The Spirits of the Lager Sylt by Lydia Jane Pugh published on 2020-05-07T23:30:30Z During World War II the island of Alderney, like the rest of the Channel Islands was occupied, and heavily fortified by Nazi forces. Unlike the other islands however, concentration camps were built on the island of Alderney, housing slave labour and prisoners of war predominantly from Eastern Europe, although some locals from the island found themselves in the camp. Over 700 inmates were interned, and as many as 400 lost their lives during the time the camp was active; between March 1943 and June 1944. Before British forces liberated the island, the Nazis burnt the camp to the ground, leaving only the gateposts and a few tunnels as any sign of the camps presence. There are eight languages featured in this piece to represent the variety of races affected by these camps – Jews and Russians made up the majority of inmates, but there were also polish, Spanish republicans and of course local people from Alderney. The name of the camp, “Lager Sylt” is of course in German, named after the German North Sea Island “Sylt”, which itself was heavily fortified during the war. Only in recent years has Lager Sylt been spoken of, and a small plaque now exists to commemorate those who died at the camp. This recording is from the World Premiere on September 7th 2018 at St James Concert Hall, performed by a composite choir of invited male voice singers, and conducted by Marilyn Pugh. - Recorded by Flexagon; mixed by Flexagon at Stretchy Studios Genre Classical