Sgt Neil McLellan, Stalag XXA- Following in the footsteps of a great man!

After July we are sure that Stalag history is totally undiscovered. Single stories are such exciting that we could make a lot of movies. Below we publish a short story of Sgt Neil McLellan whose traces we had chance to follow.

Looking for founds of barracks

"My Grandfather, Sgt Neil McLellan, 202 Anti-Tank Battery (Isle of Bute), Royal Artillery, 51^st Highland Division was a Prisoner of War for 5 years in Stalag XXA during the Second World War. During this time he became the official camp photographer taking many pictures of events such as Theatre Plays, Boxing, Football and Rugby. He also attended the Funerals of many British POW’s so that the event could be recorded for military records. On leaving the camp to begin the infamous “Death March” he managed to hold on to many of these pictures and later traced some of the Families of the fallen. Like many others he would not talk about it in the years after the war. However in my years at School during the 80’s and 90’s he would share with me many of the stories of his time within the Camp. Later I made a promise that in the future I would visit the camp.

Thankfully technology has now advanced greatly since the 80’s and 90’s. Whilst carrying out some internet research in relation to the Camp I found Pawel and Hania’s website about Stalag XXA in Torun. We contacted them in July and they very kindly agreed to assist us with our visit to Torun.

Both Pawel and Hania’s work is so very important to the memory of many of those prisoners who were at Stalag XXA. It was very sad to see that no official preservation by the Polish Government has taken place within the camp and if it were not for people like Pawel and Hania there would not be very difficult to learn anything about the camp whilst in Torun. The preparation that was put into our tour both before during and after is very much appreciated!

This was an emotional journey I have wanted to make for many years to complete a promise I made to a great man, my Grandfather Neil McLellan. I could not thank Pawel and Hania enough for making this possible and only wish them every success in the future with their work.

If you are ready this and researching your own family history I would very much recommend you contact Pawel and Hania and start making your own journey possible!"

Kindest regards!

Colin Fulcher & Ilze Bikse

Isle of Bute, Scotland, UK.

Touching the history.

Comments

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