Ghosts of Alderney, Hitlers Island Slaves is a documentary that tells the story the Hitler’s occupancy of Alderney and the atrocities that took place. Directed by Andrew Johnstone with his colleagues, Robert Hall and Zoe Clough, the documentary sheds light on the untold story of Hitlers slave labour on British soil.
Ghosts of Alderney Poster
The Ghost of Alderney was nothing less than a group effort with all techs behind the scenes coming from an audio-visual journalism, that being BBC network correspondent to a BBC producer. Andrew Johnstone who was the director of photography, and the person who we spoke to, and Robert Hall had worked on a BBC documentary about the Island Games, ‘a mini-Olympics’ between the Channel Islands. Ghosts of Alderney began from a conversation over dinner when the pair were discussing future projects. Johnstone expressed that he knew little of the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands, which led to Hall deciding that they should do a documentary on the tragic occupation.
When beginning their research, Johnstone found Piers Secunda. An artist from Chelsea College of Arts who uses paint in a sculptural way, reflecting his in-depth research into his subjects. He uses moulding techniques around the deliberate destruction of stone and in his word’s ‘culture’. Adding to the documentary’s beyond committed team, Piers was a natural fit to present Ghosts of Alderney. Taking us, the audience, through the wines and twists of the uncovering story of Hitlers Island Slaves with his art and love for revealing the truth of what the victims endured.
Andrew at the end told us of the significance of the documentary in the present. The rise of the far right and their fascist agenda feel ever so like the persecution Hitler initiated to many groups of people. It’s a reminder that we mustn’t let hate to get in the way of the truth, and how easily people can be radicalised against a whole religion, race or sexuality.