Please forgive us
Thursday 29th April 2010, 3:00PM BST.
Jersey’s Bailiff, Michael Birt, and Bad Wurzach’s mayor, Roland Bürkle, stand before the memorial to Islanders who died in the wartime camp in the German town Picture: TONY PIKE (00946900)
THE German town which imprisoned hundreds of Islanders during the Second World War has ‘begged for forgiveness’.
At a special ceremony to mark the liberation of a prison camp in the quiet town of Bad Wurzach, Mayor Roland Bürkle asked for Jersey’s friendship in the future as he spoke of the ‘reign of terror’ suffered by some internees.
In retaliation for German nationals being imprisoned by Allied troops in the Middle East in 1942, Hitler ordered that all Channel Island residents who had direct British connections be deported to prison camps.
With just 24 hours’ notice, over 2,000 Channel Islanders were taken from the islands, with 618 coming from Jersey. They spent the rest of the war locked inside the grounds of an old castle in the centre of Bad Wurzach until French troops liberated the camp 65 years ago yesterday.
Speaking at the ceremony yesterday – which was attended by Bailiff Michael Birt, Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur and St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft, Mr Bürkle said: ‘We beg for forgiveness from those who are with us today and who suffered under the reign of terror and ask for their friendship in the future. I believe that if we take this to our hearts then we are commemorating with honour those from Jersey who remained in Bad Wurzach.’
Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.
Travel
To, from and around the Island
Airport Arrivals/Departures
Harbours Arrivals/Departures
Bus Information/Timetables
JOIN US ON...
Facebook and Twitter
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Got a story? Get in touch
KIT 4 CLUBS
Win a share of £10,000
2012 is the year of the London Olympics and to celebrate this great event the Jersey Evening Post, in association with sponsors Ogier is giving all sporting clubs a chance to win a share of £10,000.
This is Jersey
Jersey Evening Post
Useful links
Absolutely not! Forgiveness? How can they retract the actions of their forefathers?….we should neither forgive nor forget…..
Report abuse
Ooh number 1. can you really be serious….hope not for the sake of your conscience.
Report abuse
Forgive them? Never – but then again the people that should be asking for forgiveness are probably long dead anyway. Moot point.
Or are they hoping for an influx of tourists from the Channel Islands?
Report abuse
I agree with Parry. They cannot take back what happened.
Also ‘Gods mentor’ you should be ashamed of yourself.
Report abuse
Theres no smoke without fire as the saying goes
Therefore the right thing to do is to take a step forward which is forgiveness.
The English,Poles,French Jews and everyone else are all guilty throughout history for different acts of cruelty,greed & imorality.So let us remember,and learn from the past to put forward a better foot to the future.
All “those” who criticise this letter are no better!for creating yet more ill feeling and probably drive around in Bmw,Mercedes or Audi.
Report abuse
Whether people are prepared to forgive or not is down to personal choice I guess.
Report abuse
I don’t understand how you can hold offence against a town, it’s previous inhabitants perhaps but the town?
Those responsible for this abonimation are now dead, lets forgive the town and honour those lost but not hold a grudge against a town.
There is a lesson for mankind to be learnt from what happened in the 2nd world war and we should never forget but it benefits no one to persecute the descendants of those responsible.
Report abuse
To No. 2 and No. 5
As a German-born Jew (yes there still are some), I experienced both racism and antisematism from Jersey people whilst living on Jersey in the 1970s and 80s.
I will never forgive Jersey for either. Nor will I ever forget.
Report abuse
Those who critise the twinning and say never forgive the people of a little rural town in Germany for events that happened 65 years ago, maybe should ask the internees themselves what they think. I happen to know they are the ones who have brought this friendship together, otherwise it would never have happened.Learn from these people. Nobody is asking anyone to forget, but to love and forgive. Ordinary German people suffered at the hands of a Tyrant dictator as much as we did.
Report abuse
Tony
Posted April 30, 2010 at 8:10 am To No. 2 and No. 5
As a German-born Jew (yes there still are some), I experienced both racism and antisematism from Jersey people whilst living on Jersey in the 1970s and 80s.
I will never forgive Jersey for either. Nor will I ever forget
How long has the war been over,? Little Jersey had a LITTLE bit of inconvenience during the Occupation, Other Countries had far, far worse done to them and they can move on, Why is it that Jersey cannot forget, especially when so many profited from the occupation.
Report abuse
Tony #8
When in Israel I experienced racism against me, an Englishman.
I too shall never forget.
But I do forgive.
After all to have such views doesn’t show too much intelligence.
Report abuse
ich bin eine Bad Wurzachian!
Report abuse
You might expect with such an emotive subject that feelings would run high and vary…it is not possible for someone who has not experienced the suffering of another to really empathise..so if forgiveness seems too much to ask,I understand,I also understand that hatred kills the hater…so for the sake of those afflicted I would suggest if you can’t forgive,can you be willing to consider not hating…so you can enjoy what time you have left in peace…I found Viktor Frankl’s book “Mans search for meaning” so relieving as this stuff is insidious…it’s like taking poison then hoping someone else will succumb to it..
Report abuse
You never forget. You move on and learn from what occured. People who can’t move on will aways live with bitterness.
Report abuse
Parry – and others. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves everybody blind and unable to eat. One of THE bravest things a man or woman can do is forgive (not forget, just forgive). It is quite a nice feeling when you do….
Report abuse
Oh no!! I just read Simon Crowcroft attended.
How long until we see ‘Bad Wurzach Road’ appear somewhere in Jersey
Report abuse
The inhabitants of this small German town are not responsible for the actions of the Austrian dictator who gave the odious order to have thousands of Channel Islanders interned.
I fail to comprehend the “raison d’etre” of the anti-Germanic vitriol of some of the contributors to this debate.
Let’s move on, folks, for everybody’s sake!
Report abuse
I can’t quite believe some of the comments made on here. You do realise that you are talking about a very small rural town in Germany who just happened to be ‘used’ by the Nazis to keep their internees. Ex-internees are all saying they were treated well and some even made friends with some of the Germans – it was not the people of Bad Wurzach who brought the internees over to Germany! And some ex-internees even claim they’ve had more too eat there than their family and friends back in Jersey. If anything since living in Jersey I have experienced way more racism towards ‘outsiders and foreigners’ than anywhere else in the world. Most people on here are skating on very thin ice.
Report abuse
#18 LB
Good point
Jersey’s qualification system regarding jobs and housing, makes this the most right-wing destination in Europe
Anyone who wishes criticise the Nazi’s should take a deep breath first
Report abuse
LB – you say that you have experinced racism in jersey, as a jerseyman ( who has that thing stamped in my passport – i think theres about 4 1/2 thousand of us ) i have been called a thick bean and told we are here to educate you , so maybe your insults have come from jersey residents not jersey people !
Report abuse
…it’s like taking poison then hoping someone else will succumb to it.. – nicely put truthseeker – i will remember that .
Report abuse
Why is this even a debate?
The British have been responsible for plenty of atrocities throughout history, along with almost every other nation on the planet ….. maybe even the Swiss at some point in time!
Lets put this into perspective. 2000 islanders were locked up in a castle for the duration of the war and were eventually liberated….alive!
It should be quite easy for any intelligent and reasonable human being to forgive….maybe even forget.
I mean, how many of you are still smarting at the death of Major Pierson???
I guess nobody is…….otherwise you really do lead sad and pathetic lives.
Have none of you posters ever done anything you were ashamed of in the past?
At least this German town is humbly asking for forgiveness. Whan has UK, USA or anyone offered any sincere apology for the atrocities they were responsible for?
Report abuse
#20
‘i have been called a thick bean…’
Why did islanders so readily espouse this silly name, which only started fairly recently?
Have some respect and call yourselves “Crapauds”.
Report abuse
Think all the above comments are missing some of the points. Who in the first place gave all the names of Jersey people who married English people
to the Germans and had them deported to camps???
DO YOUR HOMEWORK FIRST before you comment.
Report abuse
carly “Anyone who wishes criticise the Nazi’s should take a deep breath first” that’s a bit silly, don’t you think?
Report abuse
Quite a few folk from English call local Jersey folk ‘thick beans’. The Jersey folk forgive them.
Report abuse
I find some of the comments on this forum really rather depressing and troubling.
Attrocities have happened all over the world, but until you have been through a particular experience yourself, I don’t think anyone has the right to demand that anyone should forgive and/or forget, let alone criticize for not doing so, nor should we be having a go at the people who can.
I am very lucky to have not lived through something as terrible as a war, however if I had, I would only hope that I would have the strength to be able to forgive and move on, but who knows.
The comments here playing down the occupation, simply beggars belief. My grandparents lived through the occupation, and even now bear the emotional strains of it on occasions. My other grandfather was incarcerated and killed during the war, so please don’t make out that it was not a big deal! To those directly affected it was.
How this has turned into a debate about Jersey v English I just don’t know. And comments comparing Jersey to the Nazis because we have a system in place regarding housing qualifications (a system I disagree with incidently) just about tops them all. I can tell you, Jersey is a far easier place to move to than other places around the world, why not have a pop at the Americans, Australians, New Zealand, Canada etc etc etc where immigration policies are far more rigid than here. But I am digressing…..
Proud to be Jersey, a bean and a crapaud. Proud to love my neighbour whatever colour, race or religion.
Report abuse
Although Hitler’s Wartime Germany reached the boundary beyond which there is no forgiveness, we should remember that only those bearing the greatest responsibility for the atrocities can be called to account for their acts. Therefore, if the perpetrators of war crimes are still alive, then they should be tried and punished (that is, if they can still breathe spontaneously and stand unaided), but we should never refuse those who have humbled themselves to request forgiveness…especially when their only crime is to be born near a castle which was used as an internment camp during World War II.
Report abuse
As a citizen of this small town in Germany who was born after the war and who is involved in the twinning I can only say: There are wonderful things that can develop from very ill-fated beginnings. We have seen many former internees coming back to our town to visit the castle again and to meet people in Bad Wurzach. And I am very happy to say that they leave as friends who want to come back again. This is the main idea of reconciliation.
Report abuse
This is the sort of prejudice that deep-seated racisism is made of.
For Heaven’s sake; these people are the decendants of the people who happened to inhabit the town that was chosen because it had a castle that suited the purpose of the Nazi’s. It wasn’t Bad Wurzach that decided to imprison our forebears.
Would any one of us have stood against Hitler in full-swing?
Time to move-on., learn from the past and don’t repeat it. Does anyone seriously think it will be repeated?
The very act of offering-out an olive branch deseserves admiration, not disapproval. I wasn’t here during the occupation and doubt anyone participating here was either.
To forgive is not to accept that everything that happened in the past should have done. Forgivness is accepting that somebody is sorry for their actions of the past.
Report abuse
I think “29 Gisella” has confirmed one’s suspicions.
The current local inhabitants of this town do not need to ask for, nor expect, forgiveness from us as there is nothing for them to be forgiven for.
However, as she mentions people enjoy their stay and wish to return at some future point. If I am not wrong, then this is called tourism.
Report abuse
Take the work of Nelson Mandela’s Truth and reconciliation commission…he was far sighted enough to acknowledge that hatred gets handed down through generations and that unless tackled intelligently..then misguided loyalty propogates more of same…where would it end….?
Report abuse
#13 & 14 So true. I knew people (now dead) who suffered greatly at the hands of the Nazis but they were still able to distinguish between those that committed atrocities, those who weren’t even alive at the time, and those who only did harm when it was a ‘kill or be killed’ scenario. They were also able to sit down and celebrate Christmas dinner with my German next-door neighbour, a lovely retired nurse who spent war-time treating anyone who crossed her path and needed medical help (regardless of nationality, race or religion).
I have met many Germans who felt the need to apologise for the war but who weren’t even alive at the time and I simply tell them that they don’t need to. I’ve never met an Austrian who felt the need to apologise for their society creating Hitler! We cannot hold those who weren’t even alive accountable for what their forefathers did, unless we are willing to be held accountable for the actions of our forefathers. It is also worth remembering what some of our soldiers did, and what some of our soldiers are currently doing!
Report abuse
We shouldnt dwell on the past, All nations have something there not proud of! look at the British in times past, We dont apologise for the actions of our relatives. It was the British that kicked off the slave trade and took over continents for there riches.
All things that have happened makes us who we are, we can all learn from previous mistakes so these things never happen again. Dont look back in anger look forward in hope.
Report abuse
Hey truthseeker, that is a bit rich coming from you to quote Nelson Mandela! Last time you wrote about me was to tell me to leave Jersey and go back to New Zealand. Someone from such a right-wing racist perspective is quite a surprise to see you pretend to be all ‘equality and fairness’.
Report abuse
My god! what a bunch of horrible racist and downright nasty people live on this tiny little place ….they need help
Report abuse
Leah Holmes #33. Well said. The war ended 65 years ago and it is time to forgive the Germans for what occurred. Note I said forgive, but we should never forget what happened. We can not blame the Germans of today for what occurred between 65 to 70 years ago.
Big Bean # 27. Said he was..” Proud to love my neighbour whatever colour, race or religion.” This is probably the most sensible thing that has been said in this chain of comments.
Report abuse
Nelson Mandela I would welcome,you however are taking things out of context,as it suits you.What I said was don’t come here telling us how to run our affairs,failing that clear off back to N.Z.
Report abuse
Truthseeker, it is completely in context, and a completely rascist view of yours. Your term ‘our affairs’ is tryign to exclude me, when in fact I am to be included in ‘our’. I pay taxes and vote. Your views are completely opposite to what you intend to portray.
Report abuse
#37 So true Blue Knight, unfortunately the next generation are forgetting
And they won’t learn much from the current wars because they are ‘distant’ wars in the sense that most of us, here and in the UK, can just get on with life with reasonably little about the current wars affecting our day to day living.
Report abuse
We should forgive. In the Boer War in 1901, in an effort to bring the war to an end, the British responded with a scorched-earth policy. This included burning down the farms and homes of the “Boers” (white Dutch settlers), and putting their women and children in concentration camps. Some 26,000 “Boer” women and children and 14,000 black and colored people were to die in appalling conditions. There has never been a British apology.
Report abuse
The story that the British ran Nazi-style concentration camps in South Africa during the Boer war was a story fabricated by Afrikaner nationalists. The camps were actually built to house refugees, some from farms burnt by Lord Kitchener’s forces and others from farms burnt by the Boers (don’t forget, it was a war and there are two sides in every war). Furthermore, there are records of British attempts to fight the epidemics that killed the 26,000 “Boer” women and children and all those other unfortunates.
With this, I’m not saying Kitchener’s policies were good…but one can hardly put epidemics (especially in that era) on a par with genocide.
Report abuse
I must apologise to the people of Bad Wurzach for responding to Progressive’s provocation (41).
This thread is about freeing ourselves from the past and wiping the slate clean and this is only going to happen when all of us are willing to do so…
Report abuse