A LANCASHIRE man who spent three years in a Nazi concentration camp has spoken of his wish to permanently record the harrowing memories of his imprisonment.

Michael Barrett, 73, and his family were taken from their home in Guernsey, where they had moved after leaving Burnley before the war, and transported to the labour camp of Biberach in southern Germany in 1942.

Around 2,000 islanders, including Michael, his parents John and Iris and older brother Terence, were targeted on the direct orders of Hitler because they were not from the island.

Michael, who later attended Rosehill Primary School, Burnley, said: “I was four at the time and remember waiting with hundreds of other families to board the boat.

“My mother told me that as we got on, I kicked out and caught a German soldier in the unmentionables.”

Michael, who now lives in Chorley, recalls the early months at the camp were very tough and the family went hungry.

"We were given inedible black bread and soup,” he said.

“Things improved when the Red Cross became involved which meant food parcels could be sent to us.

“We received tins and margarine from our family in Burnley. I’m in no doubt that their kindness kept us alive.”

The Biberach camp consisted of 23 concrete huts. One was made into a small school and Michael’s father also captained a football team of prisoners.

But light relief was very limited and Michael credits his parents with shielding the worst deprivations from their boys.

"My mum would sing to us to cover her feelings but we knew it was hard for her.

"She had all her teeth removed without anaesthetic and I’m certain there were times of despair for them.”

Towards the end of their incarceration, Michael’s mother became pregnant, giving birth to his sister Irene on the day the camp was liberated.

She was named Irene because it translates as ‘peace’.

It was reported at the time that she was the youngest British person to be repatriated from Germany,” he said.

On their return to Burnley, the family stayed with a family in Carlton Road before his father found work as an estatesman at Towneley Hall.

The family later settled in Cliviger where Michael said his childhood really began and ‘fields and fun replaced the barbed wire’.

Michael, who has three children with wife Beryl, says he now wishes to publish his mother’s life story, which she wrote in long-hand after her retirement.

He said: “The manuscript is packed with incredible detail about these historic times and me and my daughter Nicola are looking to publish it to give people an insight into this story.

“There aren’t many of us left who went through this and I think the detail of these events need to be recorded for future generations.”