Detention Camp for Military Defaulters

Diarist Leslie Sinel wrote on 31 March 1943: ‘Robberies are still going on on a large scale; foreign workers who are found to be stealing are severely punished by the Germans, who put them in a pillory and then take them to Elizabeth Castle…’ 

On 14 October 1942 a body was found floating in the sea opposite Castle Street, St Helier. A German inquest took place at the General Hospital a few days later, at which it was decided that the body was that of a Russian worker who had escaped from Elizabeth Castle. The body was then buried in the Strangers’ Cemetery at Westmount, St Helier. The body was later exhumed and two further examinations were made before it was reburied. 

The following statement is from the testimony of Belgian-born Maria Brock, who was an interpreter for the Organisation Todt. In March or April 1943, Brock recorded a military investigation into events at the Castle: 

“They [Michel Braun, Commandant of Elizabeth Castle and OT Policeman Peter Müller] were in a room at Elizabeth Castle together with a Russian, whose name I do not know. The Russian tried to escape but was caught by Braun and Müller and taken to the room where the two Frenchmen were. They (Braun and Müller) were both drunk and they beat and kicked the Russian. He was very weak and they left him under the bed. They left the room and he tried once more to escape. They came back, beat him again till he was unconscious and unable to move. They then completely undressed him and took him out of the room, and the two Frenchmen heard what they thought was the body falling in the water.” 

Two days later a body was found on the shore. Braun and Müller were charged with killing him, but they could not prove the body found was the Russian they had beaten. However, they were found guilty of beating the Russian, and Braun was sentenced to nine months in prison and Müller to six months.