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Examining the memorialscape of occupation and liberation: a case study from the Channel Islands

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13527258.2011.606330

1470-3610

Gillian Carr,

Canadian Identity and History

Abstract This paper introduces the concept of the 'memorialscape' as a tool for studying the inter-relationship of memorials within a single rural or urban environment or landscape. Using a case study of the British Channel Islands, where the number of memorials relating to the German occupation of 1940–1945 has increased greatly since 1985 (the 40th anniversary of liberation), I examine the active role these memorials have played in changing the occupation narrative of the islands. This paper will also explore the importance of memorial marginality and centrality; memorial inter-visibility; the difference between the memorialscape of the capital towns of Guernsey and Jersey and the groups they commemorate; and the narrative that the resulting memorialscape produces. Keywords: memorialsmemorialscapeoccupationliberationChannel Islandscounter-memory Acknowledgements The fieldwork for this article was made possible by a grant from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge. The author is grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their feedback and would like to thank people in the Channel Islands who helped her with this research. Thanks also to Guernsey Museums and Galleries and the Jersey Evening Post for permission to reproduce their images. Notes †Memorials that did not name the victim group involved, but implied their inclusion. *Memorials that were taken down and amended after public pressure. **New memorials that replaced those taken down. ‡Memorials presented by visiting Germans dignitaries. ‡‡Memorial presented by visiting Russians. 1. This table does not include the towns' war memorials, as these are not occupation-related. It also excludes monuments and memorials outside St Peter Port and St Helier, and those which are not directly related to those present in the Islands during the occupation. Thus, military personnel washed up or shot down in the Islands are excluded. Memorials which were taken down and later replaced by another to the same victim group have been counted as one in the total, and the date of their first erection is considered here to be the most important. 2. Email to author from former Bailiff of Jersey, 8 November 2010. 3. My thanks to Joe's son, Mick Mière, for allowing me access to his late father's paperwork. 4. Jersey Archives reference C/C/L/C9/1. 5. Jersey Archives reference C/C/L/C9/1. 6. Email to author from employee of Jersey Museum, 6 June 2011. 7. Email to author from employee of Jersey Museum, 6 June 2011. 8. Email to author from employee of Guernsey Museum, 3 June 2011, and to author from employee of Jersey Museum, 7 June 2011. 9. Email to author from employee of Guernsey harbour authority, 21 June 2011. 10. Email to author from employee of Guernsey Museum, 3 June 2011. 11. Email to author from employee of Jersey Museum, 8 June 2011. 12. Email to author from employee of Guernsey harbour authority, 21 June 2011. 13. Email to author from employee of Guernsey harbour authority, 22 June 2011. 14. Email to author from retired employee of Guernsey harbour authority, 23 June 2011. 15. Email to author from employee of Guernsey Museum, 6 June 2011, and to author from retired employee of Guernsey harbour authority, 23 June 2011. 16. Heritage Committee minutes (Guernsey), 26 January 1996. (Fortress Guernsey are a sub-committee of the Channel Islands Occupation Society who concern themselves with German fortifications.) 17. Guernsey Evening Press, 19 February 1997. 18. The BoA in Guernsey, now disbanded, had responsibility for the general administration relating to sites such as the harbour, the airport, the cliffs and common land. 19. Heritage Committee minutes (Guernsey), 8 October 1996, and letter from Committee to President of the Tourist Board, 10 October 1996. 20. Email from employee of Guernsey harbour authority, to author, 22 June 2011. 21. Heritage Committee minutes (Guernsey), 6 April 1999 and 4 May 1999. 22. Undated letter from former forced worker to Heritage Committee (Guernsey). 23. Informal conversation between author and employee for Culture and Leisure, Guernsey, 1 April 2010. 24. Phone call between member of the Guernsey Deportees Association, and the author, 5 June 2011.