Frank Falla Archive

29/08/2026

This is the view of the remaining wing of Nuremberg Prison, where three Channel islanders were held. You can see it from the courthouse where the Nuremberg trials took place. https://www.frankfallaarchive.org/prisons/nuremberg-prison/

29/08/2026

I’m in Bamberg near Nüremberg and in the middle of the old town is Bamberg prison which housed 6 Channel islanders during the war:

https://www.frankfallaarchive.org/prisons/bamberg-prison-gefangnis-bamberg-justizvollzugsanstalt-bamberg/

24/08/2026

Good news: a memorial has been financed in central London for those who spread the BBC news in the Channel Islands during the occupation. It’ll be in St Bride’s church, which is the church for journalists.

Historian Timothy Crook says £1,000 has been raised for a memorial plaque to go in a London church.

19/05/2026

Today I visited Mittelbau-Dora memorial, a former concentration camp where prisoners lived and worked in tunnels in the mountains. Peter Bruce Johnson, one of the Jersey 21 was said to have been sent here, but no archival trace of him has ever been found. This means that his name was likely wrongly remembered. But the idea that he was sent to this camp was, I think, only a guess, and it’s unclear why this camp was named. But in any case, here is a picture of the tunnels and of traces of part of the prisoners’ camp outside the tunnels.

19/05/2026

Passing through Halle on the way back to Leipzig and remembering Joseph Gillingham from the Guernsey Underground News Service who still lies buried in the cemetery here.

18/05/2026

Eleven channel islanders were in Naumburg prison (https://www.frankfallaarchive.org/prisons/naumburg-prison/). I’ve visited it twice before and the last time (2021) it was in the process of being demolished. I passed through again yesterday and let’s see if I can post a pic in the comments below of how Google Earth shows it now (so look at the website link for comparison).

Clifford John Cohu, Cecil James Duquemin, Francis ‘Frank’ Walter Falla, George James Fox, Joseph John Gillingham, Ernest Stanley Legg, William Howard Marsh, Clifford Bond Querée, Frederick William Page, Emile John Paisnel, Joseph James Murray Tierney

17/05/2026

I’m also totally blown away by the traces from the camp still lying on the ground at Buchenwald.

17/05/2026

The memorial of block 66 at Buchenwald for young people in the little camp. I reckon Guernsey’s Brian O’Meara must have been here.

17/05/2026

Traces of the ‘little camp’ within Buchenwald, where channel islanders were kept. No forced labour but half rations and disease.

17/05/2026

Four hours at Buchenwald was not enough today. While no islanders were mentioned in the exhibition, I’m very pleased to have been where they were and to have seen the camp.