大象传媒

Martha Martel (n茅e Hubert) interviewed by Lynne Ashton of the Guernsey Museum.
Recording transcribed and edited by J David

I鈥�.鈥�.鈥�.. So what was your first sort of awareness that life had changed?
Mrs Martel. Well for two or three days, my Father 鈥� none of us went out 鈥� and then, having this boat in Bordeaux, which he loved, he decided one evening 鈥� it was a beautiful summer 鈥� we鈥檇 all go as far as Bordeaux to see if the boat was all right. And then when we got to Bordeaux we suddenly heard all this singing, and it was a whole lot of German soldiers coming out of one of the lanes, and all we had from my father was 鈥渓ook down at your feet, don鈥檛 look at them, don鈥檛 look at them鈥�. And I suddenly realised that my father was really frightened, but he had been in the 1914 war. So I don鈥檛 think we stayed long around Bordeaux, we soon turned around after the Germans had disappeared again up another lane, and headed back for home.
Life started to 鈥� it didn鈥檛 get normal for a while, there were so many restrictions coming out, and different things.
I鈥�.鈥�.鈥�.. Because a lot of the Germans who came at the beginning of the war, ended up going to the Russian front, didn鈥檛 they?
Mrs Martel. They were terrified if they did anything wrong that that鈥檚 where they would end up.
I鈥�.鈥�.鈥�.. So coming to Guernsey was quite an acceptable posting for them.
Mrs Martel. I can remember, we had the North Cinema, which is now a garage, the first time we went there to watch a film, they were French films with subtitles, and civilians would sit all one side, and the Germans would have to sit the other, and they didn鈥檛 smoke then, they were barred from smoking, and they weren鈥檛 allowed to speak to any of the civilians. We used to go there quite a bit.
I鈥�.鈥�.鈥�.. So their discipline was quite good?
Mrs Martel. It was, yes. As long as you did what you were told to do, and you were in for curfew,

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