"Lager Helgoland" was in the northwest corner of Alderney. The "Borkum" and "Helgoland" camps were called "volunteer" (Hilfswillige) labour camps and the labourers in those camps were treated harshly but marginally better than the inmates at the "Sylt" and "Norderney" camps. The prisoners in "Lager Sylt" and "Lager Norderney" were slave labourers forced to build the many military fortifications and installations throughout Alderney. "Sylt camp" held Jewish enforced labourers and was a death camp. "Norderney camp" housed European (usually Eastern but including Spaniard) and Russian enforced labourers. "Lager Borkum" was used for German technicians and volunteers from different countries of Europe. "Lager Helgoland" was filled with Russian Organisation Todt workers. (For further information on Alderney concentration camps, see "Appendix F: Concentration Camps: Endlösung – The Final Solution"; "Alderney, a Nazi concentration camp on an island Anglo-Norman";.
Lager Norderney
Lager Norderney was a Nazi concentration camp on Alderney, in the Channel Islands, named after the East Frisian island of Norderney.
The Germans built four concentration camps on the island, subcamps of the Neuengamme concentration camp (in Hamburg, Germany). Each subcamp was named after one of the Frisian Islands: "Lager Norderney" at Saye, Lager Borkum at Platte Saline, Lager Sylt near the old telegraph tower at La Foulère and Lager Helgoland, in the northwest corner of the island. 700 people died in the Alderney concentration camps (out of about 6,000 inmates). These were the only Nazi concentration camps on British soil.
It was organised by the Schutzstaffel - SS-Baubrigade I–which was first under supervision of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp; and since mid-February 1943 ran under the Neuengamme camp in northern Germany. It was used by the Nazi Organisation Todt, a forced labour programme, to build bunkers, gun emplacements, air-raid shelters, and concrete fortifications.
"Norderney camp" housed European (usually Eastern but including Spaniard) and Russian enforced labourers. The prisoners in "Lager Norderney" and "Lager Sylt" were slave labourers forced to build the many military fortifications and installations throughout Alderney. "Sylt camp" held Jewish enforced labourers and was a death camp. The "Borkum" and "Helgoland" camps were "volunteer" (Hilfswillige) labour camps and the labourers in those camps were treated harshly but marginally better than the inmates at the "Sylt" and "Norderney" camps. "Lager Borkum" was used for German technicians and volunteers from different countries of Europe. "Lager Helgoland" was filled with Russian Organisation Todt workers. (For further information on Alderney concentration camps, see "Appendix F: Concentration Camps: Endlösung – The Final Solution"; "Alderney, a Nazi concentration camp on an island Anglo-Norman";.
In 1942, "Lager Norderney", containing Russian and Polish POWs, and "Lager Sylt", holding Jews, were placed under the control of the SS Hauptsturmführer Max List. Over 700 of the inmates lost their lives before the camps were closed and the remaining inmates transferred to Germany in 1944.
Lager Sylt
Lager Sylt was a Nazi concentration camp on Alderney in the Channel Islands, in operation between March 1943 and June 1944. The Germans built one concentration camp and three Labour camps on the island, subcamps of the Neuengamme concentration camp (in Hamburg, Germany). Each subcamp was named after one of the Frisian Islands:
700 people are estimated to died in the camps on Alderney, although it is now believed to have been higher. This was the only Nazi concentration camp on British soil.
It was organised by the Schutzstaffel - SS-Baubrigade I–which was first under supervision of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp; and since mid-February 1943 ran under the Neuengamme camp in northern Germany–near the old telegraph tower at La Foulère. It was used by the Nazi Organisation Todt, a forced labour programme, to build bunkers, gun emplacements, air-raid shelters, and concrete fortifications.
"Sylt camp" held Jewish enforced labourers. The prisoners in "Lager Sylt" and "Lager Norderney" were slave labourers forced to build the many military fortifications and installations throughout Alderney. "Norderney camp" housed European (usually Eastern but including Spaniard) and Russian enforced labourers. The "Borkum" and "Helgoland" camps were "volunteer" (Hilfswillige) labour camps and the labourers in those camps were treated harshly but marginally better than the inmates at the "Sylt" and "Norderney" camps. "Lager Borkum" was used for German technicians and volunteers from different countries of Europe. "Lager Helgoland" was filled with Russian Organisation Todt workers. (For further information on Alderney concentration camps, see "Appendix F: Concentration Camps: Endlösung – The Final Solution"; "Alderney, a Nazi concentration camp on an island Anglo-Norman";)
The prisoners were from Russia and Europe, usually the east, but including Spanish Republicans. Some of the few remaining unevacuated Alderney natives (round about 2% of the population) also found themselves in there. In 1942, "Lager Norderney", containing Russian and Polish POWs, and "Lager Sylt", holding Jews, were placed under the control of SS Hauptsturmführer Max List. Over 700 of the inmates are said to have lost their lives before the camps were closed and the remaining inmates transferred to Germany in 1944.
Alderney has been nicknamed "the island of silence", because little is known about what occurred there during the occupation. The rest of the island was heavily fortified, mainly through the slave labour of the camp inmates. The German officer left in charge of the facilities, Commandant Oberst Schwalm, burned the camps to the ground and destroyed all records connected with their use before the island was liberated by British forces on 16 May 1945. The German garrison on Alderney surrendered a week after the other Channel Islands, and was one of the last garrisons to surrender in Europe. The population were unable to start returning until December 1945.
The States (Alderney's governing body) decline to commemorate the sites of the four labour camps. Local historian Colin Partridge feels this may be due to the locals' desire to separat themselves from the accusations of collaboration. A faded memorial plate in the island's parish church mentions 45 Soviet citizens who died on Alderney in 1940-45 but does not say how they died and why.
Nicolaus Steno
Nicolas Steno also spelled as Nicolas Steno who lived 1 January 1638 – 25 November 1686 (NS: 11 January 1638 – 5 December 1686) was a Danish Catholic cleric and scientist who pioneered in both anatomy and geology.
In 1659 he decided not to accept anything written in a book and, instead, decided to find out things for himself. He is considered the father of geology and stratigraphy.
Steno argued that the chemical composition of fossils could be altered without changing their form.
Steno's work on shark teeth led him to the question of how any solid object could come to be found inside another solid object, such as a rock or a layer of rock.
The "solids within solids" that attracted Steno's interest included not only fossils, as we would define them today, but minerals, crystals, even entire rock layers or strata.
He published his geologic studies in 1669: "De solido intra solidum naturaliter contento dissertationis prodromus", or Preliminary discourse to a dissertation on a solid body naturally contained within a solid.
Steno was not the first to identify fossils as being from living organisms. His contemporaries Robert Hooke and John Ray also argued that fossils were the remains of once-living organisms.
Steno wrote about some of the fundamental principles of stratigraphy:
Chervil
Chervil ("Anthriscus cerefolium") is a herb that is related to parsley. It is sometimes called garden chervil.