A post war story
Last month a German lady was in the gallery and we were having a good long chat, she had been to the gallery before and was a regular visitor to Guernsey. So after a while I felt comfortable in asking her about the pin she was wearing (see above). I had seen them with a Guernsey flag crossed with the Union Jack or German flag but not this one.
Well it turned out it was the flag of Biberach which is the town in southern Germany where the internment camp for Channel Islanders was during World War 2. The island and the town now have a strong link, with visiting, choir, group and VIPs etc.
She very kindly then gave me my own pin.
We carrier on chatting, with me talking about how my father had been in Guernsey as a boy during the Occupation, and she had just visited German Naval Signals Headquarters
and as her father had worked in the GNSH in Brest, Britany
he had probably regularly communicated with the soldiers stationed in St Peter Port.
What I thought was so nice was we were both catching about our fathers experiences during the war, on opposite side, yet it was relaxed and friendly. As it should be.
After all in did all happen a life time ago.
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