page_title: Sark during the German occupation of the Channel Islands
section_title: 1941
hierarchical_section_title: Sark during the German occupation of the Channel Islands / Continuing occupation / 1941
caption_attribution_description: Nrf: Sèr en 1857 English: Map of Sark. Illustration from The Channel Islands: Pictorial, Legendary and Descriptive (1857)
context_page_description: The island of Sark forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey which with the Bailiwick of Jersey form the Channel Islands. Offered the opportunity to evacuate the island in June 1940, most locally born islanders decided to stay. The remaining 470 civilians would be subject to German rule for the next five years, until Sark was liberated on 10 May 1945. The main contact between the Sark residents and the German authorities in 1940 was 56-year old Sibyl Hathaway, the Dame of Sark, who was Seigneur of Sark from 1927 until her death in 1974.
context_section_description: The soldiers were regularly rotated and additional soldiers arrived bringing the total to 200 including a more high handed group of bureaucrats, issuing orders that were often restrictive and illogical, such as limiting fishing times without paying attention to tide tables, resulting in a fall in the fish catch. Later in the year they came to their senses and began listening to advice from Sibyl Hathaway before issuing even more orders, making restrictions milder in Sark than elsewhere.
  Islanders found they could argue with Germans about where they did or did not put barbed wire and machine gun positions, and win, fearing that Sibyl Hathaway might appeal to her “friend” German commandant Colonel Rudolf Graf von Schmettow.
  The first Red Cross messages arrived on 16 February 1941. A July message informed Sibyl Hathaway that her son had been killed in a bombing raid in Liverpool.
  Shortages in shops became very noticeable and everyone concentrated on producing food. Trying replacements for missing items like tea and tobacco. It was hard work to carry salt water all the way from Creux Harbour so vegetables could be boiled in it as salt was not available. People were hungry and losing weight.
  The year progressed with a fair amount of fraternisation, evenings in pubs and dances with local girls created a relaxed atmosphere. The Germans would play soccer against a Sark team. Sark was still open to tourists, be it now limited to just Guernsey holidaymakers. Identity cards were introduced in July.
  The Channel Island “purchasing commission” based in Granville acquired what goods they could for Sark, based on their urgent shopping lists of essential supplies, what was available in France and the amount of cash they had been given.
  German antisemitic orders only applied to one person on Sark, the Czech Jewish Annie Wranowsky. She became the German language teacher on Sark, avoided deportation, and continued with her job.
  The Germans imported a few motor vehicles as well as draught horses as they began work on fortifying the island. Minefields were gradually established on beaches and cliff paths. Germans ordered anyone with a horse and cart to help transport military goods around the island. Brecqhou had been evacuated. A number of houses were demolished, or as they were of wooden construction, taken down and moved elsewhere.
caption: Sark – land area 5.45 square kilometres (2.10 square miles)
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