STATES OF JERSEY
OFFICIAL REPORT
SATURDAY, 9th MAY 2026

PERSONAL STATEMENTS ........................................................................ 2

2. Connétable P.B. Le Sueur of Trinity , will make a statement on the occasion of the 81st Anniversary of the Liberation of the Island. ....................................................... 2

2.1 The Connétable of Trinity : ...................................................................... 2 ADJOURNMENT .................................................................................... 3

[10.55]

The Roll was called and the Dean led the Assembly in Prayer. PERSONAL STATEMENTS

2. Connétable P.B. Le Sueur of Trinity , will make a statement on the occasion of the 81st Anniversary of the Liberation of the Island.

2.1 The Connétable of Trinity :

Mr Bailiff , Your Excellency, Chief Minister, Honoured Guests, ladies and gentlemen. I am honoured on this our National Day marking the 81st anniversary of our Liberation to have been asked to address the States Assembly. As with many Islanders, I have a personal story, so please bear with me for a few minutes while I recount that story. My parents, aunts and uncles were all here throughout those dark days in our Island's history between June 1940 and May 1945. I remember only too well when my father and his uncle, Leslie Sinel, were together, as conversation would inevitably return to the Occupation years. I still have vivid memories of often seeing them in tears while they recalled the events during those difficult times. Leslie Sinel worked at the Jersey Evening Post, throughout the Occupation. At great personal risk he maintained a complete record of events, during those 5 years. His book The German Occupation of Jersey' was first published in 1946 and is a detailed diary of the Occupation. Notes were often written under the eyes of the Germans in the offices of the Jersey Evening Post and the manuscript was kept under the mattress of my cousin John's pram. My father, Philip Leslie Le Sueur , was 14 at the start of the Occupation. He lived in Clairvale Road with his recently widowed mother (his father having died of TB (tuberculosis) prior to the Occupation) along with his two younger sisters Dorothy and Norma. Dad had just left school and started work as an apprentice Baker, but the lack of flour during the Occupation very quickly put an end to that career. He then secured employment at Beghin's shoe shop. He often told the tale of when, following their repair, he returned a German officer's boots to Victoria College. When he put his hand out for payment, all he received was a kick up the backside. My mother, Dorothy Joan Queree, was 11 when on the evening of June 28th, 1940, she was on the beach at First Tower with her cousin Reg. German planes swept across the Island, dropping bombs at La Rocque and at the town harbour. 10 people were killed and many others injured. My mother and her cousin ran up the beach and took shelter under the sea wall. During the Occupation, my mother lived with my grandfather, Clifford Bond Querée, who was by then a widower, in Belmont Road. My grandfather's story is a reminder of the terrible impact that conflict can have on the lives of ordinary people. He was arrested in 1943 for receiving bread alleged to have been stolen from the Germans. Despite his protests of innocence, a Military Court sentenced him to 2 years' imprisonment, and he was deported to France in July 1943. My grandfather was moved at least four times before eventually ending up incarcerated, along with several other Channel Islanders, in Naumburg Prison in Eastern Germany. It was a dreadful place where malnutrition was rife, and inmates had no access to any medical treatment. Despite these terrible conditions, my grandfather survived until the prison was liberated by American troops on 13th April 1945. Sadly, he was by then so gravely ill, suffering from severe pneumonia and serious anaemia, he died less than 2 weeks later. He is buried in a war cemetery in Berlin. Clifford Bond Querée is one of the names inscribed on the plinth at the Lighthouse Memorial on the New North Quay, together with the names of 20 other Jersey men and women who were deported and died in Nazi prisons and

concentration camps. Wreaths are laid at the Lighthouse Memorial on 27th January each year to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. By the end of 1944, Islanders were in a desperate state with medical supplies and foodstuffs urgently needed. Today we can only imagine the relief that must have been felt when, following weeks of anxious waiting, on 30th December 1944, the International Red Cross ship, Vega, entered St. Helier harbour. The ship's cargo of Red Cross parcels contained desperately needed food and medical supplies for starving Islanders. Had it not been for this humanitarian aid, many, including my own parents, may not have survived to see the end of the Occupation and

subsequent generations would have not existed. The Channel Islands are the only part of the British Isles to have received humanitarian aid during the Second World War. That experience has left a lasting mark on our collective memory. It reminds us not only of our vulnerability, but of the power of compassion, solidarity and international cooperation. Today, through the work of the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission, Jersey seeks to honour and repay that debt. It stands with communities facing conflict, hunger and hardship, and by offering support that is principled and well-governed. In the years following the end of the Occupation, our Island community has become more inclusive and more adaptable to social change. This change has been driven by social reform within education, healthcare and the provision of social services. During this process of change we have welcomed different communities from Europe and beyond, making our society today more culturally diverse and inclusive. Although Jersey remains a relatively affluent island, we should not forget that there are still some within our community who survive on the margins. When we leave here today to continue our celebrations marking 81 years of peace and freedom in our Island, I ask that you spare a thought for those across the world who still live under Occupation or amid conflict - not as a distant concern, but as a shared human experience that we as Islanders know only too well. On behalf of the States Assembly, may I wish you all a very happy and peaceful Liberation Day. [Approbation]

ADJOURNMENT [11.07]