Historical story

How to turn conquered Britons into faithful Nazis in 3 minutes?

As soon as the Germans completed their conquest of France, they also seized some of the Channel Islands off its coast, though part of Great Britain. They had no military significance, but their occupation provided the perfect breeding ground for Goebbels' propaganda. The first (and only) piece of British territory fell into the hands of the Nazis. Now it was enough to prove to the world that the islanders welcomed the Nazis with open arms!

Seemingly, it was not an easy task. The Channel Islands were terrified of the Germans, and thousands of them had escaped to England in advance. Those who stayed on the spot tried to passively endure the burdensome occupation, but at first hardly anyone thought about cooperation with the "superhumans" who had come from the continent. In order not to waste time, the German occupation authorities decided to resort to a stratagem just a few days after their arrival in the Islands.

And that and Guernsey in all its glory.

A certain Fred Hockey managed to get from Guernsey to England, where he told a reporter of Daily Herald the following story:

The commandant gave a short speech and then instructed everyone with French nationality to raise their left hand. There were only a handful of such people. Then he ordered everyone with British citizenship to raise their right hand, so we all put our hands high up.

We already found it a bit strange back then, but it wasn't until later that we found out what was going on. When we raised our hands, the photographer took a picture. Later this photo was published in German newspapers as a picture of Guernsey people "performing a Nazi salute and greeting Hitler!" I was told it was an old trick and that the Germans had done the same thing earlier in Paris.

German soldiers march down the main street of St Peter Port on Guernsey. Soon the local people will become "faithful Nazis".

Congratulations on your ingenuity! Unfortunately, neither me nor the author of the book from which I took the above quote (Barry Turner, Outpost of Occupation ) ). It is possible that as an embarrassing memento from the occupation, it did not survive the war, or was buried deep in the archives.

Source:

Barry Turner, Outpost of Occupation. How the Channel Islands Survived Nazi Rule 1940-1945 , Aurum 2010, p. 105.