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Identity Card in English and German

Contributed by ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Guernsey Candie Museum Outside Broadcast

Identity Card in English and German

Terry Rowe brought his grandfather's second world war identity card to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Guernsey's Outside Broadcast event at the Guernsey Museum. It was issued to Sidney William Rowe during the occupation of the Channel Islands by German forces between 1940 and 1945. It was printed in both English and German and stamped by the States of Guernsey - the island's semi-autonomous government - and by the German authorities. Every islander in Guernsey over the age of fourteen was issued with one of these cards in 1940. There was a further issue in 1942. In all, more than twenty thousand islanders were documented, each one being obliged to fill in a form and be photographed. The majority of forms and photos are now kept at the Island Archive Service, where they remain the most popular items requested to be seen by the public. The cards were forced upon an unwilling, occupied people but now provide a comprehensive, documentary and photographic record of an island population in the 1940s.

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Location

Guernsey

Culture
Period

1940-1945

Theme
Size
H:
7cm
W:
4cm
Colour
Material

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