Norman Le Brocq

Norman Le Brocq (1922–1996) was a communist, trade union activist, and leader of the Jersey resistance cells fighting against the German occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II.[1] Under his leadership, his resistance cell distributed anti-fascist propaganda throughout Jersey, blew up German ammunition caches, assassinated German soldiers, and successfully sheltered Jews and escaped Soviet POWs.[1] By 1945, he had successfully convinced anti-Nazi German soldiers to plot a mutiny against their officers, however, the island was liberated by Allied forces before the mutiny could begin.[2] After the war, he became a Human rights activist, campaigning for a minimum wage, equitable divorce laws, compulsory school education and health insurance, and the introduction of a minimum wage.[3] He also won several elections throughout the 1960s and 70s to serve as a Jersey State Deputy.

Norman Le Brocq
Born8 January 1922
Died26 November 1996
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
OrganizationTransport and General Workers' Union
Known forLeading the resistance against the German occupation of the Channel Islands.
Creating Jersey's first Island Plan.
Trade Union & Communist activism.
Creating the Jersey Communist Party(JCP).
Creating the Jersey Democratic Movement (JDM).
Notable work
Jersey Looks Forward (1946)
TitleState Deputy of Jersey
Term1966-1969, 1972-1975, 1978-1987
Political partyCommunist Party of Great Britain (CPGB),
Jersey Communist Party (JCP),
Jersey Democratic Movement (JDM)
Opponent(s)Nazi Party
Spouse(s)Rosalie Le Riche
AwardsGold watch (1966) - awarded by the USSR for his role in aiding Soviet POWs.

Later in life, Brocq was extremely bitter towards Jersey's government and police who had gone unpunished despite collaborating with the German occupation by reporting the island's Jews, many of whom were subsequently sent to Auschwitz and Belsen.[4] Whilst his leadership of the resistance went unrecognised by the British government, many officials who had collaborated with the Nazis had been awarded OBE titles and knighthoods.[5]

Early life

Born in Jersey in 1922 and the son of a florist, Brocq grew up on the island and as a boy was granted a scholarship to Victoria College. He became involved in politics during his time at Victoria College and was a supporter of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War.[6] During his teenage years, he became a stonemason and a trade union activist for the Transport and General Workers' Union, a fact he would have to hide during WWII after the German occupational forces outlawed trade unions. At some point before the occupation, Brocq had joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) before WWII.[7]

Leader of Jersey's anti-Nazi resistance

Norman Le Brocq was 18 years old when the Germans occupied Jersey, and was one of three young communist activists belonging to the CPGB who did not evacuate Jersey before the occupation. The other two young communist party activists were Les Huelin and Stella Perkins, both of whom joined Brocq to create a clandestine anti-nazi resistance cell to sabotage the German occupation of Jersey.[8] This resistance cell became known as the Jersey Communist Party (JCP), and was the first organised anti-Nazi resistance cell created during the German occupation of Jersey. Following the communist strategy of forming united fronts with non-communist to oppose imperialism, Norman Le Brocq helped create the Jersey Democratic Movement (JDM), an umbrella organisation led by him which encompassed all organised anti-Nazi resistance in Jersey.[9] Although the JCP remained at the centre of the resistance movement, much of its activities relied heavily on the work of non-communists.[10]

Using a Gestetner duplicator hidden in his great-aunt's attic,[7] Brocq was able to secretly circulate news concerning the war without alerting the German forces and Jersey's collaborationist authorities.[11] When the Nazis brought both Soviet and Spanish Republican POWs to Germany to build the Atlantic Wall, Brocq's resistance cell was able to translate into Russian the news of Soviet Red Army victories in Kursk and Stalingrad, greatly improving their morale.[9] To further increase the morale of Soviet POWs, they also printed and distributed bulletins in Russian.[7]

Although far rarer, Brocq's resistance did use explosives and fire, including one such example when they exploded a German bakery in Saint Helier. The resistance also set fire to the Palace Hotel which was being used to train German military personnel.[1] During attempts by the Germans to extinguish the fire, nearby military munitions exploded, killing 9 German soldiers.[1] Eventually, Brocq was able to make contact with a German military official called Paul Malbach (Mühlbach), whose father had been murdered by the Nazis in Dachau concentration camp.[12] Brocq and Malbach made plans to perform a mutiny in May 1945, however, Adolf Hitler's suicide in April made plans for an uprising obsolete.[9]

Post-WWII and later life

Recognition controversy and awards

Unlike in the rest of Europe, the liberation of the Channel Islands did not result in the honouring of the resistance and the punishment of Nazi collaborators,[9] a fact which left Brocq feeling bitter towards the local police who had "helped the Germans round up non-natives for internment in Germany.″[4] According to several historians, Norman Le Brocq became "an embarrassment as a guilty conscience of the misdeeds of so many."[9] Despite winning multiple elections throughout the 1960s and 70s to become a State Deputy, Brocq suffered heavy discrimination by many Jersey residents for his communist beliefs and was blacklisted by many of the island's employers.[13] Many other known members of the JDM resistance cells were also found it difficult to find employment and were subjected to a "McCarthy style witch hunt".[14] The houses of many JDM members were targeted by vandals who painted them with Hammer and Sickles, and in some cases, rotten vegetables were thrown at these former anti-Nazi resistors during public gatherings.[14] Despite lacking widespread recognition in Jersey for his role as the leader of the island's anti-Nazi resistance, his efforts were remembered fondly by both the Soviet Union and by the many Spanish Republican POWs who chose to stay in Jersey after the defeat of the Axis.[15]

In 1960 Brocq invited the crew of the Soviet timber ship Jarensk to visit the site of mass graves in Westmount near Saint Helier, belonging to Soviet POWs killed by the Germans.[5] The sailors donated money for the creation of a memorial monument, and a memorial ceremony led by Spanish Republican leader Francisco Font was held annually at the site.[5] In 1966 the Soviet Union honoured nineteen members of the resistance, including Norman Le Brocq, by awarding them gold watches.[5] After the war, some of the Russians who had been sheltered by Brocq's resistance cell had later reconnected with the former resisters, one of whom was an original member of Brocq's cell, the communist activist Stella Perkins.[16]

Post-WWII activism and political career

Norman Le Brocq spent the remainder of his life as a campaigner for working-class rights in the field of housing and social policy, and the Communist Party's leading figure in the Channel Islands. After unsuccessful bids for election in the 1960s, he was elected to the States of Jersey in 1966. He remained in the States as a Deputy for Saint Helier until his retirement.

In 1969 Brocq toured the Soviet Union, visiting Leningrad, Stalingrad, Moscow, and spent two weeks at a Black Sea resort in Yalta.[17]

Lifebelt of the Norman Le Brocq, States fisheries vessel

He was president of the Island Development Committee (IDC) and instrumental in bringing in the first Island Plan, which laid out zones for housing and commercial development and greenfield sites on which development was not permitted. He was also chairman of the Sea Fisheries Advisory Committee, and a Sea Fisheries vessel is named after him, which was also present in among the Thames flotilla during the Diamond Jubilee.[18]

Outside of the States, he was a director of the Channel Islands Co-operative Society for 35 years, 27 of which he served as its president.

The political papers of Norman Le Brocq (JA/1231) are currently held by the Jersey Archives,[19] after being donated/deposited there by the Jersey Heritage Trust.[20]

Social policies

In his 1946 book Jersey Looks Forward, Brocq enumerated the political and social policies towards which he fought, many of which were later adopted by the States of Jersey. These included:

  • States members to receive adequate remuneration
  • A modern equitable divorce law
  • An augmented paid police force acting over the whole island
  • Compulsory health insurance
  • Compulsory free education to the age of 16
  • A maximum working week
  • A minimum wage

Works
  • LE BROCQ, N. S: Jersey Looks Forward. With a Foreword by Harry Pollitt. Published by the Communist Party, 16 King Street, London, WC2, 12 September 1946.

References
  1. Durand, James (7 October 2018). "Norman Le Brocq: resistance to occupation and collaboration". The Norman Le Brocq Society. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  2. Heritage, Jersey (2020). "Liberation Interview - Norman Le Brocq". Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  3. Le Brocq, Norman; Party, Communist (1946). Jersey Looks Forward. London: Communist Party of Great Britain.
  4. Heathcote, Graham (10 May 1995). "Quiet Occupation by German Troops on Britain's Channel Islands". Associated Press. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  5. Meddick, Simon; Payne, Liz; Katz, Phil (2020). Red Lives: Communists and the Struggle for Socialism. UK: Manifesto Press Cooperative Limited. p. 124. ISBN 978-1-907464-45-4.
  6. Carr, Gilly; Sanders, Paul; Willmot, Louise (2014). Protest, Defiance and Resistance in the Channel Islands: German Occupation, 1940-45. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 156. ISBN 9781472508133.
  7. Stevenson, Graham (19 September 2008). "le Brocq Norman". Encyclopedia of Communist Biographies. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  8. Meddick, Simon; Payne, Liz; Katz, Phil (2020). Red Lives: Communists and the Struggle for Socialism. UK: Manifesto Press Cooperative Limited. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-907464-45-4.
  9. Meddick, Simon; Payne, Liz; Katz, Phil (2020). Red Lives: Communists and the Struggle for Socialism. UK: Manifesto Press Cooperative Limited. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-907464-45-4.
  10. Willmot, Louise (May 2002). "The Goodness of Strangers: Help to Escaped Russian Slave Labourers in Occupied Jersey, 1942-1945". Contemporary European History. Volume. 11, no. 2: 218 – via JSTOR.
  11. Meddick, Simon; Payne, Liz; Katz, Phil (2020). Red Lives: Communists and the Struggle for Socialism. UK: Manifesto Press Cooperative Limited. pp. 122–123. ISBN 978-1-907464-45-4.
  12. Sanders, Paul (2005). The British Channel Islands Under German Occupation, 1940-1945. Societe Jersiaise. p. 108. ISBN 9780953885831.
  13. Smart, Sidney (1962). "Norman Le Brocq and Wife Rosalie". apimages.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  14. Editor, Matthew (21 May 2014). "Jersey under the Nazis". workersliberty.org. Retrieved 7 February 2021.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  15. Meddick, Simon; Payne, Liz; Katz, Phil (2020). Red Lives: Communists and the Struggle for Socialism. UK: Manifesto Press Cooperative Limited. pp. 123–124. ISBN 978-1-907464-45-4.
  16. Perkins, Stella. "Stella Perkins". Jersey Heritage.
  17. "'The conclusions reached were the reporter's, not mine'". Jersey Evening Post. 6 September 1969. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  18. "Two Jersey boats in Diamond Jubilee Thames flotilla". BBC. 3 June 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  19. "Jersey Archive: 2007 Accessions". nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  20. Spicer, Graham (12 February 2007). "Jersey Archives Acquires Rare Set Of 19th Century Murder Scene Photographs". culture24.org.uk. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
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