The German Occupation of Sark
Five years of German occupation, told through the people who lived it.
Sark was occupied by German forces from 3 July 1940 to 10 May 1945. Operation Basalt, the minefields it provoked, Dame Sibyl Hathaway holding the island together, deportations, wartime rationing, a murder investigation and one marriage that crossed the divide, and the surrender itself.
- 01
Sark in the Second World War
Five years of German occupation on an island of a few hundred people. Operation Basalt, the mines, the deportations, and liberation on 10 May 1945.
- 02
Dame Sibyl Hathaway and Sark's German occupation
Dame Sibyl Hathaway advised Sark residents to stay in 1940, received German officers at La Seigneurie, and remained on the island.
- 03
When the tea ran out
How Sark households met wartime shortages with leaf tea, root-vegetable coffee, reused cloth and other substitutes during the German occupation.
- 04
Operation Basalt
Twelve commandos raided Sark on the night of 3 October 1942. The raid provoked Hitler's Commando Order and years of mines across the island.
- 05
Sark islanders sent to Germany
Sark residents were deported during the German occupation and sent through France to civilian internment camps in Germany.
- 06
The German doctor murdered on Sark
German medical officer August Goebel was murdered on Sark in 1942. German investigators searched the island before Metz was convicted and executed.
- 07
Love Across the Divide
German soldiers and Sark residents played football and attended dances during the occupation, while some islanders also learnt German.
- 08
The Sark woman who married a German soldier
Phyllis Baker and Werner Rang met on occupied Sark in 1943, later corresponded while Werner was a POW, and married in 1948.
- 09
Traitor's Tree, Sark: The Island forgave but it did not forget
Someone on occupied Sark pinned a list of hidden radio owners to a tree. The Kommandant destroyed it. Islanders named the tree for whoever wrote it.
- 10
A walk through what the Occupation left behind
Ten ordinary Sark places, a harbour, a hotel site, a graveyard, a field, where the island's Occupation history is still visible.
- 11
Sark's surrender and liberation, 10 May 1945
Sark was formally liberated on 10 May 1945. Dame Sibyl interpreted at the surrender and remained in charge until full relief arrived.
Getting to Sark
The things guests always ask before they come, in one place: the ferry, the luggage system, what to pack, and what the first evening feels like.
Nadia, founder and host
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