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German forces occupied the Channel Islands from 1940 until the end of the Second World War, and this German propaganda film shows scenes of life on the islands during their occupation. The film shows everyday life appearing to continue as normal and presents a picture of a fully integrated German military presence. Included are extraordinary scenes such as a uniformed British policeman acting as chauffeur for a German officer, the publication of a German-controlled British newspaper in Jersey, and a swastika symbol in the garden of a house on Sark. Familiar images of British life such as a double-decker bus with an advert for Bovril or a ‘Boots the Chemist’ shop share the screen with German soldiers. The film's message suggests that the Islands’ occupation offers a model for a future victory over Britain, and the film ends with the words 'Soon the British mainland will also be under German occupation'. The Imperial War Museum Film and Video Archive also holds other films that offer a different perspective to this one, including a British official film 'The Channel Islands 1940-1945' made at the end of the war, showing the Islands’ liberation at the end of the war and recreating the restrictions suffered by the islanders and scenes of resistance against the Germans. Also held is a piece of amateur film affording an extremely rare glimpse of the use of Russian slave labourers on the island of Alderney. The archive has several examples of film material that offer contrasting perspectives of war, from either side of the lines, including a German propaganda film ‘Gentlemen’ (1941) depicting Dunkirk as a betrayal of France as well as a British defeat, and newsreels from all sides reporting Second World War events such as the D-Day invasion. |
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