Thanks to our cooperation to Museum of Dobrzyńska Land in Rypin, Poland we had a great opportunity to give a short presentaion about Stalag XXA and working camps around Rypin. This city is located on the East of Kujawsko - Pomorskie region and since 1941 there was a working camp of Stalag XXA, Thorn (now Torun). Thanks help of the locals we possessed a lot of new facts: how did the camp worked and relations between citizens and Pows. What is more interesting, we learnt about how partizans helped imprisoned soldiers, ways of escapes and farmers who hid soldiers who had decided to escape. Sometimes these stories could be script for a movie. We hope that with time we'll find new folders in local archives which fulfill white gaps in the history dedicated to personal storiers of British PoW's there.
That was wonderful trip. During three days we saw couple of places connected with POW path of Jack Stansfield. Moreover thanks his son Michael we saw notes with memories of last days in Stalag XXA in Torun. In opposit to all facts which says that prisoners left camp in late december 1945 Jack wrote that they started to march on 21 january! That means that lasts groups of POW left camp in 10 days before Torun was liberated. Fortunatley Jack survived afeter he escaped from march. He met russians army and polish partizants. Below we presents you short memories about Jack and trip to Poland... My father was called Jack Stansfield, he was born in August 1918. He was brought up in the market town of Malton in North Yorkshire where his parents were publicans. He joined the Territorial Army in March 1939 and was mobilised on the declaration of war. Jack enlisted in his local regiment joining the 5th Battalion of the Green Howards. After a short time at the Regimental HQ in Richmond, North...
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