The Wiener Holocaust Library is delighted to host a virtual talk with Professor Caroline Sturdy Colls and Associate Professor Kevin Colls, authors of ‘Adolf Island’: The Nazi Occupation of Alderney as part of our new academic books event series.

‘Adolf Island’ offers new forensic, archaeological and spatial perspectives on the Nazi forced and slave labour programme that was initiated on the Channel Island of Alderney during its occupation in the Second World War. Drawing on extensive archival research and the results of the first in-field investigations of the ‘crime scenes’ since 1945, the book identifies and characterises the network of concentration and labour camps, fortifications, burial sites and other material traces connected to the occupation, providing new insights into the identities and experiences of the men and women who lived, worked and died within this landscape. The book is the culmination of ten years’ research carried out by Staffordshire University forensic archaeologists Professor Caroline Sturdy Colls and Associate Professor Kevin Colls. Their investigations on the island have also been the subject of a TV documentary that was screened on the Smithsonian Channel in 2019. Moving beyond previous studies focused on military aspects of the occupation, the book argues that Alderney was intrinsically linked to wider systems of Nazi forced and slave labour.

About the Speakers:

Caroline Sturdy Colls is an Professor of Conflict Archaeology and Genocide Investigation at Staffordshire University specialising in Holocaust studies. She is also the Research Lead and founder of the Centre of Archaeology at the same institution. Her research focuses on the application of interdisciplinary approaches to the investigation of Holocaust landscapes, with a particular focus on forensic and archaeological techniques, and the ethical issues that surround their implementation. She has undertaken archaeological investigations at Treblinka extermination and labour camps in Poland, the sites pertaining to the slave labour programme in Alderney (the Channel Islands), the former Semlin Judenlager and Anhaltlager (Serbia), Bergen-Belsen (Germany), and numerous killing sites in Poland and Ukraine.

Kevin Colls is an Associate Professor of Archaeology and is the lead Archaeological Project Manager for the Centre of Archaeology at Staffordshire University. He has directed and published archaeological projects throughout Europe and has over 20 years of experience in professional development-led archaeology. Kevin has directed several fieldwork projects at Holocaust sites, most recently in Ukraine.

Event guidelines:

1. The Library will send you a Zoom link and joining instructions via email prior to the event. Please check your junk email folders.

2. Please try and join 5 minutes before the event start time and we will let you into the room (do try and bear with us if this takes a few minutes).

3. If you would like to ask a question during the event, please type your question into the chat function, and we will endeavour to answer as many questions as possible during the Q&A. Your webcam will not be seen during this event.

4. The event will be recorded for the Library’s YouTube channel and will be shared at a later date.