Frank Falla Archive

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.

17/05/2026

Today I’m visiting Buchenwald concentration camp, where 9 Channel Islanders were sent. More later, but standing at Leipzig station and looking at the stations I’ll pass through (Naumburg, Halle, Bad Dürrenberg), there are echoes of Channel Islanders all the way, especially the GUNS men from Guernsey and the Jerseymen involved in the St Saviour’s radio case. Many of the bodies of these men still lie in Germany. Incredibly, none of the 9 died in Buchenwald, but all survived the war. Statistically seemingly impossible. But some of them (not all) had each other to lean on.

12/05/2026

Here are the addresses of the new Stolpersteine:

11/05/2026

If only the men who received Stolpersteine could see that they had the support of the Lieutenant-Governor, the Bailiff and the Dean! I wish it had been that way always but we’re thrilled to receive that support now.