Kirjahaku

On 23 June 1940, one week before the German invaders arrived and with just a few hours notice, the island of Alderney was evacuated of all but a handful of its 1,450 inhabitants. During its occupation Alderney became an island fortress and slave labour camp. Alderney at War offers the fullest account ever published of events on the island during the war, as well as an examination of the circumstances leading up to the evacuation and the subsequent fate of the refugees. Bonnard draws on both German and British official records and on the fascinating eye-witness accounts of former Russian, French and islander prisoners, as well as personal diaries and photographs taken by members of the occupying forces. Alderney at War is a factual record of this remarkable episode in British history, which is sure to enthrall residents and visitors to the Channel Islands, but its comprehensive coverage of those grim years guarantees it a place alongside any Second World War History.

Alderney From Old Photographs offers a fascinating glimpse into life on this beautiful island over the last hundred years or so. More than 200 images illustrate the changes that have overtaken the island of Alderney and its towns and villages. Drawing upon an eclectic collection of photographs, the author offers a charming glimpse into the history and natural beauty of this island. There is something for everyone here, whether they have lived in this area all their lives, or whether they are just visiting. Life on Alderney is well represented here and many poignant memories are given a new lease of life.

Georgi Kondakov was sixteen years old when he was brought to Alderney in August 1942 with about 1,000 other young Russians to build part of Hitler's Atlantic Wall defences. During this time he suffered the hardships of having little nourishing food, inadequate clothing, occasional beatings, no medical attention and hard manual work twelve hours a day; under such harsh conditions many people died. Some of the survivors were taken back to France in 1943. Georgi escaped from the train taking them to Germany and joined the French Resistance in Paris. Two years after his return to Russia, when the War ended, he was sent to a Siberian labour camp by Stalin, where he endured even worse conditions for 4A years before being allowed home to Orel in 1951. Many years later, the interchange of a long series of Georgi's letters, translated by Galina Chernakova, resulted in this book which offers an insight into the experiences of a slave-worker and his return to Alderney, as an honoured guest, in 1990.