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Foreword

by International Best Seller Jack Higgins.

The Channel Islands hold a unique place in British history, not least because during the Second World War they were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by the Nazis. For five long years the Swastika flew here in place of the Union Jack and all the worst excesses of Nazi rule were present in some form or other.

The iron fist in the velvet glove policy did not last long. The Secret Field Police employed Gestapo operatives on secondment and many Islanders soon experienced the horror of the early morning knock on the door leading to brutal interrogation in a manner familiar elsewhere in occupied Europe.

Only those who experienced the Occupation know the anguish of it and it has always been particularly distressing to those who lived through it when outsiders complain that there was no resistance movement in the Islands.

Logic alone makes it clear that such action was simply not possible in so small an area and yet many thousands of Channel Islanders received prison sentences of one kind or another for contravening the law of the jackboot.
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To be a Jew was a crime under the anti-Semitic laws and even keeping a radio to listen to the BBC news broadcasts meant a stiff prison sentence.

Many Islanders went further, assisting Russian slave workers and others on the run, eventually being sentenced to terms in French prisons or concentration camps such as Ravensbruck and Belsen. In some cases they died there.

As in all occupied countries a small number of people collaborated with the enemy. That fact is meaningless when considered in the context of the unfailing loyalty of the vast majority of Channel Islanders who stubbornly persisted in the face of armed might and brute force in fighting their own war of non co-operation. They never lost faith in their belief that one day liberation would come.

Living with the Enemy is a stunning account of how a small population with a belief in themselves, their own integrity and loyalty to the Crown were able to stand up to a country which at the time controlled the whole of Europe but most importantly played their own part in the eventual destruction of the Third Reich.

Living With The Enemy - A tribute to the people

The Documentary

Living With The Enemy is the true and personal story of the Occupation of Jersey.

Inspired by Islanders, this definitive documentary gives a heart-warming and heart-wrenching insight into Island life between 1940 and 1945, as seen through the eyes of the people who endured it.

Featuring interviews with over 20 residents, the Green Eye Production, directed by Julie Daly-Wallman - producer of the award-winning movie The Crooked Mile - and produced in association with The Marie-Anthoine Film Trust and The Jersey Tourism Development Fund, is the culmination of three years' extensive research.

It was also inspired by the books Living With The Enemy by Roy McLoughlin and Simon Watkins, and Prison Without Bars by Frank Keiller and Roger Jones.

Bringing together a selection of fascinating and enlightening historical and anecdotal stories and memories, the documentary also aims to clarify any misconceptions about life in Jersey during those years, and highlights how much Islanders contributed to, and sacrificed for, Britain. A poignant tribute to everyone touched by those difficult years, this is the true story of Living With The Enemy.

Sales and Reference

The documentary premiered at the Jersey Arts Centre on Saturday 7th May 2005 as part of the events planned to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Liberation. It was a great success and was attended by many well known Islanders and Island dignitaries including The Bailiff of Jersey, Sir Philip Bailhache, Jack Higgins and guests from as far away as Australia and the USA.

Copies of the DVD and video went on sale at this screening, and are also available from retail outlets across the Channel Islands and on-line from www.livingwiththeenemy.com from 7 May. DVDs are priced at £15.99 while videos will cost £12.99.

Profits from the screening and sales of the documentary will go to The Marie-Anthoine Film Trust, which was established in 2005, to support Jersey residents in the production of moving picture accounts of the culture, history, flora and fauna, and geological makeup of the Island.

Correction: The name of the cameraman who took the secret film footage during the occupation was in fact George Bertram and not John Bertram. Olive Thompson's name is correct. The mistake is regretted.