Expert panel to review number of people who died in Alderney concentration camps

A panel of international experts will review the number of deaths in Alderney during the Nazi occupation throughout the Second World War.

Russian and Eastern European slave workers and Jewish prisoners were held at four camps around the island.

Post-war reports indicated that hundreds of them had died there, but some experts have long believed that the true figure is much higher. 

The new review will be led by academics from Canada, Germany, France and the UK, but the team say they also welcome submissions from amateur historians and members of the public.

There will be a fresh search of all documents about the Alderney camps, including the Pantcheff report which was written by a British army officer after the war and is believed to contain details of mass killings and burials on the island. 

  • Lord Pickles has gathered a group of experts to find the real number of people who died in Alderney during the Second World War.

Conservative peer Lord Pickles is the head of the UK delegation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which has been campaigning for this investigation to take place.

He said: "The panel of international experts is currently being put together. It will be an academic peer review of the numbers of prisoners murdered by the Nazis by brutality, neglect, work or judicial process. No human remains will be disturbed.

"We want to make this as transparent as possible so in a few weeks' time we'll open the books ... anybody who wants to put in a theory backed up with evidence, we'll listen to you."

Lord Pickles hopes the results will bring those with personal connections some closure.

He added: "I hope it will give them some rest and I hope it will enable Alderney to fully appreciate what an important aspect of the Holocaust it holds."

The President of the States of Alderney welcomes the review. Credit: ITV Channel

Alderney's top politician, the President of the States William Tate, has welcomed the review.

He reflected: "Above all, this will bring clarity and put an end to the arguments about numbers when as an island our priority is to show our respect for those who suffered and died here, however many there were."

The investigation is set to close at the end of October, with the findings expected to be published early next year.

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