All Journal stories The German Occupation of Sark
The Sark JournalSark islanders sent to Germany
The residents taken from Sark to civilian internment camps
Sark residents were deported in several groups during the German occupation.
The first deportations took place in September 1942
Eleven English-born residents were ordered to leave Sark on 26 September 1942. Nine reported at the harbour.
The other two were Major Skelton and his wife, Madge. They attempted a suicide pact rather than face deportation. Major Skelton died. Madge survived and remained on Sark for the rest of the war.
A week later, during Operation Basalt, Mrs Frances Pittard gave the British raiders a Guernsey newspaper containing evidence of the recent deportations.
More residents were taken in February 1943
The larger deportations followed in February 1943.
Fifty-four people were included in one group, among them Dame Sibyl Hathaway鈥檚 husband, Robert Hathaway, and the artist Ethel Cheeswright.
They were first taken to the Gaumont cinema in St Peter Port, which the German authorities used as a sorting point. Older deportees were examined there. Six Sark residents failed the medical examination and returned to the island.
The remaining deportees received baskets of food and boarded a ship for St Malo. The Sark Visitor Centre鈥檚 2020 booklet, Sark: An Island Occupied, records that the vessel left St Peter Port in a Force 10 gale.
At St Malo, the deportees were put on a train. Air raids held it in sidings, where local people passed bread, salami, butter and coffee through the carriage windows.
The train took them to Compi猫gne camp in France. From there, the group was divided. Some went to Biberach. Robert Hathaway and Ethel Cheeswright were among those sent to Laufen. Others went to Liebenau.
A further Sark group was deported on 21 February, including families with young children. The men were initially sent to Dorsten before being reunited with their families at Biberach.
Two babies were born at Biberach.
Nellie Le Feuvre was fifteen
Nellie Le Feuvre was fifteen when she was deported with her mother and brother.
On Liberation Day in 2015, she unveiled a plaque at Creux Harbour commemorating 62 people deported from Sark during the Second World War. She was then the last surviving Sark deportee still living on the island.
During Sark鈥檚 80th Liberation Day in May 2025, Nellie met the Princess Royal. At the age of 98, she told ITV that the experience should not be forgotten and described war as a terrible thing.
For the wider story, read Sark in the Second World War. If you want to spend longer on the island, see retreats on Sark.
