I urge you to see it if you can.
A fascinating mixture of art forms is on display, each reflecting, in its own way, that traumatic period in the island's history.
This thought-provoking exhibition coincides with the release of the film version of Mary Ann Shaffer's best-selling novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society starring Lily James, which is set during the Occupation.
Poetry features strongly among the submissions and one of the poems on display is A Letter Home, which I wrote from the perspective of a young German soldier stationed on the island during World War Two.
A LETTER HOME
This is not proper soldiery,
no proud thrust for the Fatherland:
instead we police, unwillingly,
people we do not understand.
They are an island race, apart:
intransigent, shrewd, stubborn, smart.
We count the months, our rations low,
imprisoned by an angry sea.
At the parade-ground, to and fro,
we march and drill, purposelessly.
While months accumulate to years,
we yearn for heimat and cold beers.
And all the while, the Occupied,
gaunt Guernsey peasants, enemy,
exhibit an unbending pride
that chills the heart and unnerves me.
Such angry spirits. I thank Gott
that we are armed and they are not.
Each breaking day, I make a vow
to summon strength, refuse to weep.
Rations are non-existent now.
Expendable, our lives are cheap.
Such brokenness will never mend.
Would that this pointless war would end.
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