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Today in Focus

Uncovering the truth of the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands

Today in Focus

The Guardian

News, Daily News

4.65.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2023

⏱️ 33 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1940 the German army took over the Channel Islands and built concentration camps on Alderney where hundreds, possibly thousands, of people died. Now a UK government review will attempt to get to the truth of what really happened. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Guardian.

0:10.5

Today, for years, the full horrors of what happened at Nazi concentration camps on British soil have been hidden.

0:19.0

Will a new inquiry finally find some answers?

0:31.0

Earlier this month, I got to interview a president.

0:36.0

Good morning.

0:37.0

Morning, how are you doing?

0:39.0

Thanks so much for talking to us William.

0:42.0

It's a pleasure.

0:43.0

William Tate is the president of Aldenay, a tiny British crowned dependency island just off the coast of France.

0:50.0

It is a duel.

0:52.0

We've lived here 27 years and every morning, we give thanks for the privilege of being here with some living such an incredible location and an incredible community.

1:04.0

There's about 2,000 of us.

1:06.0

We live on a piece of granite in the middle of the English Channel, which is about three and a half miles by one and a half.

1:13.0

And I think...

1:14.0

His job usually involves the kind of things you might expect for the president of a small island.

1:20.0

Ribbon cutting, greeting VIPs when they visit from the mainland.

1:25.0

And after our interview, he was going to open a new paddleboard centre.

1:29.0

The paddleboard is for the youngsters.

1:32.0

So I'm sort of all things to all men, you might say.

1:36.0

But recently, he's been dealing with something much bigger.

1:41.0

For decades, the island has been trying to find a way to deal with what happened there during one of the darkest chapters in its history.

1:50.0

During World War II, Aldani, Guernsey and Jersey were the only part of the British Isles occupied by the Nazis.

...

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