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{{Short description|Nazi concentration camp}}

'''Lager Sylt''' was the name of the [[concentration camp]] on [[Alderney]] in the [[Channel Islands]] between March [[1943]] - June, [[1944]]. It is thought to have been mainly a labour camp with possibly 1000 inmates. 460 people are believed to have died in the Alderney camps. These were the only Nazi concentration camps to have existed on British soil.

'''Lager Sylt''' was a [[Alderney camps|Nazi concentration camp]] on [[Alderney]] in the British Crown Dependency in the [[Channel Islands]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.livescience.com/nazi-atrocities-camp-british.html|title=Hidden atrocities of Nazis at concentration camp on British island finally come to light|website=Live Science|date=1 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/science/nazi-concentration-camp-sylt-on-island-of-alderney-revealed-by-archaeologists|title=Nazi concentration camp Sylt on island of Alderney revealed by archaeologists|website=Fox News|date=2 April 2020}}</ref><ref name="natgeo"/> Built in 1942, along with three other labour camps by the [[Organisation Todt]], the control of ''Lager Sylt'' changed from March 1943 to June 1944 when it was run by the [[Schutzstaffel|Schutzstaffel - SS-Baubrigade 1]] and ''Lager Sylt'' became a subcamp of the [[Neuengamme concentration camp]] (located in [[Hamburg]], [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]).

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{{Infobox concentration camp

| type = <!-- Infobox subheader text, defaults to "Concentration camp" -->

| name = Lager Sylt

| image = Lageplan Konzentrationslager Aldeney B.jpg

| image size = 150px

| caption = Plaque remembering the [[Alderney camps]]

| alt =

| ___location map = Channel Islands

| map alt =

| map relief =

| map label =

| map label position =

| map caption =

| map size =

| other names =

| known for =

| ___location = [[Alderney]], [[Bailiwick of Guernsey]]

| coordinates = <!-- {{coord}} -->

| built by = [[Organisation Todt]]

| operated by = [[Schutzstaffel|Schutzstaffel - SS-Baubrigade 1]]

| commandant = Karl Tietz

| original use =

| companies involved =

| construction = 1942

| in operation = March 1943 - June 1944

| gas chambers =

| prisoner type = Jewish, Eastern European, Spanish and Russian enforced labourers

| inmates =

| killed = 400+<ref>https://maps.app.google.com/dryktbo5mjww7kYP7 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref>

| liberated by = [[British Army]]

| notable inmates =

| notable books =

| website =

}}

== Alderney camps ==

It organised by the [[SS]]-Baubrigade I and ran as the [[Neuengamme]] camp in northern [[Germany]] and used by [[Organisation Todt]]

{{Main|Alderney camps}}

Each Alderney camp was named after one of the [[Frisian Islands]]: [[Lager Norderney]] located at Saye, [[Lager Helgoland]] at Platte Saline, ''Lager Sylt'' near the old telegraph tower at La Foulère and [[Lager Borkum]], situated near the Impot. Two of these camps were the only Nazi concentration camps on [[United Kingdom|British]] soil.

The ''Borkum'' and ''Helgoland'' camps were "volunteer" (Hilfswillige) [[labour camps]]<ref>Christian Streit: Keine Kameraden: Die Wehrmacht und die Sowjetischen Kriegsgefangenen, 1941-1945, Bonn: Dietz (3. Aufl., 1. Aufl. 1978), {{ISBN|3-8012-5016-4}} - "Between 22 June 1941 and the end of the war, roughly 5.7 million members of the Red Army fell into German hands. In January 1945, 930,000 were still in German camps. A million at most had been released, most of whom were so-called "volunteers" (Hilfswillige) for (often compulsory) auxiliary service in the Wehrmacht. Another 500,000, as estimated by the Army High Command, had either fled or been liberated. The remaining 3,300,000 (57.5 percent of the total) had perished."</ref> and the labourers in those camps were treated harshly but better than the inmates at the ''Sylt'' and ''Norderney'' camps and were paid for work done. ''Lager Borkum'' was used for German technicians and volunteers from different countries of [[Europe]]. ''Lager Helgoland'' was filled with [[Russia]]n [[Organisation Todt]] workers. (For further information on [[Alderney camps]], see ''Appendix F: Concentration Camps: Endlösung – The Final Solution'';<ref name="okeefe">{{Citation |author=Christine O'Keefe |url=http://www.tartanplace.com/tartanhistory/concentrationcamps.html |title=Appendix F: Concentration Camps: Endlösung – The Final Solution |accessdate=2009-06-06 |postscript=<!--none-->}}</ref> ''Alderney, a Nazi concentration camp on an island Anglo-Norman''.<ref name="aurigny">{{Citation |author=Matisson Consultants |url=http://www.matisson-consultants.com/affaire-papon/aurigny.htm |title=Aurigny ; un camp de concentration nazi sur une île anglo-normande (English: Alderney, a Nazi concentration camp on an island Anglo-Norman) |accessdate=2009-06-06 |language=fr |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220101021/http://www.matisson-consultants.com/affaire-papon/aurigny.htm |archivedate=2014-02-20 }}</ref>)

Alderney has been nicknamed "the island of silence", due to the fact that little is known about what occurred there during the occupation. The rest of the island was heavily fortified, mainly through the slave labour of the camp inmates.

== Lager Sylt ==

The prisoners were from [[Russia]] and Europe, including, [[Second Spanish Republic|Spanish Republican]]s. Some of the few remaining unevacuated Alderney natives also found themselves in there.

Today, little remains of the camp.<ref name="natgeo">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/03/forgotten-nazi-concentration-camp-england-revealed-archaeologists/|title='Forgotten' Nazi camp on British soil revealed by archaeologists|last=Gannon|first=Megan|date=2020-03-30|website=National Geographic|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200331192221/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/03/forgotten-nazi-concentration-camp-england-revealed-archaeologists/|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 31, 2020|access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref> Three gateposts to the rear of the island's airport mark the entrance; one has had a commemorative plaque attached. Some ruins remain, including a number of sentry posts, some foundations and a small tunnel, which led from the camp commandant's house to the inside of the camp. The commandant's house was later moved to another part of the island.

The States {Alderney's governing body) decline to commemorate the sites of the four labour camps, local historian Colin Partridge feels this may be due to the locals' desire to dissociate themselves from the accusations of collaboration. A faded memorial plate, tucked away behind the island's parish church, vaguely mentions 45 Soviet citizens who died on Alderney in 1940-45, without saying how they died and why.

It was built by the [[Organisation Todt]] (OT) in January 1942 by and for their forced labourers who would be employed in building [[Fortifications of Alderney|fortifications]] including [[bunker]]s, gun emplacements, [[air-raid shelter]]s and tunnels.<ref name="natgeo"/>

''Sylt camp'' held [[Jew]]ish enforced labourers.<ref name="subbrit">{{Citation|author=Subterranea Britannica |url=http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/a/alderney/lager_sylt/index.shtml |title=SiteName: Lager Sylt Concentration Camp |date=February 2003 |accessdate=2009-06-06|postscript=<!--none-->}}</ref> The prisoners in ''Lager Sylt'' and ''Lager Norderney'' were slave labourers forced to build the many military fortifications and installations throughout Alderney. ''Norderney camp'' housed [[Europe]]an (usually Eastern but including [[Second Spanish Republic|Republican]] Spaniard) and [[Russia]]n enforced labourers.

The ''Lager Sylt'' commandant, Karl Tietz, had a black French colonial as an under officer. Shocked to see a black man beating up white men from the camp, a German naval officer threatened to shoot him if he saw him doing it again. Tietz was brought before a court-martial in April 1943 and sentenced to 18 months penal servitude for the crime of selling cigarettes, watches and other valuables he had bought from Dutch OT workers on the black market.<ref>{{cite book |first=Barry |last=Turner |title=Outpost of Occupation: The Nazi Occupation of the Channel Islands, 1940–1945 |publisher=Aurum Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1845136222}}</ref>{{rp|147}}

It was taken over by the [[Schutzstaffel|Schutzstaffel – SS-Baubrigade I]],<ref name="natgeo"/> which was first under supervision of the [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp]]; from mid-February 1943 it ran under the Neuengamme camp in northern [[Germany]],<ref>{{Citation|author=Staff |title=Verzeichnis der Konzentrationslager und ihrer Außenkommandos gemäß § 42 Abs. 2 BEG |publisher=[[Federal Ministry of Justice (Germany)|Bundesministerium der Justiz]] |date=1967-02-23 |accessdate=2008-09-26 |url=http://bundesrecht.juris.de/begdv_6/anlage_6.html |quote=6a Alderney, Einsatzort der I. SS-Baubrigade Sachsenhausen, ab Mitte Februar 1943 Neuengamme |language=de |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423004151/http://bundesrecht.juris.de/begdv_6/anlage_6.html |archivedate=2009-04-23 }}</ref> located near the old telegraph tower at La Foulère. It was used by the Organisation Todt, a [[forced labour]] programme, to build [[bunker]]s, gun emplacements, [[air-raid shelter]]s, and concrete fortifications on the island.

=== Post-war ===

Alderney has been nicknamed "the island of silence",{{cn|date=March 2024}} because not much is known about what occurred there during the occupation. The German officer left in charge of the facilities, Commandant Oberst Schwalm, burned the camps to the ground and destroyed all records connected with their use before the island was liberated by [[British forces]] on 16 May 1945. The German [[garrison]] on Alderney surrendered a week after the other Channel Islands, and was one of the last garrisons to surrender in Europe. The population were not allowed to start returning until December 1945.

Over 700 of the OT workers are said to have lost their lives in Alderney,<ref>{{cite web |title=States of Alderney denies cover up on wartime deaths |url=https://guernseypress.com/news/2019/06/20/states-of-alderney-denies-cover-up-on-wartime-deaths/ |website=[[Guernsey Press]] |access-date=4 January 2021 |date=20 June 2019}}</ref> or in shipping that was sunk; the remaining inmates transferred to France in 1944.

The [[States {of Alderney|States]] (Alderney's governing body) decline to commemorate the sites of the four labour camps,. localLocal historian Colin Partridge feels this may be due to the locals' desire to dissociate themselves from the accusations of collaboration. A faded memorial plate, tucked away behind the island's parish church, vaguely mentions 45 Soviet citizens who died on Alderney in 1940-451940–1945, without saying how they died and why.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Vitali Vitaliev |title=Channel Islanders showing off their sites of shame |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/jan/03/guardianweekly.guardianweekly1 |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=4 January 2021 |date=3 January 1999}}</ref>

In June 1963, [[Roland Puhr]], the first commandant of the Lager Sylt camp, was arrested in East Germany for unrelated atrocities committed in [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp]]. He was sentenced to death, and executed in 1964.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Les îles anglo-normandes sous l'occupation allemande et la singularité des Républicains espagnols en captivité (2e partie : 1944-1945 et l'après-guerre) |date=2016 |doi=10.3917/gmcc.261.0119 |url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-guerres-mondiales-et-conflits-contemporains-2016-1-page-119.htm |last1=w. Pike |first1=David |last2=Farache |first2=Anne |journal=Guerres Mondiales et Conflits Contemporains |volume=261 |issue=1 |pages=119–138 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==See also==

* [[List of GermanNazi concentration camps]]

* [[List of subcamps of Neuengamme|Neuengamme concentration camp subcamp list]]

* [[The Holocaust]]

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==

*[http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/a/alderney/lager_sylt/index.shtml Lager Sylt Concentration Camp]

*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20050505102346/http://www.spanishrefugees-basquechildren.org/B5-Slave_Labourers_and_Slave_Labour_Camps.html A Spanish Republican slave labourer]}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Alderney]][[Category:concentrationNazi German camps on Alderney]]

[[Category:Subcamps of Neuengamme]]