He came to Toruń twice – first in 1940 and then again in 1944. Yet he spent most of his captivity in Malbork and the surrounding villages. Years later, his family came to Toruń to walk together through the places that may have been part of his wartime story. He was a soldier who became a prisoner of war after the fighting at Dunkirk. His wartime journey took him through many different places, including Toruń and Stalag XXA, the German prisoner-of-war camp operating here. He appeared in the city twice – in 1940 and again in 1944. However, we still know very little about his time in Toruń. Much more is known about the later stages of his captivity. He spent most of his time in Malbork and the surrounding villages, where he worked as a prisoner of war. This is why the Toruń part of his story remains, in a sense, a mystery. This time, we guided his closest family members along the former camp trail – his son, wife and grandson. Together, we visited places that we could identify with certai...
Wendy travelled to Toruń to discover the places where her father, an Australian medical orderly from the 2/5 General Hospital, was held during the Second World War. Preserved wartime documentation and a remarkably well-documented history of the unit made it possible to retrace his story and visit the places connected with his captivity. This was an exceptionally personal journey back into history. A daughter of an Australian prisoner of war came to Toruń to discover the places where her father had been held during the war. He had served as a medical orderly with the 2/5 General Hospital , and Wendy's goal was to see the places he had known during his captivity places she had previously known mainly through family stories and surviving documents. Fortunately, a considerable amount of documentation relating to his story has survived. Combined with the well-documented history of the 2/5 General Hospital and its wartime experiences, it allowed us to reconstruct important stages...