Censors in the Evening Post offices
That Was Jersey |
Local history for everyone |
CHANNEL ISLANDS |
During the long years of Occupation, the Island was isolated from the rest of the world. The Germans controlled all movements in and out of the Island very strictly. However, they allowed an official supply arrangement with Occupied France in order to get essential goods like food and other household items. The biggest problem was that there were shortages there too.
There was a shortage of almost everything, but the resourceful Islanders found ways round the problems. One of the solutions was the increase in exchanging goods. There is a poem published in "Jersey in jail 1940-45" which indicates the sort of barter and exchange that was going on. There was little money spare, and there was always a chance that someone else had something you wanted, and would be willing to exchange it for something he wanted.
One of the less tangible shortages was a lack of information. With no telephone or postal service outside of the Island, many Islanders were anxious for news of family and friends in the UK, fighting on the Continent, or in a German camp somewhere. At the end of 1940 messages started to arrive in Jersey, sent through the Red Cross. The Red Cross was able to send short messages to and from the UK, although it could take months to receive a reply to a specific enquiry. An office was opened in town and many thousands of messages sent and received proved invaluable to people concerned about friends and relatives.
Part of the lack of information was related to the order given on 6th June 1942, that everyone should hand in their radios (often known then as wirelesses). Many people hid their radios, and there were many nerve-wracking moments as homes were searched by German soldiers looking for the forbidden equipment. Some people who had handed in their wireless sets were able to make crystal radios but there were stiff penalties for listening in.
One person officially allowed to keep a wireless set was the Official Timekeeper of Jersey, Père Rey, who operated the Observatory at Maison St Louis. He was a capable scientist and it was due to his sharing of skills and materials that many people were able to make crystal radios in matchboxes. This allowed them to listen to the BBC news and thus receive a British view on the progress of the war.
The Evening Post managed to publish throughout the Occupation, in spite of problems like a shortage of paper. Each day the German censor visited the offices to check what was being published, and to add some official notices from the Authorities. The paper included local news, information from the States, and information and instructions from the Germans.
In the early days of the occupation, each day's front page (in German, of course) also showed a photo of the beautiful Island of Jersey. This section of the paper was clearly for the benefit of the German soldiers, as they got to know their new territory. For part of the Occupation, this German newspaper also provided news from home for the forces. It was called Der InselZeitung (Island news).
Evidence of everyday life in those years could also be found in the Evening Post. The pages contained advertisements for the few goods that remained available, jokes and amusing stories, recipes for getting the most from the available foods, notices of plays, films and other entertainments.
Food rationing in England started in 1940 and didn't finally end until 1954. The scheme meant that each person was allocated a small fixed amount of certain foods. Rations were adjusted as various foods became more or less scarce. Some other things were also rationed, like soap, matches and tobacco.
There was rationing in Jersey too. Typical rations would include each week, for each person:
Sometimes there would be extra rations, perhaps half a pint of cooking oil, or one tablet of toilet soap. Gifts of rationed goods could be a much appreciated birthday present!
Gradually more foods appeared on the rations list, as supplies dwindled. Information would be supplied in the Evening Post.
As the war went on, the rations got smaller, and some things disappeared altogether. The shortages were worse in winter, especially with bad weather. The severe winter of 1941-42 resulted in scarcer food, and in the last months of the war the problems became particularly severe.
Over the years of rationing, people became very good at finding alternatives for basic foods. There were many attempts to find decent substitutes for tea and coffee. Blackberry leaves or lime tree blossom were options for tea (shredded and baked); for coffee, dried and roasted acorns with barley could be acceptable. Making jelly without gelatine was not too difficult if you collected some Carrageen moss, which is a type of seaweed. When salt supplies ran low, sea water was sold to cook vegetables in. In the absence of grain for making flour, potatoes were used. The process of making potato flour was messy and hard work, but the resulting flour could be used in various ways.
Faced with shortages in fuel supplies people became creative in finding alternatives. Here is one example of an alternative to the normal bus service. It was not run in competition with existing routes, but was intended to provide some public transport on Sundays, when there was otherwise none at all.
After D-Day conditions in the Island worsened. From early in the Occupation, the Germans had helped by allowing Jersey agents to purchase food and other supplies from Occupied France, as it was under German control. In the months following D-Day, as the Allies regained control of France, that source of supplies was no longer available. During the winter of 1944-45 people were increasingly malnourished and the threat of starvation loomed large.
During the autumn of 1944, fuel supplies were almost gone, leaving no gas, occasional electricity, and very little road fuel. Medical supplies were almost non-existent; and most people were without fuel (for heating their homes, water and for cooking), sugar, soap, salt and matches. Public ovens were opened by the States in various places, to enable people to have cooked meals in spite of the lack of fuel at home.
Eventually news came that a Red Cross relief ship was about to leave Lisbon, bound for the Channel Islands with a cargo of food. After first calling at Guernsey, the S S Vega arrived in Jersey on 30th December with food parcels, and cases of salt, soap and medical supplies. The immediate food requirements were met, but other shortages demanded drastic action. Trees were cut down for fuel, the milk ration was further reduced to two pints a week, and the electricity supply ceased. Jersey cattle were being slaughtered for meat, and the milk ration decreased further.
The visits of the Red Cross ship S S Vega proved a lifeline to the starving islanders. Each Red Cross parcel contained essential food supplies, and the Island population welcomed the ship's visits during the last trying months of the occupation. There were several more visits of the Vega, bringing necessary supplies to the starving Islanders. By this time, the German troops were demanding a larger share of the diminishing supplies.
A large V (for Victory or for Vega) was created in the Royal Square as a celebration of the relief brought by the ship.
