According to Nazi Party racial policy, workers of Slavic origin (including Russian and the Ukrainian) were ‘sub-human’ (untermenschen) and consequently unworthy of any respite in the workplace. Poorly fed, overworked and often treated with brutality, it is not surprising that the highest death toll was amongst the Russian contingent of workers. 

It was decided to use the Strangers’ Cemetery at Westmount, St Helier, for the burial of forced and slave workers. By the end of the War there were 116 graves divided into sections by nationality – Belgian (2), Dutch (2) Algerian & Moroccan (6), French (18), Polish (5), Russian (including Ukrainian and Belarus) (73), Spanish (9) and Unknown (1). Causes of death included tunneling accidents, outbreaks of typhoid and consumption of hemlock through desperate hunger.

On 12 March 1943 a section of the cemetery was consecrated by Bishop Methode, a Russian brought from Paris for the purpose. Local diarist Leslie Sinel reported that ‘a Requiem was beautifully sung by a choir composed of workers. This seems sheer hypocrisy on the part of the Germans, for the Russians are treated very badly, yet an outwardly magnanimous gesture makes it appear otherwise.’  

All of the graves were moved from the Strangers’ Cemetery to the German War Cemetery at Huisnes-sur-Mer, Normandy, in the 1960s when Jersey Crematorium was built. However, the first ceremonies to remember the forced and slave workers took place in Jersey around this time, with flowers simply laid onto the lawn and a few words spoken. 

In 1970 Francisco Font, a former Spanish Republican forced worker, P. Thebault, Henny Prax and Stella Perkins, successfully petitioned Jersey’s government to erect a suitable memorial where commemorations could take place. A horseshoe-shaped granite memorial was installed at Westmount bearing Russian, Spanish and French plaques. Mr Font led the annual ceremony for five years until he was taken ill. His son Gary took over from Stella Perkins in 2001. 

Plaques to remember the Polish, Jewish, Belgian, North African and Belarus labourers have been added over the years. Each Liberation Day, members of the community and dignitaries come together to remember the 6,000 men and women of many nations who were brought to Jersey against their will, and made to participate in the German fortification programme.