20th September 1945
Jersey man gives evidence at Belsen concentration camp trial
Jerseyman Harold le Druillenec was the only British survivor of the Belsen concentration camp, to which he was sent towards the end of the Second World War. He had already spent time in several other camps over the previous year. He had been arrested, along with 17 members of his family, for helping his sister Louisa Gould to shelter an escaped Russian officer.
Following the war, he gave testimony at the trial of those who had run the camp, describing an intolerable regime in which cannibalism was rampant and where he was tasked with placing bodies in mass graves.
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Other events that occured in September
Sportsman and soldier Robert Copland-Crawford is born
- Born in Elizabeth Castle in 1852, Robert Erskine Wade Copland-Crawford was destined to be notable for several reasons, not all of them good.
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The first meeting of the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society
- The Society set out to promote modern farming ideas, advance the cause of agriculture, provide better housing for farmers.
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Jersey lifeboat rescues a French yacht
- Crew on a French yacht were rescued by the Jersey lifeboat when struck by a double tragedy in the dead of night.
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Medals for a brave lifeboat crew
- A Jersey lifeboat crew was awarded medals for bravery after they rescued the crew of a yacht trapped in rocks.
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