Jersey people awarded for aiding persecuted in WWII

Albert Bedane hid a Jewish woman in his cellar

Four Jersey people will be posthumously recognised for helping people who were persecuted during World War II.

Siblings Louisa Gould, Ivy Forster and Harold Le Druillenec sheltered Russian prisoners of war during the German occupation of Jersey in WWII.

Albert Bedane, a physiotherapist, hid people in his cellar while treating German soldiers in his clinic above.

They are among 28 people being honoured with the new Hero of the Holocaust medal later at Downing Street.

I thought that if I was going to be killed I would rather be killed for a sheep than a lamb Albert Bedane

All three of the siblings were arrested after helping two Russian slave workers and teaching them English.

Ms Gould was executed at Ravensbruck concentration camp, while Mr Le Druillenec was the last surviving Briton at Belsen camp.

Mr Bedane hid Mary Richardson, a Dutch Jew, from 1943 until the end of the German Occupation of Jersey in 1945, in the cellar of his Roseville Street home.

He also provided a hiding place for other people, including a French prisoner of war, and a number of Russian forced workers.

Mr Bedane died in Jersey in 1980.

He once explained why he had risked his life: "I had a few nightmares occasionally, but I thought that if I was going to be killed I would rather be killed for a sheep than a lamb anyway."

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: "They provide a template of courage for today's young people, and clearly highlight the difference that can be made by standing up against injustice, hatred and prejudice.

"Many of these extraordinary British men and women risked their lives and never spoke about it afterwards. They are true unsung heroes."