WARTIME GUIDES

 It's amazing, but there's much truth in the saying that "time flies." The preparations for this journey took nearly a year. Visiting the designated points took just a few hours. Paradoxically, the years of captivity in the Stalag XXA prisoner-of-war camp can be summarized in just one day. Thanks to the collected materials, three brothers had the opportunity to explore the city and see the places where their father was held. Not all of them, because the preserved book of memories contains many more villages and towns where their loved one worked. It is also gratifying that the route of the Long March was described very precisely, allowing us once again to enrich ourselves with invaluable sources of knowledge from witnesses to the sad days of captivity in Stalag XXA camp in Toruń and its surroundings.

That were wonderful hours in Torun.  Again old documents helped us to provide retracing warpaths of Arthur form Wiltshire Regiment, 2nd Battalion who was captured and moved to Stalag XXA in Torun. Arthur spent whole war in camp in Torun but in docs were also information about staying in working commando 172. This time the most helpful were medical documentation thanks which we could see all places connected to his story. Unfortunatley this story has not happy end. In 1945 during evacuation of POW from Stalag XXA in Torun, Arthur died after 4 days of marching.  Its hard to write about what was the casue, nevertheless he was buried now in Poznan where his family reach too. We are happy that we could help another Stalag XXA family members which deepen their relative's war story. It is working in both ways because each trip make us enrich and by colleting priceless little pieces of stories we have bigger picture of  reality in POW camp.

May and her husband Peter crossed the borders of Toruń, ready to discover places connected to their family history. Their journey had a special purpose - to uncover traces left by World War II in their family's story. Their relative was one of many soldiers from the Seaforth Highlanders who, as prisoners of Stalag XXA in Toruń, had to endure the horrors of those times. Thanks to preserving fragments of memories and family stories, Piotr and his wife had the opportunity to delve into the history of their loved one. Acquiring several basic facts was an important step for them in understanding what he went through during his stay in the German prisoner of war camp Stalag XXA. The visit to Toruń was not only a journey into their family's past, but also an exploration of the history of Stalag XXA itself. By visiting preserved places associated with the camp's history and its prisoners, Piotr and his wife could feel the closeness of those events and understand how much they chang

  Another visit during which we learned more about the daily life in the camp, as well as the desire of relatives who visit us to explore the wartime paths of their ancestors. Andrew, along with his friend, decided to come to Toruń for a few hours to learn about the history of the camp and to visit the places where Andrew's father had been. Despite the short visit, well-preserved documentation and compiled memories allowed us to meet these expectations and show everything that was possible to see in such a short time. We truly admire this determination and eagerness to uncover family histories shown by our guests.

Garry, the grandson of a British prisoner of war, was seeking information about his grandfather's wartime history, about which he never had the chance to inquire further. He shared many interesting anecdotes and brought to light the story of his relative, who stood out with exceptional drawing talent. And here, a magnificent thread began, as during the museum tour, Garry stumbled upon sketches by his grandfather, which a family of one of the prisoners had handed over to us over 14 years ago. Fortunately, we were able to exchange information and enrich our knowledge that the prisoner whose family had previously visited Toruń was a close friend during Garry's grandfather's time as a POW. How many more such stories await discovery? Camp visits surpass any series or movie, and on top of that, they are real...

  Another visit that enriched our knowledge about Stalag. Each time we learn new facts and curiosities that surely aren't found in books. This time, together with friends from the Toruń Museum, we arranged a visit for the family of a former British prisoner of war. He served in the Queen’s Royal Regiment. Thomas Chappell arrived with his regiment in France in 1940 as part of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force). In May of that year, he fell into German captivity, and he spent the rest of the war in Toruń in Stalag XXA. Everything indicates that he was held in Fort XIII and the surrounding barracks. His family has just begun the search for documents, so the continuation will follow. Thomas, upon his return to Great Britain, remained silent about his time in Stalag, which is why our "POW Museum" will do its utmost to assist the family in finding information about him.