As previously stated I thought it would be appropriate to tell the story of Louisa Mary Gould also remembered on the memorial, her death possibly being one of the most shameful episodes to occur during the German Occupation of Jersey 1940-1945.

 

Feodor Burriy, also known as Bill, was a Russian prisoner of war brought to the Island in 1942 having been captured after his plane was shot down in October 1941 over Russia. He escaped from his POW camp in late 1942 and was taken in by a St Ouen farmer, a Mr Le Mottee who looked after the escaped Russian for some months before he had to leave the farmer. Bill was introduced to Mrs Gould whom without hesitation took him into hiding. It is said she treated Bill like a son having already lost a son in the war (her son is also remembered on the St Ouen's Memorial) and she sheltered the Russian for eighteen months. During that time Bill learnt English and became part of the community in St Ouens, even doing the shopping and going to the back for Mrs Gould. Then one day she received an anonymous warning over the telephone in Jersey French that an informer had been at work. The message warned, "Get rid of Bill and destroy all traces". Bill escaped, but Mrs Gould received a visit from the Polizei who found a Russian-English dictionary and a photograph of Bill.

 

After some intense questioning Mrs Gould, her friend Miss Pitolet and her brother Harold Le Druillenec were deported to Germany. Louisa Mary Gould died in 1945 at Ravensbruck Concentration Camp where the work load was too much for her, Harold was the only British national to survive Belsen Concentration Camp and Miss Pitolet escaped from a prison in Rennes when part of her cell wall was blown down in an Allied air raid. As for Bill he was fortunate that there were so many other brave people in Jersey who sheltered him to the end of the Occupation, he was then repatriated to Russia after the war.

 

We will probably never know who informed on Mrs Gould but as we have seen the consequences were dreadful. Also we don't know why they did it maybe for money or food, or maybe just as a vendetta against her, I suppose it is easy to judge some sixty years later but at that time under those difficult circumstances people act differently. So it is good to see a brave woman remembered along side all those brave men, and it leaves me with one final thought; as you lose faith in some people, the informer, others will restore your faith in people, Mrs Gould and her brave friends.