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: Messages from the Past

This message is clear and direct!

A poignant reminder of war and death

The prisoners clearly had faith in their Prime Minister

This sums up life in Stalag XX-A!

The patriotic Scots...complete with kilt!

Each message tells a story...and leaves many unanswered

questions. Who was Bernard Smith? What happened to the German

he knocked out? And did he actually get out on May 15th?

Video footage of the WWII messages

Messages from the Past:

In other rooms of Fort XI there are literally hundreds of messages written by POWs from Stalag XX-A. Most of them are in English and some even include references to notable figures like Winston Churchill and King George VI. Each message tells a story...a personal story from WWII.

Following the Footsteps of Toruń's POWs: Face to Face with History

Mugshots...mostly of fellow prisoners

a 1940s starlet

Faces from the past

A caricature of Popeye

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye)

No talking inside the washroom!

Face to Face with History:

Minding our step, we enter a pitch-black room. Piotr flashes his torch onto the walls. Suddenly we are surrounded by crudely drawn images. Topless women with old-fashioned hairdos appear next to what looks like charcoal drawn mugshots of shaved, hard-bitten men. Above two mugshots there is some English written: "The Two Bath Stewards".

Yes, we are currently standing in the former wash room of Stalag XX-A...and these images were all drawn by British POWs 70 years ago. The cool temperature has helped to preserve these historical forms of graffiti, but I fear with time they will soon fade away. We must try and do something to preserve this art for future generations...

Following the Footsteps of Toruń's POWs: Inside Fort XI (Stalag XX-A)

View looking into the fort from the main entrance. A large hole

in the ground (out of shot) blocked our direct route

View from one of the many rooms

Due to the hole in the ground we had no choice but

to go through a hole in the wall...

...which had clearly been made with some sledgehammer!

The poorly lit tunnels and corridors

Modern graffiti on the walls of one of the cells. Here the prisoners

would have slept in bunk beds stacked 3 beds high.

Our guide Piotr leads us deeper into the fort

Light at the end of the long, dark tunnel

Inside Fort XI (Stalag XX-A):

With nothing but a torch and the periodic flash from my camera we walked through the endless maze of tunnels inside Fort XI. Dark, cold and very eerie, you really get a sense of what it must have been like for the prisoners held inside. You have to be very careful where you walk. There is a lot of rubble and blocks of stone scattered on the floor - remnants of what looters have already chipped away. Empty beer cans and bottles lie around. The fort is currently in a very sorry state...this is no tourist attraction. Yet, the main incentive for our little adventure was lying just around the corner. We were about to come face to face literally with history...

Following the Footsteps of Toruń's POWs: Fort XI (Stalag XX-A)

Our guide Piotr Olecki (founder of Toruń's Historical War Museum) inspects

the gates that mark the entrance into the fort

The original gates

An eyesore: modern-day graffiti

The bridge leading up to the entrance of the fort.

Fort XI

Following the footsteps of hundreds of POWs

Faded titles above the entrance

This small reservoir was used by the British POWs as a swimming pool

Fort XI:

Fort XI was originally built between 1877 and 1881 by the Kingdom of Prussia as part of the defense chain around Toruń. During WWII Fort XI was used by the Nazis to house mainly British prisoners of war and was part of the Stalag XX-A camp. Also imprisoned within these walls were high-ranking French and Norwegian officers. Today the fort is in a state of disrepair and stands derelict. A great shame.

Tomorrow join us as we venture beyond the walls and deep into the fort...

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.

Tales from Poland's Dark Past

Piotr Olecki

Polish WWII uniforms

Piotr points out some original photos

The Collection of artefacts include these neatly folded pyjamas worn

by an English prisoner-of-war

Artefacts taken from Toruń's prisoner-of-war camps

Meet Piotr Olecki a German language teacher and the passionate founder of Toruń's Historical War Museum. Locked away and virtually hidden in a small basement in a local high school, one can find the musuem - only a very small percentage of what Piotr owns. As part of his hobby, Piotr has unearthed a fascinating collection of historical war items - many taken from the nearby WWII stalags (prisoner of war camps) that once circled Toruń.

Most Polish people understandably what to forget about the dark past that was WWII. However, there is still immense educational value to be learnt and what Piotr has achieved in his unique collection is invaluable. Often he ropes in help from his students to help maintain the museum...and as a result, they too become interested in history.

We toured the cabinets together and Piotr gave me a personalised account of each exhibit. There were winter snow boots, barbed wire fences, a home-made chess board created by a prisoner and even old cans of Brylcreem used by the English prisoners-of-war. The most shocking item was an old helmet covered in bullet holes. Holding it in his hands, Piotr explained to me that this was worn by a French partisan when he was shot by the Nazis. He pointed to the numerous bullet holes and then to a large gaping hole to the side of the helmet. That was where the Nazis plunged an axe into the skull. You could still make out the partisan's matted hair inside the helmet. A brutal and shocking reminder of the dark past.

The museum is open every day (by appointment only) and is well-worth a visit by anyone interested in Toruń during the Second World War. You can visit their website at: www.museumhw.pl .