A Daughter Discovers Her Father’s Stalag XXA Story

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 of his journey. We were able to show the key locations connected with his time as a prisoner of war, including places where we know he actually stayed.

Meetings like this are especially meaningful to us. The history of prisoners of war is not only about dates, camps and military records. Above all, it is about individual people, their families and memories that can survive for generations.

It is a privilege to take part in uncovering and sharing such a deeply personal fragment of history a story in which Toruń and its wartime past also have their place.

Comments

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...

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...

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