Guernsey's Occupation survivors to be honoured with special cobblestones

German artist and Stolperstein creator Gunter Demnig. Credit: Jersey Heritage.

15 brass-capped cobblestones are being placed in Guernsey to commemorate those who put up acts of resistance during the Occupation.

The Stolpersteine will be laid at various locations around the island this summer.

It is part of a joint project from Guernsey Museums and Jersey Heritage.  20 stones will be laid in Jersey.

One of them will honour the late Gordon Prigent, who refused to work for the Occupiers and was forced to work as a labourer in Alderney.

His widow, Iris, says her husband suffered greatly and was affected by this for the rest of his life.

"Gordon would have been happy to think that he and many others who suffered during the German Occupation are being remembered."

Gordon Prigent and Iris Prigent. Credit: Jersey Heritage

Occupation historian Dr Gilly Carr has been working on the project on behalf of Guernsey Museums.  Chris Addy, Sites Curator for Jersey Heritage said:

"It's a real pleasure to us that we're able to go into this as a Channel Islands project with the support of Dr Carr and all of the research she's done over the years."

Each Stolperstein, which translates to 'stumble stone', is around 10 cm by 10 cm.

They are called stumble stones because the idea is that people will, in some cases literally, stumble across them.

The initial project was created by German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992, and there are more than 100,000 laid across mainland Europe.

 Ada Van Dantzig's Stolperstein in Lodnon, UK. Credit: Jersey Heritage.

The British Isles received its first brass cobblestone in 2022  to commemorate Ava Van Dantzig, a 25-year-old Dutch woman of Jewish heritage, outside her workplace in London.

Gunter Demnig will visit the Channel Islands in July to help install some of the Stolpersteine in Jersey and Guernsey.

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