Watercolours paint a picture of German soldier’s service

Ursula Moosler, nee Kuckuk, 75, and Peter Kuckuk, 70, from southern Germany, first visited Guernsey in June to retrace the steps of their late father.

Gerhard Willi Kuckuk was a corporal in the German infantry. In 1942, when he was 34, he came to the island to serve with the occupying forces.

He kept a diary for his wife and young daughter and also painted local and French scenes while he was serving.

Mrs Moosler had not been sure what sort of reception they would get, but said they had been made to feel so welcome.

‘Everyone is very friendly and helpful, thinking of places where the pictures could be and finding the places in the pictures,’ she said.

‘We never thought we would get so much help and support. It’s almost like home.’

Gerhard Kuckuk was billeted in a small house in Guernsey, where he grew potatoes and salads, as well as breeding rabbits, which he used to share with islanders.

He was also a keen artist. Shaun Marsh, a member of Festung Guernsey and the Friends of Priaulx Library, as well as a Castle Cornet keeper, has been helping the family to track down the locations painted in the diary.

He said he was really pleased to help the siblings and find some of the less recognisable scenes. Two of the toughest images to identify were at Havilland Vale.

Only a few images have stumped him. Two are believed to have been in Fort George and have since been demolished, while a third shows a mysterious mill, which does not seem to match up with any locally.

This week the siblings returned to Guernsey. They have taken copies of the pages of the original diary, which are now in a photo album showing the places in the modern day. They decided to donate the original diary to the Priaulx Library, along with a number of their father’s documents, such as his army pay book, passport and his prisoner-of-war paperwork.

Mrs Moosler said they were happy the documents would be appreciated.

‘We don’t have children or grandchildren of our own and in Nuremberg no one is very interested,’ she said.

‘So it is great to see people interested. It’s Guernsey history.’

After the war, Gerhard Kuckuk was sent to York as a prisoner of war.

He returned to his family in Nuremberg in 1947, where he played the piano at an American club until 1950.

Then he went to retrain as a music teacher and taught music until he retired. He died in 1996 without ever really talking to his family about his wartime experiences.

Priaulx Library chief librarian Susan Laker said they were pleased to add the documents to their collection, where they would be preserved.

‘It is incredibly generous to get such a snapshot,’ she said.

‘We get a lot of resources from ex-evacuees, but very little from the German occupying forces.’