The Germans evict a family from their house in Guernsey

Liz Barrett interviewed by Becky Kendall at the Guille-Alles Library 5/2/2005. Recording transcribed by John David.
Liz Barret was seven when the Island was occupied.

I………. What were your parents doing?
Well, my father was a builder prior to that, building houses, and during the war he was repairing houses, a lot of the time, and of course he had to work for the Germans for a while, they found out that he repaired ovens, bakery ovens, like at Warry’s, down at the Bouet, the Germans came to the house, and told him he had to work for them to repair the ovens, so he said “I’m not going to work for you, no I’m not going to” and they said “You have to” so he took two men with him, to work there, and then they could have a loaf. — Well, not every day, but there was a chap who used to work in the bakehouse, another Guernseyman who we knew, and he used to come out with the big trays with all the bread on top, and my father used to wait in the toilet and grab one, shove it under some cinders, and how he got away with having an extra one, because they only gave them loaves once a week, I think, he would get some like that if he could.
I………. Do you remember being hungry as a child?
No, I don’t remember that. Other children might have said it, but I don’t remember that. My mother was always making things out of all sorts of stuff, you know. We moved out of our house, the Germans moved us out, they were told they had to leave straight away, leave everything, leave all the furniture, leave everything, because they wanted to move in, because it was near the school, so they made that house, it was the cookhouse. You know as you come up Braye road, and the Petite Capelles, you get to the top, a house called Hillcrest, just at the crest of the hill, so if you’re waiting to cross, that’s the house, a bungalow, you see, that’s where we lived, dad built that house. When we were told to move out, dad went down, on his bike, he went down to a lady he knew, some people had moved, he knew they had moved out. By Capelles chapel there’s a road that goes straight down inland, and that was where we lived. He knew they were away, and he found out the owners, two sisters, were in Guernsey in little lanes around there, so he went along and asked them for the keys. “No, you’re not having the key”. He said “The Germans have taken over my house, and I’m going to take over that house, and if you don’t give me the key I’ll get in in any case. They’re moving us out today. As it happens we had a bit longer, not much longer, so he did get the keys, and so the next day Mum was packing up and all the rest of it, and all the young people from the church, Salem church, and the Salvation Army, there was a lot of them came to help us move, and they helped to move all the stuff, and dad had a horse and carriage, and he had a lot of furniture, a lot we weren’t allowed to take, A German Officer came back later, and Dad went to the door [ ] and Mum said “Don’t tell him anything,” and this man was very nice, he said “you don’t have to leave in twelve hours, you can leave tomorrow”, so we had another twelve hours or twenty-four hours extra.
I………. Did you ever have the opportunity to go back to that house?
Once, and it wasn’t long after they were there, I don’t know how long it was, it might have been one year, two, I don’t know, we were living at l'Islet, so we just walked up, my sister and I had been picking daffodils — because they used to send them to England before — and we had our arms full of daffodils, and I saw this officer coming towards us, coming from the school towards the top of the hill, and I saw him coming long, he had this hat like that, a peak that went up lie that, and down like this, and very smart, as far as I can remember he had white hair, what you could see of it, and he was in a green uniform — was he in a green uniform or a brown one, I am not quite sure — probably a green uniform, very smart, and, like, riding trousers, and when he came along, I said “Hello” and he said “Hello, my dear” and he sort of bent down towards me and my sister, I said “Would you like some daffodils?” he said, “No, my dear, you take them home to your mummy”. So I said “But Mummy’s got some”. He said, I don’t want any, thank you”. I said “That’s our house you’re living in!” “What that little one there?” “Yes” “That’s your house?” “Yes, that’s our house”. He said “Would you like to see it?” We said “Yes”. So off we go with this officer — the soldiers were round the back, peeling spuds and all the rest of it, you see, and as we walked around, and they saw him, and they all stood up, and saluted, and potatoes were falling around, and I remember all this very clearly, potatoes falling down on the ground and that, you know, and he must have told them to sit down, and they sat down, and he spoke to the cook, because this is where they used to cook, Dad had all these sheds for all his building stuff, at the back, so we went into the house, and he said they had to repair the floor in the bathroom because it was so rotten,, and he said “Where all these nails are, this is where the soldiers hang their belts,” and my brother’s bedroom was where they kept salt, and then in the bedroom that was my sister’s and mine they used to smoke sausages in there, and in the front bedroom, where my mother and father slept, the cook slept, and in the other room in the front, the front room they called it in those days, this is where the soldiers used to walk in though a little pathway in front of the house, and they would be handed the food through the window, so that’s how they got their food. Then this officer said “Are you hungry”, we said “Yes” He said “Would you like some bread to eat?” We said “Yes” So he spoke in German to the soldier, and they came back with a big thick piece of bread each, like off the loaf, spread over with honey, which I don’t ever remember eating before that, and then he gave us half a loaf to take home.

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