Nice memory of the tour of Stalag XXA

We are pleased to share memories from a trip following the POW footsteps of Pauline's relative

Last year we bought a 3 month interrail pass in their 50th anniversary half price sale and we have just finished using it. 7 countries, 40 trains and an interlude in the middle back in the U.K. to welcome our first grandchild. I can heartily recommend this way of travelling, even if the extra fees for reservations and different ways of making them from one country to another can sometimes test your skill and patience! For me, travelling from country to country by train reinforced the need for a Europe whose countries can live in peace and there are all too many daily reminders that we are still not there.

Anyway as you can see we took the opportunity to finally visit Toruń, which was informative, moving and interesting. Such a beautiful and historic town, well worth the trip even for those without the connection shared by members of this group.

I just wanted to add to what others have said here about visiting and arranging a tour with Pawel Bukowski. Because of the grandchild’s arrival we didn’t finalise our dates until quite late and at fairly short notice Pawel sorted a wonderful tour for us. He was there to greet us when we arrived at our hotel and nearly four hours later we had visited the private museum you will all have read about here, as well as the key places that would have been familiar to my grandfather and other POWs. We subsequently visited the fort that is open for tours (not a place where our relatives will have been interned but it is the best - only! way of freely visiting a typical fort) and the relevant museums.
I have learned so much and hope to return again one day. Thank you so much Pawel and Piotr, for keeping this history alive and being so generous with your time and incredible knowledge of the history of your beautiful home city.

Comments

Thanks this trip we've discovered new facts about POW from Stalag XXA in 1945

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...

Living conditions in Stalag XXA

Monthly bath in Stalag XXA Living conditions Lawrence Travers Dorins a former POW describes „fort XI was surrounded by a high bank and the fence around it with gates across the entrance road, on one side there was also a dry moat with a bridge on it. The bridge led to a tunnel” The fortress was covered with trees, bushes and earth so that the fortress could not be visible from the bird's eye. Prisoners slept in caponiers where initially were supposed to sleep Prussian soldiers. Yet PoW describes the rooms as if there were designed as rooms in the concentration camps. Rooms looked as semi tunnels. “The perpendicular walls were about 3m high and the height of the arched roof was about 5 m, wooden bunks provided sleeping spaces. Each room had only two small windows which obviously allowed no ventilation. Due to the end of the night the air was solid and everyone would have a headache due to oxygen starvation” .In those rooms kept approximately 32 men. There were three shelves whe...

Just few hours to understand life in Stalag XXA(20A) in Torun

"I will always be grateful to Pawel for helping me understand better what happened to my father when he was captured by the German army after the fighting at Dunkirk. Like many former British POWs, Dad was reluctant to tell his children very much about what he had endured during the war. We knew he spent most of the war in German POW camps, in particular one in Poland. From his army records we discovered that camp was Staleg XX-A. I contacted Pawel at very short notice recently when I was in traveling with my husband in Europe. Pawel was able to meet me in Torun to walk me through the history of Staleg XX-A and some of the forts of Torun. My father, John Wilkinson, was with the British Expeditionary Force, serving in the Light Tank Regiment of the 1st East Riding Yeomanry. We believe he fought at Cassel in France before being captured. It was extraordinary for me to walk with Pawel at Torun where the British POWs disembarked, knowing my father would hav...

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