The German doctor murdered on Sark

On the morning of 29 April 1942, German medical officer Dr August Goebel was found dead in his bedroom at Vieux Clos on Sark.

Goebel was 29 and served as the island’s German Sanitary Officer.

His batman, Lance Corporal Johann Uhl, discovered the body and raised the alarm. A German medical NCO examined Goebel’s pistol to determine whether it had been fired. It had not.

German police came from Guernsey

The Geheime Feldpolizei, the German secret field police, travelled from Guernsey to investigate.

The Sark Visitor Centre’s 2020 booklet, Sark: An Island Occupied, records that the investigators established themselves near the Dixcart Hotel and searched the island for a weapon.

One of the investigators was Hauptwachtmeister Heinz Woefle. The booklet records his local nickname as the “Wolf of the Gestapo”.

Johann Uhl

Attention turned to Uhl, the man who had found Goebel’s body. He was interrogated in relays and deprived of sleep.

Uhl disappeared on 11 May. His body was found four days later in the well at Vieux Clos. Sark: An Island Occupied says his suicide followed the pressure of the interrogation.

The murder investigation continued after Uhl’s death.

Lankmann was investigated and freed

Suspicion next fell on Obergefreiter Lankmann, an acting armourer who had tuberculosis.

Goebel had refused Lankmann’s request to see a specialist. Sark: An Island Occupied records that Lankmann had written home expressing hostility towards Goebel. Lankmann was later freed.

Metz opened Goebel’s letters

Suspicion eventually fell on a German soldier called Metz.

Metz had been opening private letters sent to Goebel by women and sometimes answered them himself. Goebel discovered this, reprimanded Metz and threatened to reduce him to the rank of private.

Metz was later sent under escort to Berlin. Sark: An Island Occupied says he confessed to another prisoner that he had killed Goebel with a cleaver.

He was returned to Guernsey, convicted of Goebel’s murder and executed by firing squad at Torteval on 4 April 1943.

For the wider story, read Sark in the Second World War. If you want to spend longer on the island, see retreats on Sark.