Editing Channel Islands (section)

===20th century===

====World War II====
{{main|German occupation of the Channel Islands}}
[[File:Bunker in Alderney.JPG|right|thumb|German [[fortification]]s, built during the Second World War, are still scattered throughout the landscape of the Channel Islands.]]
[[File:VEGA Royal Square Jersey.jpg|thumb|During the German occupation of [[Jersey]], a stonemason repairing the paving of the Royal Square incorporated a [[V sign#Second World War: V for Victory campaign|V for victory]] under the noses of the occupiers. This was later amended to refer to the Red Cross ship ''Vega''. The addition of the date ''1945'' and a more recent frame has transformed it into a monument.]]

The islands were occupied by the [[Wehrmacht|German Army]] during [[World War II]].

The [[British Government]] [[Demilitarisation|demilitarised]] the islands in June 1940, and the lieutenant-governors were withdrawn on 21 June, leaving the insular administrations to continue government as best they could under impending military occupation.<ref name="GOotCI" />

Before German troops landed, between 30 June and 4 July 1940, evacuation took place. Many young men had already left to join the Allied armed forces, as volunteers. 6,600 out of 50,000 left Jersey while 17,000 out of 42,000 left Guernsey.<ref name="guernseyevacuees.wordpress.com">{{cite web |url=http://guernseyevacuees.wordpress.com/evacuation/ |title=Guernsey Evacuees Oral History |publisher=Guernseyevacuees.wordpress.com |date=30 May 2011 |access-date=4 October 2012 |archive-date=7 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907042355/http://guernseyevacuees.wordpress.com/evacuation/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Thousands of children were evacuated with their schools to [[England]] and [[Scotland]].
[[File:Channel Islands Liberated- the End of German Occupation, Channel Islands, UK, 1945 D24599.jpg|thumb|upright|Crowds cheer as the Channel Islands are liberated at [[Saint Peter Port]] in 1945]]

The population of Sark largely remained where they were;<ref name="GOotCI" /> but in [[Alderney#History|Alderney]], all but six people left. In Alderney, the occupying Germans built [[Alderney camps|four prison camps]] which housed approximately 6,000 people, of whom over 700 died. Due to the destruction of documents, it is impossible to state how many forced workers died in the other islands.<ref name="GOotCI" /> Some have claimed that Alderney had the only Nazi concentration camps on [[British Islands|British]] soil.<ref name="okeefe">{{cite web |author=Christine O'Keefe |url=http://www.tartanplace.com/tartanhistory/concentrationcamps.html |title=Appendix F: Concentration Camps: Endlösung – The Final Solution |access-date=6 June 2009 |archive-date=19 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919072014/http://www.tartanplace.com/tartanhistory/concentrationcamps.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="aurigny">{{cite web |author=Matisson Consultants |url=http://www.matisson-consultants.com/affaire-papon/aurigny.htm |title=Aurigny; un camp de concentration nazi sur une île anglo-normande (English: Alderney, a Nazi concentration camp on an island Anglo-Norman) |access-date=6 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220101021/http://www.matisson-consultants.com/affaire-papon/aurigny.htm |archive-date=20 February 2014 |url-status=dead}} {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Others have pointed out that, technically, Alderney was not British soil.

The [[Royal Navy]] [[blockade]]d the islands from time to time, particularly following the [[Invasion of Normandy]] in June 1944. There was considerable hunger and [[privation]] during the five years of German occupation, particularly in the final months when the population was close to starvation. Intense negotiations resulted in some humanitarian aid being sent via the [[Red Cross]], leading to the arrival of [[Red Cross parcel]]s in the supply ship [[SS Vega (1913)|SS ''Vega'']] in December 1944.

The German occupation of 1940–45 was harsh: over 2,000 islanders were deported by the Germans,<ref name="GOotCI">''The German Occupation of the Channel Islands'', Cruikshank, Oxford 1975 {{ISBN|0-19-285087-3}}</ref> and some Jews were sent to [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]]; [[Partisan (military)|partisan]] resistance and retribution, accusations of [[collaborationism|collaboration]], and slave labour also occurred. Many Spaniards, initially refugees from the [[Spanish Civil War]], were brought to the islands to build [[fortification]]s.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20090512192750/http://www.thisisjersey.com/community/history-heritage/german-occupation/ Thisisjersey.com]}}/</ref><ref name=Ginns /> Later, [[Russia]]ns and [[Central Europe]]ans{{who|date=April 2015}} continued the work.<ref name=Ginns>{{cite book |last=Ginns |first=Michael |title=Jersey Occupied: The German Armed Forces in Jersey 1940–1945 |year=2009 |publisher=Channel Island Publishing |isbn=978-1905095292}}</ref> Many [[land mine]]s were laid, with 65,718 land mines laid in Jersey alone.<ref>''German Fortifications in Jersey'', Ginns & Bryans, Jersey 1975</ref>

There was no [[resistance movement]] in the Channel Islands on the scale of that in [[French Resistance|mainland France]]. This has been ascribed to a range of factors including the physical separation of the islands, the density of troops (up to one German for every two Islanders), the small size of the islands precluding any hiding places for [[Resistance during World War II|resistance]] groups, and the absence of the [[Gestapo]] from the occupying forces. Moreover, much of the population of military age had already joined the British Army.

The end of the occupation came after [[VE-Day]] on 8 May 1945, with Jersey and Guernsey being liberated on 9 May. The German garrison in Alderney was left until 16 May, and it was one of the last of the [[Nazi German]] remnants to surrender.<ref name="dday">{{cite web |author=Legacy Publishers |title=Nazi Germany Surrenders: February 1945 – May 1945 |date=11 September 2007 |url=http://history.howstuffworks.com/world-war-ii/nazi-germany-surrenders12.htm}}</ref> The first evacuees returned on the first sailing from Great Britain on 23 June,<ref name="GOotCI" /> but the people of Alderney were unable to start returning until December 1945. Many of the evacuees who returned home had difficulty reconnecting with their families after five years of separation.<ref name="guernseyevacuees.wordpress.com"/>

====After 1945====
Following the liberation of 1945, reconstruction led to a transformation of the economies of the islands, attracting immigration and developing tourism. The legislatures were reformed and non-party governments embarked on social programmes, aided by the incomes from [[offshore finance]], which grew rapidly from the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thisisjersey.com/community/history-heritage/finance-industry/ |title=Thisisjersey.com |publisher=Thisisjersey.com |access-date=4 October 2012 |archive-date=19 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919005420/http://www.thisisjersey.com/community/history-heritage/finance-industry/ |url-status=usurped}}</ref> The islands decided not to join the [[European Economic Community]] when the UK joined.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gov.je/ChiefMinister/International%2BRelations/Profile%2Bof%2BJersey.htm |title=Error |access-date=20 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829124301/http://www.gov.je/ChiefMinister/International%2BRelations/Profile%2Bof%2BJersey.htm |archive-date=29 August 2008 |url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref> Since the 1990s, declining profitability of agriculture and tourism has challenged the governments of the islands.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thisisguernsey.com/lifestyle/hanging-on-to-our-heritage/the-bailiwick-of-guernsey/ |title=Thisisjersey.com |publisher=Thisisguernsey.com |date=9 May 1945 |access-date=4 October 2012 |archive-date=12 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612230516/http://www.thisisguernsey.com/lifestyle/hanging-on-to-our-heritage/the-bailiwick-of-guernsey/ |url-status=live}}</ref>