Out of the darkness

Today's mono micro, is a 5 old pence stamp issued by Jersey to mark their 25th anniversary of liberation. The Channel Islands were of minimal strategic importance during the Second World War, impossible for the UK to defend, and of huge political capital for the Nazi to capture. Their occupation was pretty brutal as it was elsewhere in Europe, and like some pockets of France - which had mostly been freed by the end of 1944 - they were occupied to the bitter end.

This image of Churchill is obviously the man himself, but it's not as recognisable as other images of him. The Channel Islands were liberated two days later than the rest of Europe, as special arrangements had to be made - though strictly speaking it could have taken place much earlier, as by then the occupied and occupiers were pretty much starving to death...

I've not been to Jersey, but my parents did, and probably sent this stamp to my grandparents on their visit in 1970. We've been to Guernsey though, which had some very interesting museums to visit, and like the ones in France paint a very sad and gritty story of reality of the occupation.

This stamp was almost black and white to start with, so I've applied an Ilford filter to it to get a B&W look, and it's very much a metaphorical lightness out of darkness, rather than a physical one...