LETTER: Jersey during the Occupation

From Mr Ward Rutherford

Sir: I am a Jerseyman. I lived through the Occupation. The fact I was a schoolboy did not prevent my spending its final months in a German prison. I was lucky. Others of my friends and contemporaries died in the camps. I remember the period as one of fear, intense hunger and often danger.

I am proud to be a Jerseyman and by no means ashamed of the wartime behaviour of my fellow islanders. What I find shaming is that works like Madeleine Bunting's The Model Occupation should be discussed as serious history (Book Review, 4 February).

It would be impossible to list all the errors made by Ms Bunting, a number of which are perpetuated by your reviewer, David Winnick. However, one can serve as an example simply because it was one of the easiest to check. This is the absence of memorials in the islands "to those whose resistance had cost them their lives".

In Jersey, at least, are two very prominent memorials. The first was provided by the island government. The second was the gift of the French Resistance, in recognition of the assistance provided by the people of Jersey. One wonders where Ms Bunting got her information.

Yours faithfully,

WARD RUTHERFORD

Brighton