After seeing a TikTok video about a small piece of Second World War history, I decided to dive more into this subject before writing this blog post. We seem to think we know almost everything about the Second World War. But historical research keeps digging up new facts and stories. Stories, who some rather try to forget. And an example of this kind of forgotten stories is Camp Sylt: a secret Nazi concentration camp on the British isle of Alderney.
Camp Sylt was not an ordinary concentration camp during World War 2. It is also the only piece of land of the United Kingdom that was conquered by the German army. A piece of history that is often forgotten in Great Britain. But I like to tell you more about it in this blog article, because for myself I was surprised to learn about this story.
Death Camp Sylt on the island Alderney: what is it?
Let me start by telling you what the death camp Sylt was. The concentration camp (also called Lager in German) was located on an island, the island called Alderney. It’s one of the Channel Islands, in the Channel between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
These Channel Islands are located close to France, at the coast of Normandy. But they are a kind of part of the United Kingdom. More famous examples of these Channel Islands are the isles of Jersey and Guernsey. During World War 2, the couple of thousand inhabitants that were living on Alderney were completely evacuated, while the other Channel Islands remained inhabited.
I already mentioned something about the position of Alderney in the United Kingdom. Officially, it’s not a part of the United Kingdom. It is an independent Protectorate of the British Crown, with its own government. During the end of the Second World War, it was completely occupied by Hitler’s troops. So I think we can conclude that, contrary to common knowledge, the German Nazi army occupied a (very small) part of Britain’s property. A historical fact often forgotten.
Sylt: a forgotten Nazi concentration camp
But why did the German Nazi army occupy this small island Alderney for the coast of Normandy? It was too close to France to play a significant role during the invasion of Great-Britain.
Alderney would be used as the location of a death camp, though. We often think these Nazi camps were mostly located in the east of Europe. But also in the west of Europe, these horrible episodes of our history took place.
What happened in the Sylt death camp?
The Germans built no less than 4 work camps on the island Alderney. The labour camps housed the workers that were forced to build the defensive infrastructures located on the island.
But starting in 1943, the SS took over the command of Alderney and the labour camps were transformed into concentration camps. One of these camps was called Noderney, the other one Sylt. Together, Sylt and Noderney were the only German Nazi concentration camps on British soil.
The prisoners of these camps were mostly Jewish laborers. Their task was completing the infrastructural works on the famous Atlantikwall on the French coast.
Life in the Sylt concentration camp was hard. Prisoners were mistreated and tortured for almost every reason the guards could find. Murder was no exception. And the less laborers were alive, the higher the workload became for the surviving ones. Executed prisoners were even displayed at the front gate, as an example, to push prisoners to work harder. Like the concentration camps in the east of Europe, camp Sylt on the island Alderney was a hell on earth during the Second World War.
How do we only now know about the German Lager Sylt?
The history of the German Nazi Lager Sylt has been a long kept secret. Alderney already got the nickname ‘The island of silence’. Documents are mostly destroyed, like the camp itself. Only a few concrete guard posts and lost tunnels are remaining witnesses of what happened in Sylt.
It’s because of archaeological research that took over 10 years, that we have proof of the concentration camp Sylt on Alderney. Besides the archeological relics, a few eye witnesses are alive to tell us horrific stories about this German Lager. Aerial photography and radar completed this investigation.
All of this historical evidence supports each other. Archaeological relics have proven the stories about the very small places to sleep and live.
I’ve never been at this place for myself. But when I’m in the neighborhood, I’m planning a visit for sure.
Sources and further reading:
Wikipedia
BBC
Alderney
Photo by Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels
