Islanders celebrate Liberation Day
Saturday 9th May 2009, 6:00AM BST.
German Ambassador to the UK Georg Boomgaarden talks to sculptor Robert Koenig about his work before the latest addition is unveiled by the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache. Picture by Jon Guegan
The most important date in Jersey’s calendar was celebrated on Saturday as Islanders commemorated the 64th anniversary of the liberation of the Island from German occupation.
A short States sitting was followed by a procession to Liberation Square for a thanksgiving service – including the singing of Jersey’s new anthem, Island Home – and a re-enactment ceremony.
A special guest this year was the German Ambassador to the UK, Georg Boomgaarden, who attended the unveiling by the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache, of a wooden statue, the Jersey Pilgrim, at the Town Church on Friday. It was the first time that a German ambassador had been to Jersey for commemorations of the Liberation.
Also on Saturday, an annual memorial service for slave workers was held in the grounds of the Crematorium at Westmount.
Among the less formal events enjoyed by thousands in perfect weather for the occasion were a Liberation Music Festival, staged for the first time, a fund-raising walk and food fair and entertainment at the Weighbridge Square.
• Full reports and pictures in Monday’s Jersey Evening Post
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Let us hope Jersey folk are not upset by the nature of any official utterances..this time
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The question is, will the Balliff decide to make another ill-judged political speach this year
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Will someone be rude and cut him off? Hopefully no political speaches this year.
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if it is such an important day in Jersey’s history why don’t we get a day off as a local bank holiday?
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Amazing how a few carpetbaggers from the socialist slagheaps of the UK, people who have absolutely no part in our Jersey Heritage or Norman Culture, people who were not here to face the music during the Nazi Occupation, can come over here to our homeland and tell those of us who were here during the war that we should now be reconciled with our dear German European neighbour – without first having the decency to consult with those of us who still survive – to hell with them! Wait until we’ve gone before you attempt to rewrite our history in order to suit the New German led European Police State Dictatorship.
At the cost of many lives, Germany has made two unsuccessful attempts during the Twentieth Century to dominate Europe. Having failed at both, it now seeks to the the same, only through other (financial and EU legislative) means – so marvel not that history repeats itself. Once the New German European Dictatorship has been able to stuff the Lisbon Treaty down the financially strapped Irish throat, we will loose the right to Habeas Corpus, Trial By Jury and many other freedoms belonging to our inalienable birthright.
Today, much anxiety is being caused throughout all of Britain by the emerging ‘Collectivized Police State’ that is being born out of dark side of law enforcement, bureaucratic Government Agencies and European Statutes and Directives in their general grab for unprecedented power by frightening people into accepting unneeded laws and costly regulations, all in the name of “National security” – all financed by the gilded gangsters behind the global fractional banking reserve system who have always and will continue to seek their ill gained profits by causing war, strife and misery wherever possible.
Our Jersey Liberation Day has been turned into nothing more than a politically correct multicultural platform in support of the Collective European Dictatorship – go home Mr. German Ambassador and tell the gilded bankers and EU puppets who sent or invited you that there are still some of us left who can remember and who will never buy this rotten piece of ‘smaltz’ propaganda.
As for the enemy within our shores, those who sit so TRAITOROUSLY within the gates of power, devising and presiding over the enactment of such abominable pieces of dubious legislation, ramming through such badly drafted statutes as the ‘Police Procedures & Criminal Evidence’ (act/bill) and many such others by which you continue to undermine our freedoms, sovereignty and the inalienable rights of the free born people of this Island, know that you, along with your German guest, defile the remembrances of the Day!
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Perhaps next year we the people of jersey can celebrate Liberation day without the un elected states members using it as a platform to deliver their political propaganda
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As an American interested in the Channel Islands, what is the story behind the bronze monument in Liberation Square? I assume the banner being held up is the Jersey flag? Who made the monument?
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I see that the normal Parish decorated lorries were banned from this years event so that the Baliff and the German guest could stand outside the Pomme D’or. What a pity. The lorries were a local tradition, they were there every year since 1945. They brought people from the parishes to the harbour in 1945 using stolen german petrol, and long hidden farm lorries. What a pity they have been pushed out by the snobs and suits. Lets take back the event for the locals, and have a parade and party. The banning of the Parish lorries is the last straw! What next, tickets to attend to listen to the political propaganda. Support the Pallot Steam Fair, a true party for liberation, not a stuffed shirt in site.
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Jersey Bull # 5. What a load of old bull you have written. Move on, as the world of 2009 is certainly not the same as 1949, though you seem to be stuck in some time retarded mind set.
It shows a great sense of maturity to extend the hand of friendship and forgiveness to an historic enemy. The hand of Jersey, symbolised this year by inviting the German ambassador, should have been extended many, many years ago.
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#8.”And some fell on the stony ground” missed the point and substance I am afraid..
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Perhaps the official events at next years Liberation Celebrations should focus more to the memory of those Islanders who died as a direct result of the five long years of German Occupation of German Occupation and many others who suffered between 1940 -45.
One of many examples of deserving memory is Peter Painter a 17 year old Victoria Collage School Boy who was arrested one day in the summer of 1943, deported to occupied Europe along with his Father by the German Military Occupying forces. According to a French resistance survivor, interviewed in 1946, Peter died in a squalid cattle truck in his Fathers arms on a frightful railway journey to the notorious Belson Death Camp during 1944. Their ‘crime’ was to have listened to the BBC on a hidden Wireless, this was forbidden under Occupation Rules.
Peter Painter along with his father who it is assumed perished on arrival at Belson have no known grave.
Liberation Day is for remembrance, an understanding of the occupation years and a celebration of the end of the nasty years of fascist rule in Jersey. Placating senior German officials and making overtly parochial political statements is for other occasions. Lest we forget our History.
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I see our wonderful bailiff has put his foot in it again this year. He told us that he hopes there will be a mosque built in Jersey….perhaps that is a discussion for another thread, but the point is that our Liberation Day is not the time or place to be putting forward his political ideas.
I think this further highlights the fact the we, the people of Jersey, do not want an unelected, un-needed and largely unwanted representative “speaking on our behalf” especially when he consistently comes out with tripe like this.
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Re: #10 -Peter Anthony Troy
Miss Painter, Peter Painter’s sister, was my primary school teacher up at Victoria College Prep during the war. After her father and brother were arrested and deported by the Gestapo; never to return, she would show us snapshots of her father and in particular, as an inspiration for us, her brother Peter, proudly standing on College field in his British OTC uniform – yes we do remember them.
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Having been born a child of the post war years of world war 11 I remember, with grateful thanks, all of those who gave their lives for our freedom. In particular, having moved to Jersey in the early 1970′s and embracing the culture of this wonderful island and in observing the anniversary of Liberation the comments made by The Jersey Bull are very relevant.
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Jersey Bull is right the powermongers come with financial indices and blackberry , before resorting to the bayonet or perhaps stun guns these days,stealth fractional banking all designed to steer the game their way,as uncomfortable as it is to ponder such scullduggery exists like a shadow in the background,untill one morning we wake up and say “How did we get here” and most of us don’t want to look at it so “Come dancing”the news and football will dissociate us from the frightening realities.The pin striped respectable looking gangsters would quite happily watch you eat out of the dustbins as they drive by in the latest Range Rover…..but if you don’t want to believe it you won’t……………
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Sadie Le Sueur’s rendering of Beautiful Jersey in Jersiase was really moving.
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Jersey Bull
The war was ended 64 years ago
I really think its time you found a place in your discrimatory heart to think not only of your suffering but also those of the enemy who also lost friends and loved ones. the Germans were not the only one who committed atrocities (Dresden ?).
Remember those that died, but don’t forget those that are making a lasting peace.
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It beggars belief that this once momentous Island Event was crammed into that pokey square – where there were no benches or seats or wheelchair access for the elderly and families.
What has happened to this Island, I for one am desperate and am making plans to get off it, the smugness of all of these embarrasing states members really does disappoint me.
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Is anyone in Jersey happy anymore?
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Jersey bull [5]. WW2 was the result of the bitterness and hostility left over from WW1. Fortunately enough people including our current leaders learnt the bitter lesson that if you are unable to forgive [not forget] than the bitterness and hatred will eventually come through and as in 1939 we will again be fighting and the suffering will begin again.
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Alps [19] Fortunately Jersey is still a relatively prosperous and safe place to live. We have a very good education system and although house prices equate to UK city prices Jersey still offers very good opportunities to all. Unfortunately, like every democracy we have those who seek change through whatever means and many of the comments have a political rather than social motive. Our government is not perfect but they are incompetent rather than corrupt, there is injustice and mismanagement but is this not true in every society. The evil “establishment” does not exist, we are not ruled by some secret society, we do not live in fear of the Police (probably the other way round) and despite all the claims we have freedom of speech and to express our views and I think that many of the comments on this site should prove that to the world. Many of the comments are the result of the anarchist and conspiracy theorists element within our society and should be taken with a pinch of salt.
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Perhaps the Bailiff doesn’t get the chance to speak publically so this is the occasion that he uses to pontificate.
Ref the muslims bit, as their religion has the highest birth rate of followers it is only a matter of time that they will become the dominant religion in the CI. As the Bailiff knows this perhaps he is just making sure that they will be nice to him in the future. There is a similar stance being taken in a Scandinavian city where a politican is asking everyone to be nice to the Muslims now as in the future they hope it will be reciprocated when they become the majority. It is called demographics.
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sanity~what proof do you have of what you expound, are you sure or is it what you’d like to think,for many of us out here cannot reconcile what you say with what they experience,so click on http://www.stopcp.com and look for the similarities that are happening here…
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Sanity I believe you are blind to reality. All wars are engineered by one faction or another for personal gain. Hitler was aided to power by the west due to two major reasons:-
1. the stupidity of WW1 war reparations that left a country on its knees with its people starving while war reparations were paid to the Allies.
2. Many in the west who thought he would sort out their bitter enemies the communists. This back fired spectacularily a few years later when he turned on both and nearly took over the whole world.
People in Britain in the 1930′s thought Hitler was a good bloke! They soon changed their tune didn’t they? It cost them dear as well as others all around the world for a mistake of a person’s real character and ambitions. The Channel Islands were left unprotected due to this misjudgement of Hitler’s real power and intent, having to endure nearly 5 years of occupation with the last year being starved nearly to death due to no ships being allowed in.
Do you think war is evil? If you do then why do we keep having them on a conveyer belt all the time? Ask the question who gains from all this bloodshed? Munitions companies makes lots of money from the sale of the likes of cluster bombs and white phosphorous which can end up being used on civilians. Land minds another example, why are all these indiscriminate weapons not banned? I believe the reason these are all allowed is that it gives jobs for people employed in these big businesses and makes money for these businesses as well.
Yes governments around the world have a lot to answer for as far as I am concerned.
You tell me where incompetence crosses the line to become corruption? How can you define what is incompetent as opposed to corruption as opposed to evil? In reference to someone like Hitler as you can see incompetence (shown to him by others) can easily lead to corruption and eventual evil can’t it?
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Adrian [24] Hitler came to power on the back of a concerted and orchestrated campaign to rubbish the elected government of the infant German republic. This campaign seized on existing concerns of the people, driven by the conspiracy theorist and fuelled them with elaborated tails, stories taken out of context, half truths and lies. The Nazi party, who never actually attained a majority of the electorate had to resort to hatred and distrust by portraying minority groups as bogeymen and offering the people a share of the spoils and loot once these groups were eliminated. Those who stood against the Nazis were subjected to a barrage of false charges and accusations, using public media to avoid having to provide proof and ultimately to the threat of in and eventually the use of violence. What really worries me is that whilst I have seen no evidence of the latter there is much of the former being used in Jersey to destabilise our society and to discredit public figures. Blogs sites are now being used, even by politicians, as a gateway for this campaign of destabilisation through fear and hate. I am concerned that as with Nazi Germany if this crusade by what appears to be a small minority of individuals and politicians, many it would seem from outside Jersey is allowed to continue we will loose the political stability which as kept Jersey afloat on the international stage for the last 60 years. It was very notable at the last election how few candidates of proven ability were prepared to stand for government which is not a healthy situation for any democracy. If this continues Jersey will at best become a backward agricultural state, with high local unemployment and little prospects for our young. At worst we will become what you claim we are already, a state run by a real oligarchy. A state that is really run for the benefit of the rich. You claim that the “establishment” or whatever secret society is currently running Jersey do not allow critics or freedom of expression yet as you frequently express your views and you do not in truth fear reprisals for your comments. It we get the changes that I mention above we will all live in fear at the knock on the door and we or rather those that are left will all do as we are told and will not criticise our government.
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Maybe we should have two Liberation Day Celebrations. A celebration for those who live in the real world, where we have moved on from WWII and black and white war movies, where we do not keep dragging up tired old clichés from the past.
A celebration for those who would rather get on with their neighbours than moan and whinge about the injustices of sixty odd years ago.
Then we could have another day for all the old twisted bigots who wallow in the suffering of previous generations. A day for those who have manufactured a wartime history of Jersey; where everyone had a grandmother with a pig under her bed, where all the kids stole pedal cycles and the Germans had to walk. A manufactured history where no islanders chose to work for the Germans building bunkers and machinegun nests because they paid better than the States.
Why don’t those who would wallow in the past just grow up get a life, never forget but move on and make sure it does not happen again.
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#Truthseeker thanks for the link.
we should all be concerned about what is going on.
I have a book called THE GREAT EUROPEAN RIP-OFF by david craig and matthew elliott i bought from amazon some time ago and gives a good insight into the EU.the cover ups corruption etc.I knew most of these unwanted new laws in uk came from EU but they would never admit it would they?
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Boris, Sanity, PJG,
Firstly, it is not, as you would imply, about wallowing in the suffering of others, manufacturing our local history or living in the past, instead it is about today, tomorrow and the fact that you and most of the surrounding pinheads will wake up one morning and ask “how did it all happen – why didn’t they tell us – why didn’t someone do something?”
Judging from your comments, it would appear that most of your understandings, though popular no doubt within some barren quantity of our community, seem to have been based upon nothing more than a pile of second hand conclusions and unsupportable generalizations.
For the most part, ‘conspiracy theories’ always appear to contain some thread of truth that has been carefully woven into their tapestry – sometimes to deceive and at others, to enlighten. And as such, one should not necessarily be afraid of such a theory or avoid them.
What one should be afraid of, is the fact that there are always those who will deny they exist and would bar anyone from ever mentioning the fine thread woven within them, while at the same time, holding firm to the power that will allow them to criminally charge anyone they choose with that which they have already claimed not to exist – a conspiracy!
While I would hesitate to “cast pearls before swine”, though pinheads will do, I am reminded of G. K. Chesterton, when he said:
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten!”
So, speaking of fairy tales, what might we locally entertain for ourselves? Well, for example: There is for the fable of Mr. Toad of Crapaud Hall who may regularly be heard while officially addressing an assembled house of sleeping mushrooms – needless to say, we all know what allows them grow so roundly well in the dark. However, the apparent mystery that is threading its way through this local tale of Mr. Toad of Crapaud Hall, a thread so finely hidden from those who love nice big fat round mushrooms and all the stuff they feed upon, is the fact that Mr. Toad has never in his life been capable of creating or producing an original thought or idea of his own. And as a result, the mystery thread in this fable leads to the rumor that all of Mr. Toad’s said ideas and pontifications have been secretly scripted for him by an extremely poisonous communitarian snake that has taken up residence in the very expensive woodpile of Crapaud Hall – so be warned… as history tends to repeat itself…
For more including videos
Click On: – http://www.stopcp.com/ – and – http://www.CPExposed.com -
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I was a little disappointed with this years liberation day. I think that so many people want to join in the celebrations the weighbridge area is just not big enough. Last year it was so much better on peoples park as you had more room and there was always the grass to sit on and enjoy the entertainment.
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Rarely do I find myself in a position of agreement with anything that Adrian or Jersey Bull say, however the “Police Procedures & Criminal Evidence’ (act/bill) and many such others” are of considerable concern.
In the last century, and particularly since the end of WWII, there has been a dangerous trend in which the state (sometimes under the instruction of entities like the EU and UN) takes unto itself greater and greater power to coerce individuals in ways that are, to my mind, the antithesis of individual liberty and responsibility. The fact that they are ‘sold’ on a platform of ‘for your own good’, does nothing to alleviate my concerns.
Some of the lost or disappearing individual freedoms I can think of are:
- Freedom of Speech; vast swathes of powerful, restrictive PC laws about hate, religion, race, etc.
- Freedom of Association; based on a fear of organised individuals presenting a challenge to governmental authority – often masked as ‘anti-terrorism measures’.
- Right to Bear Arms; a British right since the English Bill of Rights (1689), long before there was a colony in America, and a considerable contribution to lowering cime – linked closely to the Right of Self Defence.
- Right to self-defence; listed under the English Bill of Rights 1689 and again by Sir William Blackstone in his Commentaries, but now almost totally neutered, partly by laws, but mainly by Home Office policies adopted and enforced without parliamentary debate.
- Right to a trial by a jury of peers; aside from being entirely prevented, in the past a unanimous verdict was required. This has been changed so that, at the discretion of the judge, they may reach a verdict by a 10-2 majority.
- Mens Rea; overwhelmed by statutory offences. So much easier, cheaper and quicker to get convictions.
- Habeus Corpus; enshrined by the Habeas Corpus Act 1679, and consistently being eroded by legislation such as 42 days detention without a hearing.
- Complete failure by Judges to instruct juries that they have a right, indeed a duty, to find a defendant ‘Not Guilty’, if they regard the law being applied as repugnant.
- Right to put whatever we (adults) wish into our own bodies, including noxious drugs (“Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign” – John Stuart Mill).
- Compulsory seat-belt and crash-helmet wearing, which increases accidents and deaths.
But, what the hell, they mean well…
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Adrian 24
Sounds very similar to USA and the Taliban. Trained and armed to fight the soviets and then spectacularly backfired in recent years !!
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Steve c ,you are so frighteningly right,this constant erosion of civil liberties is a creeping cancer, it is up to us all to petition our individual representatives to set in motion a review and reversal of some of these new ones that have crept in,do you know that, and I quote (That a person commits an offence if he or she ‘uses words that are insulting’) so an ordinary run of the mill disagreement that gets a bit heated…and bingo you are in trouble if they file against you,,then there is the ‘search and seizure raid without warrant one that we have been watching recently..we are hurtling toward a police state and we are the only ones who can stop it…reach for your pen and phone while it is still permitted…
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freedoms are rapidly going down the drain.new laws are being created in uk with no good reason.people are encouraged to snich on others.
nannism (controling)are now telling us what and how much to eat and drink all for our own good.
Political correctness gone mad.
when will they just butt out and let us live our lives as we see fit.
what makes them think they are so superior they can just walk all over us, under the guise of health and safety they can just about bring in any new law, however did most of us survive for so long without being nannied?
when will the general public wake up say enough is enough and stand by it? not any day soon ,i fear
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