Anthony Faramus
Encyclopedia
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
in 1920 and died in Britain in 1990.
The autobiographical accounts of his survival of Fort de Romainville
Fort de Romainville
Fort de Romainville, was built in France in the 1830s and was used as a Nazi concentration camp in World War II.- Use in WWII :...
, Buchenwald and the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...
complex were published as The Faramus Story in 1954 and Journey Into Darkness in 1990. Two books about Agent Zigzag, the double agent Eddie Chapman
Eddie Chapman
Edward Arnold "Eddie" Chapman was an English pre-war criminal and wartime spy. During the Second World War he offered his services to Nazi Germany as a spy and a traitor whilst intending all along to become a British double agent. His British Secret Service handlers code named him 'ZIGZAG' in...
, also document aspects of Faramus’s imprisonment in Jersey, Paris and the concentration camps.
Arrested
Faramus worked as a hairdresser in a Saint HelierSaint Helier
Saint Helier is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St. Helier has a population of about 28,000, roughly 31.2% of the total population of Jersey, and is the capital of the Island . The urban area of the parish of St...
salon and later, during the early stages of the German occupation of the Channel Islands
Occupation of the Channel Islands
The Channel Islands were occupied by Nazi Germany for much of World War II, from 30 June 1940 until the liberation on 9 May 1945. The Channel Islands are two British Crown dependencies and include the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey as well as the smaller islands of Alderney and Sark...
, was employed in the kitchen of the Miramar Hotel.
Under the conditions of military occupation, the administration of civil law and order was subject to the dictates of the German authorities, a state of affairs that some have described as collaboration. In December 1940 Faramus was arrested by the Jersey police, on the orders of the Feldgendarmerie
Feldgendarmerie
The Feldgendarmerie were the uniformed military police units of the armies of the German Empire from the mid 19th Century until the conclusion of World War II.- Early history :...
, for an act of sabotage. The Jersey police had caught him in possession of an anti-Nazi leaflet and accused him of defrauding the state of ninety Occupation Marks. Faramus names Centenier Arthur Tostevin, an Honorary Police officer of St.Helier and Detective Constable Benjamin Shenton as the officials who had informed the Germans about his activities. He was sentenced to six months hard labour and incarcerated in H.M. Prison Jersey, sharing the same cell as Eddie Chapman. They arranged to meet-up after they were released from prison and consequently shared a flat. For a short period they ran a barber shop together. Their customers included civilians and German soldiers alike.
Deported
The authorities suspected Faramus and Chapman of further involvement in acts of sabotage and they were re-arrested by the police late one night in November 1941. As a political prisoner, Faramus was deported with Chapman by boat from St. Helier, Jersey to the port of GranvilleGranville, Manche
-Sights:The old town preserves all the history of its military and religious past. The lower town was partly built on land reclaimed from the sea. The upper part of the old town is surrounded by ramparts from the fifteenth century...
, in mainland Normandy, then in Occupied France. They were then taken by rail to Fort de Romainville
Fort de Romainville
Fort de Romainville, was built in France in the 1830s and was used as a Nazi concentration camp in World War II.- Use in WWII :...
in Paris where many people were interned before being deported to Auschwitz, Ravensbrück, Buchenwald and Dachau.
After a year, Faramus along with other prisoners from Romainville, was taken in terrible conditions by train via Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
onto the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany.
...a freezing cold morning, at my place of work — ‘Kommando das Grab' (communal graves) — I had momentarily set aside my shovel to blow into my hands and fingers. I had not seen the approach of the SS Warrant Officer. Failing to acknowledge the man’s presence and not coming to attention and removing my cap from my head until he had passed by was one crime, the interruption of my work without permission was another. I was punched and booted; worse, my number (E)42324 was noted in his book of reports.
The Nazi Party defined Mauthausen as "Grade III". Its purpose was to punish "Incorrigible Political Enemies of the Reich" with extermination through labour.
In Journey Into Darkness Faramus acknowledges Captain Maurice Pertschuck who was murdered in Buchenwald in 1944, Christopher Burney
Christopher Burney
Christopher Arthur Geoffrey Burney MBE was an upper-class Englishman who served in the Special Operations Executive during World War II.-Biography:...
and Lt. Jack H. Taylor. Taylor who was also interned in Mauthausen, was a commando in the United States Navy who helped document the conditions there after the 11th Armored Division of the 3rd US Army entered the camp on the 5th of May 1945. Faramus also mentions Pierre Serge Choumoff, a mathematician and engineer, imprisoned in Romainville and Mauthausen who later investigated the Mauthausen-Gusen complex.
Post-War
Anthony Faramus emigrated to the USA with his wife Mary where they both had careers in the film industry. Faramus worked as an actor and played the roles of a British officer in The Colditz Story
The Colditz Story
The Colditz Story is a 1955 prisoner of war film starring John Mills and Eric Portman and directed by Guy Hamilton.It is based on the book written by P.R...
and a prisoner of war in King Rat
King Rat (1965 film)
King Rat is a 1965 World War II film adapted from the James Clavell novel King Rat. The film was directed by Bryan Forbes and starred George Segal as Corporal King and James Fox as Marlow, two World War II prisoners of war in a squalid camp near Singapore...
. He also worked as Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
’s butler and chauffeur. After living in California he and Mary moved back to Britain living in London and later in Farnham, Surrey.
In the 1970s he joined the Hunt Saboteurs Association
Hunt Saboteurs Association
The Hunt Saboteurs Association is a worldwide organization using direct action to stop the hunting of animals. HSA activists use a model of leaderless resistance and have been using the same basic tactics since their inception in 1963; the underlying principle being to directly intervene in a...
an organisation whose aim is to disrupt blood sports using direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
tactics. In the late 1980s Faramus was arrested during a fracas at a hunt in Hampshire. He refused to be bound over to keep the peace was sent to prison for a month.
Over a hundred people, including actors and concentration camp survivors attended his funeral at St. Andrew's Parish Church in Farnham
Farnham
Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
in 1990.
Films
- King RatKing RatKing Rat may mean:* Uromys rex, a species of rat* King Rat , by James Clavell set in World War II* King Rat , released in 1965, based on the James Clavell novel* King Rat , an urban fantasy novel by China Miéville...
(1965). Director: Bryan Forbes. Faramus plays role of a prisoner. - The Colditz StoryThe Colditz StoryThe Colditz Story is a 1955 prisoner of war film starring John Mills and Eric Portman and directed by Guy Hamilton.It is based on the book written by P.R...
(1955). Director: Guy Hamilton. Faramus plays role of a British officer.