People of Occupation

When Jersey was occupied by German forces between 1940 and 1945 the local population endured five years of hardship. This is their story.

Select an individual below to learn their story about life in Jersey under German Occupation:

Alexandrine Baudains

This French woman, the most notorious collaborator in Jersey, was known as ‘Ginger Lou’ because of her red hair or, more usually as ‘Mother Baudains’. She and her son were the cause of many islanders being sent to prison, and she made no secret of the fact that she would denounce anybody who crossed her path. On Liberation Day in 1945, while their home in St. Helier was being smashed up by a vengeful mob, the pair of them sought refuge in the public prison in Gloucester Street where they remained for 11 months. They were eventually discovered by Rex North, a journalist from the Sunday Pictorial, who managed to obtain a photograph of the pair in their cell; as a result, their story was splashed all over the Pictorial’s centre pages and there was an immediate outcry. Mrs. Baudains and her son were promptly ejected from the prison and taken in by the Little Sisters of the Poor for a few days. On 23 March 1946 they were put onto the mailboat for England and told not to return.