"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 have stood there utterly bereft so many decades earlier.
From my father's records we discovered that he had worked at some point as a medical orderly in the POW hospital and I am very grateful that Pawel managed to get me access to the old fort. Walking through the dark, cold corridors and rooms it was possible to get an insight into the bleak surroundings suffered by the POWs who were crippled with illnesses often brought about by the conditions they were forced to live in.
Pawel also helped me interpret a curious document I discovered in the Kew Archives about my father. It listed Dad under his army number, 555535, as being in a work camp in "Bromberg" in early 1943 and getting assistance from a Polish national who supplied German identity cards and other materials to some of the POWs. Pawel explained that Bromberg was a satellite of Stalag XXA (20A) where British POWs were sent to work on the roads near a German munitions factory. We knew Dad had made several attempts to escape and Pawel explained the local Polish man was probably a member of the Polish resistance at the time.
One amazing document Pawel showed me was a playbill from a Christmas show put on by the British POWs from Bromberg in 1942. It listed a "J. Wilkinson" as one of the players, whether it was my father I can't be sure but I like to think it was, and maybe during that one Christmas he was able to have some laughs with his mates.
In early 1945 when the Russian army was advancing towards Poland and Stalag XXA (20A), my father did escape and went east towards Russia, eventually getting on a ship in Odessa which brought him back to England. I was amazed to hear from Pawel that he knew of other cases of POWs who also did this. He explained that the Germans were forcing the POWs to evacuate Stalag XXA (20A) and march towards Germany. Knowing what lay ahead would be a brutal, dangerous journey, these gutsy POWs took a huge gamble and headed east towards the Red Army. It was a miracle they survived the journey to Odessa.
Thank you Pawel for your help, your hard work and for keeping the story of Stalag XXA alive in Torun. "
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