The second World War and the 'Other British Isles' : memory and heritage in the Isle of Man, Orkney ... and the Channel Islands

"What is often held to be Britain's 'finest hour' - the Second World War - was not experienced so uniformly across the British Isles. On the margins, the war was endured in profoundly different ways. While D-Day or Dunkirk is embedded in British collective memory, how many Britons can recall that Finns were interned on the Isle of Man, that enemy soldiers developed British infrastructure in Orkney, or that British subjects were sent to concentration camps from Guernsey? Such experiences, tangential to the dominant British war narrative, are commemorated elsewhere in the 'other British Isles'. In this remarkable contribution to British Island Studies, Daniel Travers pursues these histories and their commemoration across numerous local sites of memory: museums, heritage sites and public spaces. He examines the way these island identities assert their own distinctiveness over the British wartime story, and ultimately the way they fit into the ongoing discourse about how the memory of the Second World War has been constructed since 1945."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Cover -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1 Their finest hour? -- Collective remembrance and the British war narrative -- Manifestations of the myth - sites of memory -- 2 The other British Isles at war -- The Isle of Man -- Orkney -- Channel Islands -- 3 The Isle of Man -- Manx culture -- Commemoration of the Second World War on the Isle of Man -- Material representations of the war -- 4 Orkney -- The Norwegian Scots -- Commemorating the Second World War -- War relics and tangible sites of memory -- The legacy of Orkney's Italian prisoners of war -- 5 Channel Islands -- A 'peculiarity of the Crown' -- Heritage direction in the Channel Islands -- Liberation Day -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Their finest hour? Collective remembrance and the British war narrative Manifestations of the myth – sites of memory 2. The other British Isles at war The Isle of Man Orkney Channel Islands 3. The Isle of Man Manx culture Commemoration of the Second World War on the Isle of Man Material representations of the war 4. Orkney The Norwegian Scots Commemorating the Second World War War relics and tangible sites of memory The legacy of Orkney’s Italian prisoners of war 5. Channel Islands A ‘peculiarity of the Crown' Heritage direction in the Channel Islands Liberation Day Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index