Lager Sylt facts for kids
Lager Sylt was a Nazi concentration camp that operated on the island of Alderney in the Channel Islands. It was active from March 1943 to June 1944. During World War II, the Germans built one concentration camp and three labour camps on Alderney. These were all smaller camps, known as "subcamps," connected to the main Neuengamme concentration camp located in Hamburg, Germany.
Each of these subcamps on Alderney was named after one of the Frisian Islands:
- Lager Norderney was located at Saye.
- Lager Helgoland was at Platte Saline.
- Lager Sylt was near the old telegraph tower at La Foulère.
- Lager Borkum was near the Impot.
It is estimated that over 700 people died in these camps on Alderney. This was the only Nazi concentration camp ever built on British soil.
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What Was Lager Sylt?
Lager Sylt was run by the Schutzstaffel (SS), a powerful Nazi organization. At first, it was overseen by the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. From mid-February 1943, it became a subcamp of the Neuengamme camp in northern Germany. The camp was located near the old telegraph tower at La Foulère.
The Nazi group called Organisation Todt used Lager Sylt. This group forced people to work without pay. They made prisoners build important military structures. These included bunkers, places for guns (gun emplacements), air-raid shelters, and strong concrete walls (fortifications).
Who Was Held There?
Lager Sylt held Jewish people who were forced to work. The prisoners in Lager Sylt and Lager Norderney were treated as slave labourers. They were forced to build many military buildings and defenses all over Alderney.
Lager Norderney held people from other parts of Europe, often from Eastern Europe, and also from Russia. The Borkum and Helgoland camps were for "volunteer" workers. These workers were treated very harshly, but slightly better than those in Sylt and Norderney.
- Lager Borkum was for German technicians and volunteers from different European countries.
- Lager Helgoland held Russian workers from the Organisation Todt.
The prisoners came from Russia and various parts of Europe, especially the east. Some Spanish Republicans were also held there. A few of the local Alderney people who had not been evacuated (about 2% of the population) also ended up in these camps.
In 1942, Lager Norderney (with Russian and Polish prisoners of war) and Lager Sylt (holding Jews) were placed under the control of SS Hauptsturmführer Max List. More than 700 prisoners are believed to have died before the camps were closed. The remaining prisoners were sent to Germany in 1944.
The Island of Silence
Alderney has been called "the island of silence." This is because not much is known about what truly happened there during the German occupation. The island was heavily fortified with many defenses. This work was mostly done by the forced labour of the camp prisoners.
The German officer in charge of the facilities, Commandant Oberst Schwalm, burned the camps to the ground. He also destroyed all records about their use. This happened before the island was freed by British forces on May 16, 1945. The German soldiers on Alderney surrendered a week after the other Channel Islands. They were one of the last groups of German soldiers to surrender in Europe. The people who lived on Alderney could not start returning home until December 1945.
Remembering the Past
The States of Alderney (the island's government) have chosen not to put up memorials at the sites of the four labour camps. Some local historians, like Colin Partridge, think this might be because locals want to avoid being accused of helping the Germans. There is a faded memorial plate in the island's main church. It mentions 45 Soviet citizens who died on Alderney between 1940 and 1945. However, it does not explain how they died or why.
Related pages
- Nazi concentration camp list
- Neuengamme concentration camp subcamp list
- The Holocaust
