AN innocuous chocolate wrapper included in a scrapbook may have been remained simply an example of wartime confectionary had not an archivist delicately lifted it up – only to discover on the reverse side a fascinating and untold account of deportation.
Harry Le Feuvre, Jersey Heritage’s Digital Access Manager, made the startling revelation recently while going through the scrapbook of Edward Le Put, who was born in St Helier in 1924.
On 10 June 1944, Edward was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for receiving stolen goods. What happened next remained unclear until Mr Le Feuvre peeled away the wrapper to take a closer look at the back.
“I couldn’t believe it when I turned it over to discover what he had recorded in pencil on this seemingly innocuous item,” said Mr Le Feuvre.
“Though we have Edward’s prosecution and sentencing files, there is no record of him as a prisoner, nor of his deportation, even though we know from research that he was definitely interned.
“The wrapper really does fill a gap in his story and his diary as a whole sheds further light on the experience of deportees. It is an amazing find and a wonderful addition to our records for this momentous time in the Island’s history, as we celebrate the 80th anniversary of Liberation.”
On the back of the chocolate wrapper, Mr Le Feuvre found a handwritten note under the heading ‘From Jersey to Swiss German Frontier’ recording Le Put’s route through Occupied Europe, from St Malo – where he spent a week in prison – to a camp in Rennes.
Mr Le Put noted that it was bombed on 7 July, an event corroborated by the experiences of three other Channel Islanders who were almost certainly deported alongside him: Harold Le Druillenec, Louisa Gould, and Berthe Pitolet, as well as Thomas Daly, with whom Mr Le Put was sentenced.
Mr Le Feuvre said: “It is a fragmented but deeply personal account. Some of the names are misspelled or hard to read; some details are lost where the wrapper has been folded or torn. But it is clear, compelling, and irreplaceable.”
Other entries in Mr Le Put’s scrapbook fill in more details: that August, he began a long and gruelling train journey across Europe.
Alongside the chocolate wrapper and camp notes are original cartoons and drawings, many of them Mr Le Put’s own, as well as poems, postcards, photographs, theatre programmes, and affectionate inscriptions from fellow prisoners, including his barrack mates.
He ended up in Marlag und Milag Nord, near Bremen in Germany, a camp used for civilian and military internees. He thus avoided the fate of fellow islanders, including Mr Le Druillenec, who was sent to a concentration camp, although he did survive the war.
Marlag was liberated in May 1945 and Mr Le Put returned to Britain, possibly via Brussels. He went on to settle in the Liverpool area with his wife Vivienne, and the couple had two children, George and Ann. He died in Lowton, Warrington in 1988.
Mr Feuvre said that, although the scrapbook had revealed parts of Mr Le Put’s wartime experiences, there were still many unknowns, including why he was selected for deportation and why he was sent to an internment camp rather than a concentration camp, as others were.
Mr Le Feuvre said: “Even details about Edward’s imprisonment in Jersey before deportation are unclear. These silences raise troubling questions: how many other Islanders were deported without documentation?
“How many more stories like Edward’s risk being lost entirely? His scrapbook helps us to fill some of these gaps, but it also highlights that the official record remains incomplete.”
For more stories about unusual objects discovered at Jersey Archive, visit: www.jerseyheritage.org/research-and-collections/object-in-focus/
