Jersey Occupation slave’s art on display in Tapestry Gallery

The artwork is now on display at the Occupation Tapestry Museum.

Jersey Heritage’s senior registrar Helena Kergozou said Mrs Huelin “risked everything by allowing Bill into her home”.

She said: “She took him in and he stayed there for a few weeks… She kept him occupied, she supplied him with art materials so that he could pass the time and stay busy… She would play games with him and really let him be part of her family for a time.”

Mr Burriy was an air force officer who had been captured by the Germans as they advanced across Russia in 1942.

Ms Kergozou said he and hundreds of his comrades were herded into freight trains and taken across occupied Europe to St Malo and then on a boat to Jersey.

They were put to work as slaves, building walls, bunkers and defences across the island. Mr Burriy was sent to the quarry and stone crushing plant at the bottom of Mont Pinel in St Ouen, but he escaped. Quickly recaptured, he was beaten and made to stand in a tank of freezing water overnight.

But that made him even more determined and he escaped again, this time for good. Helped by farmer René Le Mottée, he stayed hidden until he was taken in by widow Louisa Gould, who ran a shop at Millais.