HMD to be recognised in Guernsey

State members (Guernsey's parliament) have agreed that International Holocaust Remembrance Day should be officially recognised in Guernsey.

27 January is marked each year by many countries worldwide, including all IHRA member countries. Deputy Elis Bebb said the day should be given a higher profile locally, but that it should be kept separate from Liberation Day. He also said it was important that the island became fully involved in the international event of remembrance.

Of the six Jewish residents in the Bailiwick of Guernsey during the occupation, three of them - Marianne Grunfeld, Auguste Spitz and Therese Steiner - died at the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp.

The written proceedings of the decision said the Holocaust "scarred Guernsey in different ways", including the deaths of the Guernsey Eight and the numerous prisoners of war who were set to work and died while building the Atlantic Wall.

Invaded in June 1940, the Channel Islands were the only British territories to be occupied by the Germans during World War Two.

Photo: A Guernsey memorial for three Jewish women deported from the island during the German occupation in World War Two.