the camp was liberated by the Free French in 1945. Altogether there were 54 of us including former internees, their families and friends, members of the partnerschaft and of the Arts Centre youth theatre. The ceremony began with our chairman, Clive Armstrong , welcoming everyone, then 3 members of the youth theatre read selections of poetry and prose. Lola Garvin (a former internee) read from the late Michael Shepherd’s published Memories of April 1945 Liberation in Wurzach Camp. A short service of prayers was led by Father Nick Barry from St Luke’s Church. Clive Armstrong then read the remembrance list of those who are buried in Wurzach Cemetery and did not return to Jersey and the ceremony concluded with a  minute’s silence.

Those who wished to could then visit the garden of remembrance and lay red roses on the memorial plaques to those who did not return. Red roses were also given to former internees. We all adjourned to the café to reminisce and meet our friends over excellent cake and afternoon tea. It was so heartening to see so many people meeting together again after the past years of uncertainty due to Covid.  We are very grateful to the staff at the War Tunnels for allowing us to hold our ceremony there and for providing excellent refreshments. They are always welcoming and very accommodating.

At mid-day on 28 April 1945 ona bright and sunny morning,a column of tanks from theFree French Second Armoured Division rolled down the main street of the small German town of Wurzach, led by three men on foot.  One was a French soldier carrying the French tricolour, a Jerseyman with a Union Jack and the town mayor with a white flag.   A large white cross had two days before been painted on the roof of castle indicating that this was not just a Hitler Youth camp (they were located at the back of the castle) but contained civilians.

Earlier that day the French officer in charge had stopped his tank at the castle gates and after speaking to a small group of Jersey prisoners waiting impatiently behind the gates, kicked these in allowing the Jersey folk to pour on to the little square and taste freedom for the first time in 2.1/2 years.  

After such a long incarceration, everyone in the camp took in the sights and sounds of freedom in their own way : the joy and emotion of the camp adults when the French tank Saint Malo trundled down the main street over the cobble stones; the new shopping experience in the local shops to spend their few precious Reichmarks on materials and silk stockings.

Teenagers, exhilarated by their new found freedom, explored the surrounding villages, some completely demolished by tank fire and still smouldering. Young Jersey lads having commandeered abandoned German army motorbikes roamed around the countryside, even arriving at the Mengen airfield where American troops plied them with food and fruit juice (causing stomach upsets due to such rich food).   

The camp children who had known nothing of the big world outside were confronted with completely new sights and sounds : the biggest impression was of the fierce looking North African soldiers (Goumiers) dressed in their traditional long flowing robes and headwear many mounted on smelly, bad tempered mules.  They were weighed down with several rifles, bandoliers of ammunition, knives and pistols in their belts and an array of watches on their arms, camping out with their mules at night and playing cards by the roadside by day.

Many of those very camp children who today are in their early 80s have been back to Bad Wurzach (now a spa town) to visit the castle with its grand entrance hall and staircase, locating their dormitories and looking out over the area where the Hitler Youth camp was located and where the Jersey kids marched up and down along with the German boys (some no older than the Jersey lads) picking up their marching songs and only separated from each other by a sturdy barbed wire fence.

Fast forward to 2020 when a special 75^th anniversary trip to Bad Wurzach had been under preparation organised by the St Helier – Bad Wurzach Twinning Committee to enable those internees who were still strong enough to make the trip, some of whom had never yet returned to the camp since leaving in 1945 to revisit the town and relive old memories.  In the party also were to be many children and grandchildren of internees themselves too frail to travel or who had passed on.  28 April 2020 being the special day, as was the tradition, a commemorative ceremony was to be held in the beautiful Gottesberg chapel on the hill with an ex-Mayor playing the beautiful organ, followed by wreath laying in the ceremony.  In the town cemetery the names of the 11 Jersey internees who did not return would be read out and the visiting internees would lay a single red rose on each of their graves.  That evening a tattoo ceremony was to be organised in front of the castle with the town’s marching band (Stadtkapelle) followed by a nightcap in the Hotel Adler opposite.

The 4 day programme was to include a day’s excursion to Lindau, a picturesque town on Lake Constance with its old town and yacht marina.  There would of course be dinners with speeches and lively entertainment with lots of time for everyone to talk, walk, relax or take a mud bath in the Spa Hotel.

This year Bad Wurzach’s new Lady Mayoress, Frau Alexandra Scherer, would have met the visiting internees, members of the Twinning Committee and Jersey dignitaries for the first time.  Jersey would have been officially represented by the Bailiff Tim Le Cocq, the Deputy Chief Minister Constable Richard Buchanan, the ex-Bailiffs Sir Philip and Sir William Bailhache and their wives.  In total there were to be just over 30 in the Jersey group visiting Bad Wurzach for the 75^th anniversary.  Sadly, it remains to be seen whether many internees will be strong enough to visit in 2021 since it was anticipated that the 2020 trip would be the last official visit. 

On a positive note, the Twinning Committee intends to organise a get-together later this year for all those internees who would have travelled in the group, those who were physically unable to travel and the children and grandchildren of internees who would have been on the trip.  When the date is known, details regarding this event will be posted this website

This years Liberation memorial service and afternoon tea will be held at the War Tunnels. Sunday 28th April 2019 Commencing at 15.00

Welcome – Clive Armstrong, Chairman

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Internment reading – Clive Armstrong

Extract from “A Jersey Child Interned by Hitler Gloria’s Story” Susan Symons 2018

Service of Remembrance – Deacon Iain MacFirbhisigh

Reading – Former internee Francelise Davison

Readings by members of the Jersey Arts Centre youththeatre

Tamsin Hollyman – reading ‘1980’ by Abraham Sutzkever

Mac Galvin – reading ‘On Hearing A Name Long Unspoken’ by Leonard Cohen

Gen Hargreaves – reading ‘The Bridge Builder’ by Will Allen Dromgoole

Life in the camp Reading – Former internee Mrs Lola Garvin

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Names of Those who did not return – Clive Armstrong

A Minute’s Silence for reflection – Deacon Iain MacFirbhisigh

Liberation reading – Clive Armstrong

“Extract from Three years behind barbed wire” Joan Coles 1985

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Closing Prayer– Deacon Iain MacFirbhisigh

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FOLLOWING THE SERVICE, THERE WILL BE A LAYING OF ROSES IN THE GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE

YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN US FOR AFTERNOON TEA.

Sadly due to the Covid-19 Outbreak 2020 we have had to cancel this visit for the protection of all those involved.

This years Liberation memorial service and afternoon teas was again held at the War Tunnels attended by the Bailiff and his wife. The Memorial Service, was held once again on the terrace of the tea room so shelter could be had if needed, a special thanks must go to Francelise Davidson who stood in at the last minute to give an excellent service, The Youth Theater, for providing the readings, and thanks to Lola for reading and extract from the Liberation, After the laying of roses we adjourned to the Café for tea, once again under the management of Darren of Mange Tout we had a far better service provided all teas and coffees provided quickly, and the cost was very reasonable.