Lights! Camera! Action!

A small low-budget film company is currently shooting an historical war film here in Toruń. A couple of weeks ago TORUŃ DAILY PHOTO stumbled upon the set.

WWII Reconstruction

Image courtesy of Toruń's Historical War Museum

Yesterday, Toruń's Military War Museum organised a large and incredibly realistic WWII reconstruction in the New Square of Toruń. Sadly, being in the middle of a working week prevented TDP from attending. However, here is a newspaper article courtesy of Toruń's Historical War Museum (http://muzeumhw.pl/1/1356/1359/Fundacja-MHW-M%C3%B3wi%C4%85-o-nas-(skany-z-gazet)).

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: 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.

The Monte Cassino Mass

All images courtesy of Joanna Jeziorowska

3 days ago on 18th May 2011, Toruń's Historical War Museum (http://www.muzeumhw.pl/) organised a patriotic holy mass to mark the 67th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Monte Cassino. Piotr Olecki the founder of the museum gave his reasons for organising the poignant event. "We noticed that every year more and more citizens have begun to forget about the many important events from Polish history", he remarked.

Veterans from the battle together with representatives from the World Association of Home Army and Toruń's Deputy Commander Garrison descended on the military church for a special mass. It was followed by an informal meeting at nearby school number 11. There soldiers sang old songs, veterans shared their war memories with high school students and an old gramophone played the tune "The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino" - one of the best known Polish military songs of World War II.

It was on 18th May 1944 that the Polish II Corps took Hill 593, a strategic defense point during the infamous Battle of Monte Cassino. The Poles had unusual help in the form of an Iranian bear called Wojtek. Raised by the Polish soldiers he helped to carry artillery shells during the battle.

Here is a link to a Youtube slideshow of some images from Monte Cassino:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxCZ7MFrou8&feature=player_detailpage

Many thanks to Piotr Olecki for organising this memorable event and for the photographs that he kindly sent in to TORUŃ DAILY PHOTO. The images were taken by Joanna Jeziorowska, a high school student.

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 .

National Mourning: Remembering Katyn

A sombre scene in the old market square of Toruń: pictures are on display of some of the 20,000 Polish soldiers murdered by the Russians during WWII at Katyn. The exhibition marks the 70th anniversary of the masacre and was originally situated in the court yard of the Town Hall. However, due to Saturday's devastating tragedy in Smolensk the exhibition was moved to a more central location in the square.

Ironically, the Presidential plane which crashed in Smolensk was on it's way to a memorial service to mark Katyn.

Katyn will now go down in Polish history as a terrible double tragedy for the nation.