Austen Deans was a soldier of New Zeland forces. He was sent to defent country far away from New Zeland...firstly North Africa and secondly Europe. When German won capampaing in Crete Austen and rest of soldiers as a POW were transported to Stalag XXA in Torun. After four days of trip to Poland soldiers were located in old prussian forts. Austen was imprisoned in Fort XV. Below we present short part of his fascinating biography.... One of Austen Deans painting shows Fort XV In the first few months at Stalag XX-A Austen also worked as a temporary tailor, repairing old British army greatcoats for the Russian POWs. As they were not party to the Geneva Convention they had no access to supplies and provisions through the Red Cross, and would have frozen to death had the Germans not provided the coats. The three friends were able to continue painting. Austen carried on with his portraits of other POWs and as many landscapes as he could produce from within the confines of the camp.
This blog is dedicated to people who were imprisoned in Stalag XXA in Thorn in 1939-45. We would like to show you that in the shadows of the beautiful gothic city there is also forgotten history.