Theme Day: Photo of the Year

Happy New Year to you all from TORUŃ DAILY PHOTO. It's that time of the month when we delve back into the archives to show you all the photo of the year. Admitedly, there aren't many to choose from as we haven't been so active over the last 12 months as before. Glad to say this will change for 2012!

So what was the best photo of 2011?

It has to be this stark hand-drawn message from the past. A British POW told the Nazis exactly how he felt all those years ago (70 to be precise!). The graffiti is one of many which can still be seen in the former Stalag-XXA camp here in Toruń.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Following Her Father's Footsteps Part 5

Today, TORUŃ DAILY PHOTO concludes its journey following the footsteps of Prvt. Leonard Green...

Glenn Standish in front of the POW graffiti

The graffiti drawn by POWs in the wash room

The Two Bath Stewards

Exploring the dark wash room

Reading some of the messages

A poem written by a British POW

An image of what appears to be a ship sinking. Was this a reference to a real WWII tragedy?

Following Her Father's Footsteps Part 5: The Washroom and Messages from the Past

We continued to follow Piotr down the long dark passage. Eventually, we reached a room with silence on the entrance wall. Flashing our torches around the room we soon came face to face with images from the past. It appears that our British POWs in Stalag XX-A were very artistic and talented! we continued onto a couple of other rooms where we read hand-written messages from the past. Incredibly fascinating!

Following Her Father's Footsteps Part 4

Exploring the dark tunnels with nothing but torches and the light

from the odd mobile phone

Flash light from the camera really does help to guide your way!

Rosalind and John with Piotr and Leon inside Fort XI

Following Piotr down the steep steps into the kitchen

All that remains from the former kitchen of Stalag XX-A

Rosalind inside her father's former prison

Exploring the basement of Fort XI

Part 4: Inside Fort XI and the former kitchen of Stalag XX-A

We arrived at Fort XI and waited for Piotr to arrive (he was held up by the local security guard, wondering what we were doing there). Eager to explore her father's former prison...Rosalind decided to enter the dark fortess alone....though it wasn't long until Piotr (and his torch) managed to turn up!

We entered through the hole in the wall and walked along the dark tunnels. Piotr took us down some steep steps and we soon found ourselves in what was once the kitchen of Stalag XX-A. The cooking equipment has long since gone except for the fume extractor in the ceiling. There were numbers and a cat drawn on the side of it. Were these from WWII as well?

Following Her Father's Footsteps Part 2

TORUŃ DAILY PHOTO continues its series of retracing the footsteps of Prvt. Leonard Green - a POW at Stalag XX-A...

The security guard forbids us entry...

...so we try to gain access from the rear

...past the old brick walls...

...and through thick foliage...

...but we were eventually stopped by the moat.

Part 2: Bureaucracy and a little disheartened

Following our time at the military ramp we headed off to Fort XVII which was the HQ of Stalag XX-A. It was here that the POWs were first registered before being sent off to the separate forts. In the late 1960s Leonard Green returned here and was photographed leaning against the wall overlooking the main railway station. His daughter Rosalind understandably wanted to recreate her father's photo. Unfortunately, we ran into a problem. The fort is now owned by a local cheese company, meaning it is private property and the security guard wasn't having any of it! Despite a 5 minute long negotiation with Piotr...we simply were not allowed to enter. Instead we were told to contact the manager and apply to visit in a week's time (not good as Rosalind was only here for one day!).

Being as determined as ever, Piotr tried to gain access by going around the rear of the fort...but we were met with a wide moat...and simply had to give up!

Following Her Father's Footsteps Part 1

Today Toruń Daily Photo and Muzeum Historyczno-Wojskowe Toruń were contacted by Rosalind and John Ridout. Rosalind's father was Prvt. Leonard Green who was a POW at Stalag XX-A in Toruń and managed to escape to freedom via Gydnia and Sweden. Rosalind was in Toruń for one day only to retrace her father's footsteps. TORUŃ DAILY PHOTO joined her to record this historical moment. Over the next few days join us as we follow Rosalind's father's footsteps...and return to Stalag XX-A.

Following Leonard Green's Footsteps: Piotr Olecki (Muzeum Historyczno-Wojskowe), Leon Wosik who as a boy used to play with the British POWs at Stalag XX-A, Rosalind Ridout (daughter of Prvt. Leonard Green) and Glenn Standish (Toruń Daily Photo)

The book "Escape Route Green" which retells Leonard Green's amazing story

John Ridout (husband of Rosalind) in the centre

Rosalind walks in a pensive mood along the military ramp where over 70 years before - her father had first set foot on Polish soil (albeit in Nazi Germany)

Part 1: Following Escape Route Green

After a short visit at Muzeum Historyczno-Wojskowe we hopped in a car together with Piotr Olecki (the museum's founder) and drove off following the footsteps of Prvt. Leonard Green. Sitting next to me, his daughter Rosalind clutched her father's novel "Escape Route Green" and told me anecdotes about her father. Our first port of call was the military ramp, which would have been Leonard's first sight of Polish soil before being sent off to Stalag XX-A.

Following the Footsteps of Toruń's POWs: The POW Cemetry

Images courtesy of Robert Cooper

Our popular wartime series returns for a one-off with these images taken of Toruń's POW cemetry. They were sent in by Robert Cooper whose father-in-law was a POW in Toruń during WWII. Apparently, the remains of the POWs of the western allies were exhumed at some stage and returned to their own countries. However, the remains of Russian POWs are still buried here. The white gravestones are scattered around, not in lines like the war graves in France. There are no names on the gravestones and presumably they were not necessarily placed over the bodies. Robert described the place as having a strong sense of poignancy and great sadness.

Following the Footsteps of Toruń's POWs: The Commandant's Villa

The Commandant's Villa:

Our historical series 'Following the Footsteps of Toruń's POWs' comes to a close today with these photos. They show Villa Anna which was once The Commandant's home.

Following the Footsteps of Toruń's POWS: Inside Fort XIV (Stalag XX-A's Hospital)

All images courtesy of Robert Cooper

Inside Fort XIV (Stalag XX-A's Hospital):

Seriously ill prisoners were taken inside Fort XIV which acted as the hospital of Stalag XX-A. These images, taken a few weeks ago by Robert Cooper, show that there is still some evidence visible from WWII. Robert's father-in-law was a British POW at Stalag XX-A.

TORUŃ DAILY PHOTO thanks the Coopers for their kind permission in using their images.

Following the Footsteps of Toruń's POWs: Stalag XX-A Hospital

The main part of Fort XIV which was used as a hospital

Through the fence: a look at the former POW hospital

This small bunker lies at the entrance of Fort XIV

Original railings from Nazi times

Picturesque scenery at Fort XIV

Stalag XX-A Hospital:

Situated in beautiful grounds with its own private lake (well filled-in moat), you can find Fort XIV. Built between 1889 and 1893 as an infantry fort for the Prussian War, it was used by the Nazis as the POW hospital for Stalag XX-A.

Following the Footsteps of Toruń's POWs: Built by the Prisoners

The old railway station built by prisoners. The small holes in the walls

are evidence of where the scaffolding was once placed

The concrete slabs in the walls are examples of bomb protection as stations

were key strategic targets. There was a bomb shelter within the building.

Inside the old train station

The Water Tower

Built by the Prisoners:

For 12 hrs every day the POWs were forced to do hard labour. Both this former railway station and water tower were built by prisoners. The water tower is still fully operational.

Following the Footsteps of Toruń's POWs: Disembarkation

The military ramp

Toruń's main railway station

Today TORUŃ DAILY PHOTO begins a new series of photographs called "Following the Footsteps of Toruń's POWs". Over the next week we will follow the exact same route that the Prisoners of War took when they arrived in Toruń during WWII. Many thanks to Piotr Olecki from Toruń's Historical War Museum (www.muzeumhw.pl), who acted as our guide.

Disembarkation:

Just a few hundred metres further up the track from Toruń's main railway station you can find this long cobbled ramp. This was used by the Nazis to unload their trains and was the arrival point for all the POWs. There were French, British, Polish and many other allied prisoners of war. The first to arrive were from the Allied Campaign in Norway but later over 4,500 prisoners arrived from Dunkirk. At its peak there were as many as 20,000 prisioners held in the stalag camps around Toruń.

Today you can still find bullets and ammunition along this ramp.