‘We had to march from the camp to the underground hospital every day. About a quarter of our brigade died, and they were replenished by men from another camp on Jersey. It was barely light when we began the march to the underground hospital. We were very young boys, we were thin, exhausted, dressed in torn clothes and blue with cold. The work site was a huge labyrinth of tunnels. I was terrified. The roof was supported by wooden props in some places and we could hear running water and smell damp. It felt like a grave. The walls were rough-hewn and there was mud underfoot. Everywhere there were people working like ants. It was hard to believe all these tunnels had been dug out by the weakening hands and legs of these slaves. People were so frail, they could barely lift a spade. The future for everyone was the same - death. For 12 hours a day we were underground. Many people died, especially during the dynamite explosions when they were wounded by falling pieces of rock. Those who were seriously wounded were taken…and were never seen again.'On 16 April 1943, Polish workers Franz Straburski and Stephan Jankowiak, who were attached to the Organisation Todt firm of H. Grimmich, were crushed to death in a roof fall. The fact that they were not buried in the Strangers' Cemetery at Westmount&nbsp;until 20 April testifies to the efforts required to extract their bodies from beneath the fallen stone. Marempolsky and others stated that another roof fall took place just days later when either eighteen or 22 men were killed, but this has not been corroborated.

Jersey

Vasilly Marempolsky, centre, with former Spanish Republican forced workers Vincente Gasulla Sole, left, and Francisco Font, right. Taken at the Slave Workers' Memorial, Westmount, St Helier in 1972.

Verslag van Vasilly Marempolsky

Photos