Russian Embassy moots memorial to Nazi slaves
THE Russian Embassy in London has expressed interest in erecting a memorial on Alderney in honour of their citizens who died during the Occupation.
It confirmed with J-Trails founder and historian Marcus Roberts that it had been in touch with Guernsey heritage officers about the possibility.
In correspondence, Konstantin Shlykov, Russian Embassy press officer, told him: ‘We have mentioned the need for a proper monument to the Alderney prisoners in our correspondence with Guernsey heritage services. We hope to start working on it after completing another memorial project in Guernsey proper – a monument to the Russian soldiers of the 1799/1800 Holland expedition.’
Mr Shlykov told the Guernsey Press that while they did not have ‘specific’ plans as yet, ‘Honouring the memory of the victims of Nazism is very important for us, including, of course, in the Channel Islands, where hundreds if not thousands of PoWs and forced workers perished’.
He added: ‘We currently do not have specific plans for a memorial in Alderney, as we have some other memorial projects to undertake in 2018, but should we have any ideas or suggestions further on, we will be coordinating with the Guernsey heritage services and the island administration and, should there be interest, with other embassies whose nationals perished, and follow the procedures established by the local law.’
Guernsey Museums director Dr Jason Monaghan confirmed that the Russian Embassy had been in touch with him on the matter and he anticipated more correspondence on the issue.
Alderney States Member Graham McKinley brought the matter up at P&F and suggested reforming a committee set up to look at potentially erecting a memorial at the site of the Lager Sylt concentration camp.
There is still much controversy over how many prisoners died in Alderney during the Occupation. A total of 389 was the official number that could be matched to grave sites immediately after the war. Since then theories have emerged that take the death count up to many thousands.
John Weigold, who has been intensively researching the Occupation and the fate of Alderney’s slave labourers, said there was an emerging impetus in Russia to honour the massive number of their countrymen killed in the Second World War.
‘Russia is a huge nation and this may be a substantial opportunity for Alderney,’ he said. ‘We should approach the Russians to ask what they want to do, assess what we would like to see happen, and then put the options to the public to see what the majority want. We should not let this opportunity slip by.’
