WARTIME GUIDES

During visits to Toruń, stories often resurface—stories that, although from the past, still stir strong emotions. One such story is that of escapes by prisoners of war from Stalag XXA, a German POW camp located in the city of Toruń. Over the years of guiding the families of former POWs, we have noticed that there are two most commonly repeated types of escapes from the camp. Spontaneous escapes – impulse and hope for freedom The first type involves spontaneous escapes—prisoners slipping away from work assignments, most often from farms, taking advantage of guards' carelessness or sudden opportunities. Unfortunately, these attempts usually ended in failure. After a few days, exhausted and hungry, the escapees were brought back to the POW camp under escort. Planned escapes – the power of cooperation and courage The second type involved carefully planned escapes, which required time, trust, and cooperation from many people. A key element was a well-prepared route and a convincing ...

Once again, guests from Great Britain visited us. Among them was the daughter of a British prisoner of war and the son of a soldier who fought at Monte Cassino. Gunner Charles James George Davis of the 140th (Army) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, was mobilized on 1 September 1939 and sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force. He was captured by the Germans on May 29, 1940. He spent the rest of the war in the Stalag XXA prisoner of war camp in Toruń and in work commandos in the region. In Toruń, he was held in a sub-camp of Fort XII in Podgórze, where there is a band and he plays the trumpet. What was it like for his presence among our exhibits, a trumpet mouthpiece found in the area of ​​Fort XII. The guests were guided around the museum exhibition by: Toruń guide Paweł Bukowski and two MHW volunteers, Weronika and Zofia. In a fascinating way, it introduces visitors to the history of Poland, the city and the fate of its inhabitants during World War II.

      Six years ago, we initiated actions to build a new monument in Lisak village, app. 40 km from Toruń. During the IIWW there was located a hard labour camp (Stutthof subcamp) for civilians. Those people were captured and forced to built fortifications at the Drwęca River againts Soviet counterstrike. From memories we also know that there worked also Prisoners of War camps. Thanks to our initiative, local organisations, passionates and Institute of National Rememberance got interested into the topic. Now INR is conducting an investigation. Because we are almost sure that there is a massive grave of people who were killed during the evacuation.      There are plans to do exhumations, clean up the area, and demarcate a new path to the monument. Here a radio programme about the topic

Only local guides and enthusiasts know how much do the signatures mean to Prisoners of War (Stalag XXA) and its relatives. This time we came to fort with another element of its history. A history of a soldier who wrote a sign in the cell but also took this unique picture!

I'm happy to say that my article about Stalag XXA was published in a Ex-Prisoner of War Association newsletter! If you interested in it please write to us.