The Channel Islands Occupation Society (Jersey branch) was set up in 1971 with the intention of investigating the period of the German Occupation of the Channel Islands and to maintain and preserve sites of special interest such as the German fortifications in the Island. Subsequently the Society has been placed in charge of the maintenance of a number of bunkers and has undertaken substantial research into the Occupation period in the Channel Islands.
The collection encompasses a wide range of different items including notes on research undertaken by the society into the Occupation, a diverse photographic archive, the recording of a great many speakers talking of many different facets of the Occupation, film recordings concerning the Occupation, maps and plans of the Island and different installations within the Island, a wide range of books on a variety of different subjects dealing with the Occupation and the Second World War, German magazines available to buy in the Channel Islands during the Occupation and a section dealing with the deportation of islanders to Germany and illustrations that were drawn in the internment camps as a consequence.
Items of interest include plans from 1978 for a proposed ‘Bunkerbar’ named Last Chance which would have had a lounge, bar and swimming pool within L’Etacquerel Bunker, a monopoly board owned by an internee, Charles E Daly, and signed by fellow internees and many drawings by various internees, including Harold Sydney Hepburn, depicting life and the surroundings in the various internment camps. This collection is an important addition to the archive records concerning the period of the German Occupation and should be utilised by a keen Occupation historian.
The CIOS collection can be searched online.