27 April – 4 May 2025

Explore the islands' complex wartime history and stunning landscapes as we uncover their jewish stories

Until recently there has been little public acknowledgement that the Nazis occupied British sovereign territory during World War II. However, with excavations of Lager Sylt, the forced labour camp on Alderney, during the last few years, the installation of stolpersteine memorials on Jersey and Guernsey this summer, and the UK’s presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in 2024-25, the occupation and its legacy is now being addressed more closely.

This problematic but fascinating historical episode will be the main focus of a new tour of the Channel Islands planned by JR for spring 2025. We will visit relevant sites, enjoy talks by experts in the field, and find out about artists whose work engages creatively with the Channel Islands’ complex history. There will also be opportunities to meet the local Jewish community and soak up the views as we explore dramatic landscapes and the spectacular coastline.

Led by art historian Monica Bohm-Duchen and JR's Executive Director Dr Aviva Dautch, plus guest speakers.

This tour is arranged in association with Travel Counsellors and is for Jewish Renaissance subscribers only. Not currently a subscriber? Click here to subscribe.

Tour info

Destination: Guernsey (3 nights at Les Rocquettes Hotel), Jersey (4 nights at The Best Western Royal Hotel), plus day-trip to Alderney.
Dates: Sunday 27 April – Sunday 4 May 2025.
Cost*: £2,195pp sharing a double/twin room, £395 single supplement.
Transfers: The cost above includes coach, boat and flight transfers on and between the three islands. It does not include travel to the Guernsey hotel, which is the start point of the tour, and from Jersey airport, which is the end point of the tour.
Deposit required: £845pp by 7 February 2025 (refundable in the case that the tour does not go ahead; final payment by 24 March 2025).

See below for a provisional day-by-day itinerary and more details about the flights to and from the Channel Islands.

*Price includes comfortable, well-equipped and well-located accommodation; all coach travel throughout the tour, plus ferries and/or flights between the islands; all entrance tickets, guided tours and extra lectures; all applicable taxes and tips; and all breakfasts, plus three dinners and two lunches (not including alcohol). All food provided will be vegetarian or pescatarian (no seafood/non-kosher fish).

**Deadline for applications and deposits is 7 February 2025. If the numbers aren’t viable, you will be informed and refunded by 12 February. Once the trip is confirmed, the deposit is non-refundable.

Please note that although Jewish Renaissance is arranging this trip, the travel company you are contracting with is Travel Counsellors, who are making all the bookings within the above package and providing your package protection (IATA and PTS registered and bonded) – this covers all elements of the tour as described above, but does not include issues caused by your flights or individual circumstances. It is highly important that you also arrange your own individual travel insurance.

We will be spending Shabbat in Jersey. The hotel is not within reasonable walking distance from the synagogue where we intend to spend Erev Shabbat, especially as it is tough terrain after dark. We will offer coach transfers but, if you are Shabbat observant, please note that you will need to liaise with our team before booking re making alternative arrangements for Friday night.

This is a high-end tour, in both comfort and quality, however Jewish Renaissance has partially subsidised the single supplement to help lower the cost and overall has set the price as low as possible, so that cost isn’t a barrier. If you would like to support this tour or JR’s work with a voluntary contribution, please donate here.

Please note, this tour involves a substantial amount of walking. If you have mobility or accessibility issues, please contact us via tours@jewishrenaissance.org.uk before booking.

ARE YOU A SUBSCRIBER?

JR Tours are open to subscribers only. Subscriptions start at £28/a and can be purchased at subscribe.jewishrenaissance.org.uk.

RESERVE YOUR PLACE

Please complete the form below to reserve a place on this tour. If you require assistance completing the form, please contact the JR office on 020 7794 5254 or tours@jewishrenaissance.org.uk. Once your form is received and your JR subscription confirmed, you will be contacted regarding payment for your deposit.

flights to and from the Channel islands

Our travel agent partner, Travel Counsellors, is working on a flight package (London to Guernsey on Sunday 27 April and Jersey to London on Sunday 4 May) that can be booked through us. We hope to have full details and prices of the flight package offer by Wednesday 15 January and will update the website when we do.

Should you wish to book your flights independently, we would suggest exploring the following options:

27 April

London Gatwick 11.55am, arriving in Guernsey 1pm (Aurigny Air)

London City 3.30pm, arriving in Guernsey 4.50pm (Aurigny Air) 

4 May

Jersey 5.10pm, arriving at Heathrow 6.15pm (British Airways)

Jersey 6.20pm, arriving at Luton 7.25pm (Easyjet)

Jersey 2.40pm, arriving at Gatwick 3.45pm (Easyjet)*
*This may mean leaving lunch early and getting your own transfer to the airport.

Guernsey 5.50pm, arriving at London City 6.50pm (Aurigny Air)*
*This would mean arranging your own independent transfer between Jersey and Guernsey in time for your flight.

Provisional itinerary*

*Please note this is subject to change. All travel between the islands is dependent on weather conditions. If changes do have to be made, we will adjust the itinerary as we go to try and include all advertised elements of the trip, but this cannot be guaranteed.

Day 1 – Sunday 27 April

Originally a country mansion, our hotel Les Rocquettes was built in 1765 on the outskirts of St Peter Port. In the past 10 years it has been completely upgraded and its facilities include an indoor pool, gym, hot tub and sauna.

Please arrive at the hotel in time to check in and be ready for a 6pm introductory lecture by Dr Aviva Dautch and Monica Bohm-Duchen. This will be followed by a three-course group dinner. 

Day 2 – Monday 28 April  

After a leisurely breakfast we’ll head to the German Occupation Museum, which provides a unique insight into life in Guernsey from 1940 to 1945. The museum includes an authentic recreation of an occupation-era street, exhibitions on maritime history and World War II fortifications.

We’ll have an independent lunch, then hope to visit Hauteville House, home of Victor Hugo during his exile from France, where he wrote many of his most famous novels, including Les Misérables. We’ll consider his relationships with Jewish creatives and how his life and work was part of the complex background to the Dreyfus Affair (the reason some of the key figures whose lives we’ll be exploring were living in the Channel Islands during the occupation).

In the late afternoon and evening you’ll have free time to find dinner and explore Guernsey.

Day 3 – Tuesday 29 April

All being well with the weather, we’ll travel to the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands – Alderney, site of several forced and slave labour camps, including the notorious Lager Sylt. While much of the day will be organised group activities, we will have some free time in Saint Anne, historically known as La Ville (The Town), for you to explore independently and eat lunch.

We’ll arrive back in Guernsey with plenty of time to rest and eat dinner, before reconvening for a rehearsed reading of Theresa by Julia Pascal. This powerful play is based on the real life of Viennese Jew Theresa Steiner who, along with other Jewish women living on the Island, was deported from Guernsey to Auschwitz. It was written in 1990 and widely shown throughout the UK and Europe, but until now has never been performed in the Channel Islands.

Day 4 – Wednesday 30 April

We’ll check out of Les Rocqettes and spend the morning in Guernsey, taking a short guided walk of the main memorial sites, including some of the recently-laid Stolpersteine (stumbling stones). We also hope to meet with members of the current Jewish community to learn about Jewish life on the island today.

Then we’ll transfer to Jersey and check in to the Best Western Royal Hotel, where we’ll spend the remaining nights. This is a characterful property in St Helier that has been trading as a hotel since the 1840s and is situated less than a mile from the beach and harbour. We’ll have some free time to unpack and relax, then meet in the early evening for a group dinner, followed by a screening of a film about the wartime occupation of Jersey and its legacy.

Day 5 – Thursday 1 May

We will travel by coach to the Jersey War Tunnels. Dug deep into the hillside by slave workers from nations across Europe, they now contain an underground collection of thought-provoking exhibits that tell the fascinating story of Jersey’s occupation: from resistance through to starvation, then eventual liberation. Our exploration of the tunnels and their content will take us up to early afternoon, with a break mid-way for you to have lunch in their above ground café and unwind in the garden of reflection.

After returning to the hotel, you’ll have free time to explore St Helier and dine independently before we conclude the day with a talk about the life and work of artist and writer Claude Cahun, Jersey’s most famous Jewish inhabitant. This will serve as an introduction to the following day’s exploration of her archive and visit to her home.

Day 6 – Friday 2 May

Alongside her partner and collaborator Marcel Moore, Claude Cahun produced a series of photographs and photomontages that challenged traditional ideas of gender, sexuality and identity. Moore and Cahun refused to be evacuated to England in advance of the Occupation, instead deciding to mount a resistance campaign.We’ll start the day at Jersey Museum and Art Gallery and explore the Jersey Archives to learn more about the couple’s art, lives and anti-Nazi activism.

Then we’ll have a break to find lunch in St Helier and get ready for Shabbat. The Jersey community will be hosting us for a Friday night service and group dinner at the synagogue in St Brelade. The coach will take us to the synagogue in the late afternoon, stopping en route in St Brelade’s Bay for some time by the sea, a chance to visit Cahun and Moore’s home and to see the stumbling stone recently installed in their memory.

After Shabbat dinner we’ll be driven back to the hotel. Please note that because of the complicated terrain and distances, we do not think it is viable to walk, especially after dark. If you are shomer Shabbat, we will do our best to facilitate your observance. Please email tours@jewishrenaissance.org.uk before booking to discuss the alternative option – this would mean you leaving St Brelade early to return to the hotel for an 8pm candle lighting and dinner, instead of joining the meal with the community.

Day 7 – Saturday 3 May

Since Saturday is a day of rest, we will have a relaxed start. Instead of a formal Shabbat service, we will gather mid-morning for a creative alternative, including a study session led by Aviva and Monica to discuss the problematic ethical issues raised by our trip. After a group lunch at the hotel, there will be a short, guided walking tour of St Helier, focusing particularly on its war memorials and occupation history, followed by an optional seaside stroll.

After free time for dinner, we hope to attend the private view of a new exhibition of photos about women and war by Pulitzer Prize-winning American Jewish photographer Marissa Roth, who will be joining us to talk about her work. We’ll end the day with an atmospheric Havdalah ceremony reminding us of the complicated relationship between darkness and light.

Day 8 – Sunday 4 May

We will spend our final morning celebrating the Channel Islands’ rich seafaring history by visiting the Jersey Maritime Museum, home to the Occupation Tapestry. Commissioned to mark the 50th anniversary of liberation, its colourful panels depict life and hardship under military rule. As the 80th anniversary approaches, we’ll discuss the legacy of occupation for the islanders, and for us as British Jews, over a final delicious group lunch, before taking a coach transfer to Jersey airport to head home.