Experts from Staffordshire University’s Centre of Archaeology are playing a leading role in a government enquiry to determine how many people died on the Channel Island of Alderney during Nazi occupation.
It follows the announcement of a review of the evidence into the numbers of prisoners who died on the island which has been subject of considerable speculation.
The Alderney camps were significant in the history of the Holocaust because they were sited on British soil.
Lord Pickles, the UK’s Post Holocaust Issues Envoy, has now appointed a team of 11 independent and internationally recognised experts to review existing research and historic records to identify the “most accurate” number of people who died under the occupation.
The panel includes Staffordshire University’s Professor Caroline Sturdy Colls, Associate Professor Kevin Colls, and Dr Daria Cherkaska. They have examined the remnants of concentration and labour camps on the island and scoured archives around the world for information about the people sent there.
Last year they published a book “Adolf Island”: The Nazi Occupation of Alderney, pictured above, based on their extensive archival research and in-field investigations which first began in 2009.
Their work also featured in a documentary “Adolf Island” which first aired on the Smithsonian channel in 2019.
Their findings are also part of a dedicated website launched this week which displays existing findings and will add information which emerges during the enquiry.
Caroline, Professor of Conflict Archaeology and Director of the Centre of Archaeology, said: “For many years, we’ve been saying that the story of what happened to the forced and slave labourers who were sent to Alderney needs to be told and we are delighted to be part of this important enquiry.
“The website is a significant resource for anyone interested in the history of the Nazi Occupation of Alderney and the places that were connected to the forced and slave labour programme.
“Most importantly, we hope that the website will help to increase awareness of the stories of some of the people who lived, worked, and died there between 1941 and 1945.”
Lord Pickles said: “I thank Professor Caroline Sturdy-Colls and Kevin Colls from Staffordshire University for sharing their latest research on the Nazi occupation of Alderney and getting the website off to such a strong start.”
