A copy of one of the Guernsey Underground News Service newsletters was sought by the British Library to contribute a different angle to its exhibition titled 'Breaking the News'.
‘I was approached by the British Library who wanted to include a copy of GUNS in the exhibition,’ said chief librarian, Sue Laker.
‘They were aware of GUNS, but had never seen a real copy, and requested that we loan them one, along with a copy of the Evening Press from 1940 sharing the news that Guernsey was officially under Occupation.’
The purpose of the exhibition is to challenge the way that the world thinks about and consumes the news, and how it shapes the world around us.
GUNS was set up by Charles Machon during the Occupation, and a small group of individuals would listen to the news on illegal crystal sets and relay the information in a secret newsletter to satisfy islanders’ hunger for updates beyond Guernsey.
It was established because the Germans controlled what news was accessible to the island, and so was predominantly from a German viewpoint.
The newsletters, which were printed on old tomato packing paper, instructed readers to burn after reading, as it was a huge danger to be caught with a copy providing illegal information, however some of the newsletters survived the remainder of the war and are kept at the Priaulx Library.
‘GUNS shows the lengths that islanders went to to get news during the Occupation,’ said
Priaulx Library chief executive Steve Foote.
‘Ralph Durand, who was the librarian here during the war, used to hide a copy of GUNS in different books for those who knew about it to read.’
The British Library initially provided the Priaulx Library with resources to post the newspaper articles, however in the end sent a member of staff to collect the artefacts personally and ensure their safety.
Ms Laker was invited to London for a preview of the exhibition, and said that it was amazing to see the local pieces among such high profile media cases such as Black Lives Matter, Donald Trump exhibits, editorial cartoons and fake news claims, in order to view different angles and query the power of the news.
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