Muzeum Historyczno-Wojskowe

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27.4.2012 - Fort XI – inscriptions on walls in the penal bunker

Thanks to the great engagement of Samanta Szypielewicz (our Museum’s student volunteer) and her father Roman, we have managed to complete the process of recording the inscriptions left on the walls of the so-called penal bunker in Fort XI in Torun by British, Polish and French POWs kept there for breaking camp rules.

 

This issue became a priority as the fort is a state of disrepair and the condition of the inscriptions, unique as silent witnesses of the life of POWs in Stalag XXA/XXC in Torun, are deteriorating rapidly.

 

Prisoners would create their drawings with pencils, sharp tools or coal on thin layers of plaster on the walls. Unfortunately, large pieces of the plaster have already fallen off the walls. Mr Roman Szypielewicz had to purchase a special filter for his camera to take pictures underground.

 

We will not stop at this point, though. We have been looking for photographs of the inscriptions taken by one of our volunteers, Mr Bohdan Horbaczewski back in the 1970s. This would make it possible to reconstruct almost the entire ‘wall correspondence’ left by the prisoners of war.

 

 

See more here.



19.4.2011 - Member of the Polish Parliament, Zbigniew Girzyński, Ph.D. visits our Museum

On 16 April 2012 we were honored by the presence of Zbigniew Girzynski, Ph.D. - Member of Parliament of the Republic of Poland - in our Museum. He was shown our collection of exhibits and informed about the Foundation's plans for the near future and its everyday problems.

 

Our guest is quite familiar with the subject of our interests. He is a Nicolas Copernicus University graduate (MA thesis - 'Fate of clergy in Chelminska diocese in the years 1939-1945' written under the direction of Prof.Dr hab. Jan Sziling, consultant at the Museum). By the decision of the Council of the Faculty of History of Nicolas Copernicus University he was awarded the postgraduate degree - doctorate of philosophy. The title of his dissertation was 'Polish - French Relationships in the years 1945 - 1950'. He also worked as an associate professor at the Institute of History and Archival Science UNC.

 



19.4.2012 - Aleksander Stpiczyński pseudonym 'Wilski', 'Klara'

Following our campaign of remembering the Dark and Silent times from Kujawy and Pommerania we are presenting the profile of Aleksander Spiczynski, pseudonym 'Wilski', 'Klara', a major of the Polish Army, cavalry, born on 7 April 1898 in Wloclawek. His life could easily be turned into a screenplay of a thriller.

 

He escapes to France after the 1939 Polish September Campaign. In May 1940 he is sent from Paris to Warsaw as an emissary of the Lieutenant - General Wladyslaw Sikorski, Supreme Commander. The route leads through Italy and Yugoslavia to Budapest and then through Slovakia to Poland. Here he became a member of group '666', which was created to organize safe and quick transfers of couriers and emissaries of Polish resistance Home Army headquarters out of the area occupied by the Nazi. In December 1942 Aleksander Spiczynski leaves for London as an emissary to the Supreme Commander of the Home Army. This time he travels through Vienna, Munich, Strasburg, Paris and then over the Pyrenees to Spain, only to reach Gibraltar. 'Wilski' travels to Paris as a Nazi colonel baron Arnold von Luckner. At this stage he has an incredible adventure which is likely to result in a catastrophe. It turns out on the French-German border that no one has a valid border pass. Such a pass can be obtained in Strasburg at the headquarters of the alsacien military district. The Commander of the district is Field Marshal Wilhelm List, who commanded the 14th German Army in the 1939 September Campaign in Poland. While waiting for the pass, Aleksander Spiczynski, as Colonel von Luckner, is invited by the Field Marshal to discuss the situation on the east front and then driven to the station. List was probably intrigued by 'Wilski's' documents which proved he was an aristocrat and a baron. Unfortunately, while crossing the French-Spanish border he gets arrested by the Germans. 

 

Next, he finds himself in a transitory camp in Compiegne but luckily manages to escape while being transferred to a concentration camp in Germany. What is more, he breaks his leg and is placed in a prison hospital ward in Metz which he manages to flee from. Finally, he arrives in Paris and is evacuated to England. On 24th January 1944 he is honored by General Kazimierz Sosnowski with Poland’s highest military decoration – the War Order of Virtuti Militari and is promoted to the rank of Major. He participates in a parachute course in order to be ready for a dump in Poland, which happens for him on the night of 21st/22nd September 1944. He fights with the 2nd Division of the Home Army in Kieleckie region. On 23rd December 1945 he is arrested by the Gestapo in Cracow as Janusz Zalewski, most likely as a result of betrayal. After the beginning of the Soviet Vistula – Oder Offensive on 12th January 1945 the prisoners are evacuated from Cracow to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp first, and later to Dora and Mauthausen camps, eventually liberated by the American army. Stpiczynski stays in England for a short period of time and then moves to Ecuador for 25 years. He and his family come back to Poland in 1974. He dies on 21 September 1987 in Warsaw.

 

Aleksander Stpiczyński was an extraordinary man who would never give up no matter how difficult his situation was. He always believed that fighting was not pointless and he was able to find a way out of every situation.



5.4.2012 - Ponar's Nephew in our Museum

 

n our article about Ponar, lieutenant colonel Antoni Iglewski, a Dark and Silent from Radziejow Kujawski, we mentioned that we had been in touch with the legendary soldier's family. We visited them in Radziejow and now they came to visit us in Torun. Mr Szymon Szynkowski (Ponar's nephew) with his wife were our guests. The meeting was attended by students from Highschool no. 1. The Szynkowscy couple revealed to the students the incredibly twisted life story of Iglewski. We had a long conversation about Home Army soldiers and the Dark and Silent over a cup of good coffee and tea.

 

It was a working visit during which memorabilia concerning Ponar were presented to the members of the Foundation. We also prepared a schedule of our cooperation. Thanks to Mr Szynkowski we got access to a great number of documents, photographs (which were immediately scanned) and medals of distinctions which were photographed.

 



3.12.2011 – New Exhibits: Railman’s Day - Toruń -26.11.1937

Our Museum has added to its rich collection another very interesting exhibit. It’s a detailed GUIDE FOR BRANCHES OF KPW, in other words a celebration plan of the Railman’s Day in Toruń on 26. 11. 1937. The Donor is the grandfather of our student Mr. Włodzimierz Skarbek, whose involvement in the work of the Museum we have already mentioned on the occasion of the discussions with corpolar Edmung Semrau from 1 General Maczek Armoured Division.

 

The organizer of The event in 1937 was organized by the Military Rail Organization– The Board of The Pomeranian province. The plan contains information about places of assembly, various events, holy mass, canteens, etc. All these points are marked on the map of Toruń in scale 1: 10 000. This is another document concerning the Military Rail organization in Toruń.



30.11.2011 - Sergeant Bolesław Dybowski

Our museum has immediately joined the search for the fate of Sergeant Bolesław Dybowski. We directed Ms. Małgorzata Dybowska-Adamkiewicz to the Central Military Archives, but it is closed until further notice.

 

After several days, we managed to hit the trail of St. Sergeant Dybowski ... in the documents which we have about the Polish Uprising Army (PUP) - a large underground organization operating in the former district VIII of the Corps.

 

The PUP Staff was situated in Toruń and here was the largest grouping of that organization. The staff consisted of professional non-commissioned officers of the Polish Army. PUP’s aim was, among others, to prepare an uprising, take control over the west German resistance points and create a democratic Polish government. This was to be achieved with a huge help of parachute landing troops from the I and II Corps of the Polish Army. This underground organization, possibly as the only one in the occupied Poland issued its soldiers membership certificates. The nature of conspiracy in Pomerania was completely different from the one in the area of General Government. Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Gdynia, Gdańsk were under strict control of Gestapo. This state of affairs stemmed not only from the fact that this area had been incorporated into the German Reich, but from the structure of the local society, whose members in vast majority accepted the status of groups II and III on the German Nationality List. One of the aftermaths was recruitment to the German Army. Therefore, the Polish Uprising Army had to function and fight in this reality. The members of PUP who were taken to the Wehrrmacht were also given PUP membership certificates, in the event of desertion or getting into allied captivity.

 

The Gestapo looked through this organization almost completely, a lot of its members were arrested and killed but we will write about it in detail in our new subsection: The Polish Uprising Army.

 

Coming back to Sergeant Bolesław Dybowski and his conspiracy life, he was a soldier of the III Battalion of the Polish Uprising Army, operating within Chełmińskie district. Its commanding officer was a non-commissioned officer of the Border Security, Stefan Letkiewicz alias ‘Lech’. But for his recruitment to Wehrmacht in 1943, Sergeant Dybowski would have undoubtedly been promoted to the rank of ensign and he would have directed the company during the fights in case of uprising. We should suppose that the fact of his appointment to Wehrrmacht saved his life, because at the end of 1943, there was a big tide of arrests of PUP members in Toruń. He had great luck because PUP conspirators from the German Army were also arrested on Gestapo request. Their fate was even more cruel, because they were prosecuted by Special Military Courts.



30.11.2011 - Greetings from New York

Our museum has been in constant contact with Mrs. Walentyna Janta, who worked in General Władysław Sikorski’s office in London during the war. Currently, Mrs. Janta lives in New York and she is very interested in the activities of our foundation as well as in all current Polish affairs. On her behalf we pass heartily wishes to all veterans of the Polish Armed Forces in the West and Home Army veterans, in particular good health, serenity and consistency in the pursuit of their goals.

 

"... Joining you whole-heartedly, I am very glad that the concept GOD - HONOR - COUNTRY, which was so vital to my boss, General Sikorski, is important to you and present in modern Poland, the homeland which we once fought together for. I am sending cordial greetings and wish you success. I'm with you !..."

 

Walentyna Janta - during World War II she worked at the Polish Embassy in London in Prime Minister General Władysław Sikorski’s Secretariat. She was his personal secretary and a trusted employee of the office. After the war she moved to the USA, where she has lived up to this day (in New York).

 



29.11.2011 – The 11 of November in the Primary School in Przysiek

On the 10th of November 2011 our Museum inspired celebrations of the Independence Day in a primary school near Toruń (Przysiek). Apart from an exhibition consisting of some of the museum’s memorabilia we presented to the children some pre-war poems from a 1938 edition of Płomyk magazine which were connected to the topic of this national holiday. The students of grade 6 recited them in a way interesting for their mates. The class and some teachers accompanied by the guitar sang some old Legions songs. At the end the students had the opportunity to take some pictures in military outfits on the background of the national flag and the Marshal’s bust...




27.11.2011 – They write about us

A Polish magazine for fans of history and mysteries, called ‘Inne oblicza historii’ (‘Other Faces of History’) have published an article about our Museum in the latest issue. Some interesting photos from our September re-enactment in the NewTown Square in Toruń were also added.

 

Read about it:



If the text is illegible, click HERE and switch to the enlargement.

 



20.11.2011 - Kuźma Gawrilenko, prisoner of war

Thanks to the help of Ms Zilia Tomaszewska from Grudziądz and our Russian partner organization POISKPEOPLE.RU, we have come across the fate of another Soviet soldier – a prisoner of war from Stalag XXC (312) in Toruń. He died of dysentery and he was buried in a cemetery in Glinki. His grandson wants to come to Torun to see his grandfather’s grave…

 

See an article containing information on the prisoner of war and his grandson.

 



19.11.2011 - Stefan Dorożalski

 

Today we present some fragments of a gripping life story of one of the dwellers of Podgórz a district of Torun, Stefan Dorożalski. The fate of private Dorożalski proves that the story portrayed in the Hollywood movie “Saving Private Ryan” had already taken place many years earlier, and actually on the First World War front. Dorożalski’s brothers were characters of the story.

 

See an article connected with Stefan Dorożalski.

 



14.11.2011 - A small bathtub and a bench from the French sub-camp Stalag XXA Torun

 

Mr Leon Wosik has given two interesting exhibits to our Museum. They come from sub-camp XXA, in which French prisoners of war were kept. It is an original bench from the camp canteen and a small bathtub from the soldier’s bathroom, where the French prisoners of war used to wash themselves or their uniforms.

 

In 1945 Mr Wosik took the items left by a French prisoner of war away from one of the camps.

 

See an article with exhibits given to our Museum by Mr Leon Wosik.

 



10.11.2011 - 1 Armored Division General Maczek and Edmund Semrau

 

On November 3rd 2011 our Museum had the honor of hosting one of the last soldiers of the legendary General Maczek – Mr Edmund Semrau from Torun. We found him thanks to one of the students from our school and his brave grandfather – Mr Skarbek, whom we will devote a separate article to.

 

Thus, we are opening a new chapter on our site devoted called 1 Armoured Division General Maczek.

 

Article on Mr Edmund Semrau – soldier of 1 Armored Division General Maczek.

 



10.11.2011 - Bolesław Zagrabski

 

Przemyslaw Werner approached our Museum with the request to help him find out what happened to his uncle Boleslaw Zagrabski, soldier of 63 Infantry Regiment in Torun. He has remained missing since September 1939. We are publishing the letter with more details and a photo of Private Zagrabski. We will be grateful for any information on this subject to make it possible to find the missing soldier of September.

 

Article about Private Zagrabski with the letter from Mr Przemysław Werner.

 



10.11.2011 - Doctor Hinz

 

Thanks to the courtesy of Ms Hortensja Weber we can publish today a photo of Mr Bernard Hinz, a brave doctor from Podgórz, which was taken during the war. We have learned from two people about how much he used to help others during the war. He helped to release Bernardeta Lamparska’s mother from a Gerrman prison. He also saved the life of Hortensja Weber’s father after he had returned from Siberia. We assume it is not possible to appreciate all his service. Our research proves he was an extremely interesting man.

 

Article connected with Ms Hortensja Weber with information about Doctor Hinz.

 



5.11.2011 - Czesław Zieliński

 

We are currently publishing extracts form an interview with Mr Czesłąw Zieliński, who as an apprentice used to work manufacturing undercarriages for Focke-Wulf planes in a plant in Torun. His story reveals some details of daily life of a typical working class family during the Second World War. It also expands our knowledge about Torun firms and prisoners of war from Stalag XXA/XXC.

 

The full recording will be published soon.

 

See the story of Mr Czesław Zieliński and his family.

 



30.10.2011 – Exploring Torun’s Fortresses

 

The Local Tourist Organization organized a trip to some of Torun’s Fortresses. A group of people led by Paweł Bukowski included in their itinerary a visit to our Museum. They were offered a very warm welcome. We showed our exhibition to the numerous history lovers from Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province. They were also lectured on the history of Torun’s fortresses at the time of the Second World War. Photos from the visit are atttached below.

 

See all the photo from the visit of Pawel Bukowski’s group.

 



3.8.2011 - Waldemar Szwiec – second plaque

In the High School no 1 auditorium we found the name of the Dark and Silent Waldemar Szwiec, pseudonym Robot, on the plaque commemorating the graduates who lost their lives during the Second World War. The plaque was founded by the school’s graduates in 1968. This is the second plaque in our school which commemorates this brave soldier and partisan...

 

 

Photos taken by: Łukasz Balcerzak



3.8.2011 – Pomerania Griffon

Paweł Nowakowski, our Foundation activist, donated to the Museum very interesting documents of Secret Military Organization ‘Gryf Pomorski’ (Pomerania Griffon). among others, there are some coded reports, leaflets, form of oath, the book of codes.

 



3.8.2011 – Exhibits: Announcement about execution

The Museum’s collection of exhibits have been enriched by an authentic German announcement from Warsaw about the execution of 100 Poles on 3 December 1943. 

 

 

On 20th September 2010 in the school yard we presented the reconstruction of the assassination of Franz Kutschera.



3.8.2011 – The Warsaw Uprising

1st August is a very special date for us. Members of our Foundation have prepared a reconstruction of those dramatic days to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the Uprising. We gave our performance on the streets of Toruń. Moreover, the Uprising Newspaper and leaflets about our Museum were distributed among the audience. A great number of articles appeared in newspapers about our undertaking. All the materials are published in the ‘Nasza działalność’ section (Our activities) as ‘Powstanie Warszawskie’ (The Warsaw Uprising).

 

Enjoy the reading!



30.7.2011 – Preparations to the celebrations of the Warsaw Uprising Anniversary

We have been working on the celebrations of the Warsaw Uprising anniversary. Today, we are presenting and article from Nowości and Uprising Newspaper, which will be distributed on 1 August 2011 on the 67 anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising.

 



28.7.2011 – Toruń celebrations of the 67 anniversary of the of the Warsaw Uprising outbreak

Our Museum has been preparing for the celebrations to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising. Our students dressed in historical costumes will be seen in the streets of Toruń on 1 August 2011. They will be distributing information leaflets especially printed for this occasion in a way resembling the ones published during the occupation. At 3:30 pm we will meet veterans from the Home Army and at 5 pm, at the ‘W’ hour, we will mount guard at the monument to the Home Army soldiers. Our friend will read the form of the oath of the Home Army…

 



23.7.2011 - Jennifer Baker

We are presenting another story of an English prisoner of war who was kept in Toruń in Stalag 20A during the Second World War. The note was written by his daughter Jennifer Watts, who visited our museum in 2010. The text was translated into Polish by Aleksandra Kowalska

 

In memory of Perce Harold Baker



23.7.2011 - A small holy medallion of a French prisoner of war

 The Museum has gained a new item connected to the prisoner of war camp Stalag 20. After our program in Radio PIK we were approached by Ms Barbara Sudomierska from Solec Kujawski. She donated a small medallion with the likeness of St. Bernadette. 

 

Shortly after the end of WW II, the medallion was found by, Barbara’s grandfather, Władysław Turalski, born in 1900 in Toruń (Toruń Podgórze of Toruń Mokre?). After the war he moved to Przyłubie. He worked at the railway and in the forest. He came across the medallion when he was doing some work in the forest between Cierpice and Przyłubie. As he claimed it must have belonged to one of the French prisoners of war who were accommodated in the area in a sub-camp Stalag 20A, and the prisoners were made to work planting and cutting down trees. 
 
In the photos you can see Mr Władysław Turalski at that time and both sides of the medallion which might have been given to the French soldier by his mother or wife before he set off on war….
 
We have also been collecting information on the labor camps Stalag 20A/20C near Toruń and Bydgoszcz. 
 


20.7.2011 - A thank you note from Russia

We have just received a thank you note from Moscow from little Paweł Kartuzow’s father. Recently the boy visited Toruń with his mother and aunt to put flowers on the grave of his grandfather, who had died in Stalag 20C. (Paweł’s father works for the biggest press agency in Russia ‘itar-tass’). The note reads as follows:

 

 „Спасибо, что моих близких встретили, низкий поклон Вам и за музей и за детей, которых Вы воспитывайте.Я папа Павлика, он о Вас много рассказывал. Я работаю тоже учителем только для взрослых. www.uc.itar-tass.com
Дай бог Вам счастья!”
 
Translation:
 
‘Thank you for the warm welcome my family received from you. I hold you in deep respect for your work at the museum and with the children you bring up. I am the father of Pawełek (Kartuzow) and he has told me a lot about you. I am also a teacher but I teach adults: www.uc.itar-tass.com
God bless you!’
 


1.7.2011 - Memories of prisoner from Torgau – branch of Concentration Camp in Buchenwald

On 29th June 2011 we met Ms Kazimiera Fogel-Gołębiowska for the second time to gather information about her life during the Second World War. Before the war, Kara used to live in Włocławek. She was a member of the local scouting troop. In January 1940 she entered an illegal underground organization called Kujawski Political-Literary Association ZEW. She would distribute the paper published by ZEW. On 7th March 1941 she was arrested by the Gestapo (German Nazi secret police) in Włocławek. Then she was moved to the so called Transitional Camp in Inowrocław where she stayed till December 1941. After that, she was placed first in the Gestapo HQ in Poznań, and then in prison in Leipzig, where she awaited her trial. It took place in Dresden on 16 October 1942. She was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and sent to Torgau, a branch of Concentration Camp in Buchenwald, where she worked in an ammunition factory till April 1945.

 

A detailed study on this brave Pole will soon be published on our website. Ms Fogel-Gołębiowska was imprisoned for 4 years and never did she break down during interrogations. In camps, often putting her own life into danger, she would help other imprisoned women offering them comfort and writing patriotic songs. Asked at the end of our interview whether she would do it again and suffer for Poland, without hesitation she said: YES!



1.7.2011 - In serach of Russian soldiers’ graves

On 28th June 2011 we met Ms Zilia Tomaszewska from Grudziądz, who has been looking for graves of Russian soldiers in Poland for years. Ms Tomaszewska comes from Magnitogors and has been living in Poland for almost 20 years. So far she has accomplished a lot in her humanitarian activities. Thanks to her, a great number of families have learned about what happened to their relatives during World War 2. She became interested in our research into STALAG 20C in Toruń. Among our exhibits there are two soldier mess kits on which their owners – Russian prisoners of war from the camp in Glinki – had carved their names. Ms Zilia Tomaszewska might be able to find their families in Russia…



1.7.2011 - Panoptikon

Photographs taken during the filming of ‘Panoptikon’ to be seen here.



27.06.2011 - Stalag 20A i 20C

Our friend Adam Blakiewicz from Toruń donated to the Museum a large number of documents concerning Stalag 20A/Stalag 20C. Adam has been involved in research into the history of prisoners of war in Toruń for over 10 years. He has spoken among others to former prisoners of war still living in Germany, who would come to Toruń in search of mass graves of German soldiers who lost their lives in the camp because of injuries and diseases after 1945. From 1945 to 1947 it was a camp run by the Soviet People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs. One of the former prisoners donated his diary written during the imprisonment in Glinki.

 

A list of prisoners of war in Stalag 20A according to nationalities


Aerial photographs of Stalag 20C in Glinki and of prisoners of war cemetery taken by British pilots in 1944.



22.6.2011 - Panoptikon

On 20th June 2011 the filming of ‘Panoptikon’ has begun in cooperation with director Marcin Gładych. The film tells the history of Toruń and its region from the perspective of Toruń’s detention center, the so called ‘Beczka’ (Barell) and people kept there since 1901, that is since the Philomaths’ trial, through gaining independence in 1920, the Nazi occupation, liberation of Toruń by the Russians and the Polish Army and finally the year 1989. The filming will be continued for the whole year. Our Historical-Military Museum is providing consultation on historical issues, uniforms and actors recruited from HighSchool no 1. We also enclose some photos from the set and an interview conducted by Radio PIK reporter.

 

Recording from Radio PIK

Article from www.cowtoruniu.pl



21.6.2011 - Grade 3C

On 20 June 2011 our Museum hosted students from grade 3C form Junior High School no. 8 in Toruń. The students participated in a short lesson on the recent history of Toruń. They had a unique opportunity to experience history and at the end of the meeting they took some photographs dressed in insurgent uniforms. Ms Aleksandra Kowalska, the teacher who brought her students to the Museum, and us have prepared a plan of cooperation between HMM and Junior High School no. 8 in Toruń.




20.6.2011 - Cooperation with Border Guard

On 19 June our Museum was visited by Colonel Krzysztof Gawęda from Border Guards Headquarters. We presented to our guest our activities and plans for the future. In return Colonel Gawęda showed us the recently created Virtual Museum of Border Guard. Our cooperation will include exchange of historical information and research into the lives of former soldiers of Border Guard and Corpus of Border Guards. Teenagers will be taken to border Watchtowers and learn about this fascinating but hard service. We wish the defenders of our borders success and ‘peaceful watch’!!!

 



20.6.2011 - Dynamite A.G. Bromberg

On 11 May 2011 together with Historical Reconstruction Association NORDLAND from Bydgoszcz two members of our Foundation, Natalia Abramek and Ewa Grzankowska, acted in a film as lab assistants in a German factory of explosives Dynamite A.G. run by the Germans in Bydgoszcz during the Second World War. The film was showed at the opening of EXPLOSEUM, a museum created at the site of the former DAG Fabrik Bromberg.


Photo gallery on NORDLAND website

EXPLOSEUM - film on youtube



14.6.2011 – Reporters

On 13 June 2011 r. our Museum was visited by reporters from local newspaper ‘Nowości’. They were particularly interested in our detailed research regarding the life of Ensign Waldemar Szwiec, pseudonym ‘Robot’, member of The Dark and Silent unit. He was an inhabitant of Toruń and High School no 1 graduate. .

 

‘Nowości’ will be reporting on our findings and help gather information on one of the most daring soldier of Home Army.




14.6.2011 - Visitors from Moscow and Rosalind and John Ridout from London

From 9-10 June our Museum hosted Marina and Olga Kartuzowa with her son Paweł from Moscow. Only a year ago did they learn from the Internet about what had happened to their father’s brother during the war. Data concerning Russian prisoners of war  during the Second World War was published by the Germans. Marina and Olga read on the Russian web pages about Historical-Military Museum in Torun and decided to come and pray at their uncles’ grave. I took them almost a year to obtain a visa and it was difficult to take a leave from work. They took advantage of a public holiday in Russia and dropped in for three days. The only document they had was a copy of a German record card. Their destination was High school in Toruń where the Museum is located. 

 

On 11 June 2011 our Museum was visited by Rosalind and John Ridout from London. Rosalind’s father was a British soldier. He was captured by the Germans at Dunkirk in 1940. Then he was placed at Stalag 22A in Toruń. He stayed in Fort 17 (opposite the Railway Station Central in Toruń). Leonard Green was Jewish but he managed to conceal the fact from the Germans. He worked as a translator in the camp but one day he escaped and made it back to England



11.6.2011 - A documentary from patriotic chuch service

On 18 May 2011 Historical-Military Museum Foundation located in Toruń organized a patriotic holy mass to commemorate the anniversary of capturing the monastery on Monte Cassino by Second Polish Corps.

 

After a very emotional and moving homily, there followed the handing over of the banner according to military ceremonial. After the ceremony the participants were received at the school canteen and served coffee, tea and …. pancakes made specially for this occasion. We listened to ‘Red Poppies at Monte Cassino’ from an antique gramophone and accompanied by guitar we all sang old soldier’s songs. Our guest veterans shared their war experience with the students and soldiers showing them their collections of photographs. 

 

Today we want to present a short Patryk Kotlarz documentary featuring the ceremony of handing over the banner to our Museum. Thank you for your help!!! 

 



9.6.2011 - Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper and Jazz Band

Our Museum was mentioned in an article (see the picture on the right) published in Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper.

 

On 6 Jan 2011 a school Jazz Band from Gottingen, Germany visited our Museum.

The group of fantastic young musicians came to Torun as part of an exchange program with our twin city. Having visited the Museum the Jazz Band gave a splendid concert in the school auditorium. Their performance was rewarded with thunderstorm applause.



8.6.2011 - Open house Day in the Museum and classes for teenagers

On 5 June 2011, the Day of Most Pauliński Street in Toruń, the museum was opened to the public. Visitors were welcomed at a genuine sentry box. A large-size photograph of Toruń at the time of occupation was displayed in Strumykowa street. The museum was visited by about 200 people. They all praised our idea of preserving and  popularizing the history of Toruń. 

 

Historical-Military Museum Foundation organizes shooting practice for students of High School no 1, which is an interesting supplement to the program of Defense Training course. 



4.6.2011 - Łukasz reports

The first report from our ‘war correspondent’ Łukasz has been submitted. We received a few photos form Wąsosz. Next week a detailed report from his visit to the Świętokrzyskie mountains will be published. This is what he says:

 

1. This photo shows a monument in Wąsosz.
2. A Surprise Photo (I was lucky).
3. A nostalgic - me - photo.
4. Information board in the village of Wąsosz (the railway station is closed and it makes it easier to get around the neighbourhood).
5. 5. Close-up of the board on the monument.

 



2.6.2011 - Glenn and Ania Standish

Glenn and Ania Standish have joined our team and are responsible for promoting our Museum abroad (mainly in Great Britain and the USA) and translating our webpage into English. Thank you ever so much for your help!



2.6.2011 - Wykus 2011

Łukasz D., our ‘war reporter’ is setting out on a journey to the Świętokrzyskie mountains on 3 dJune 2011. He is going to carry out research into the activities of ‘Ponury’ Group and also Ensign CC Waldemar Szwiec, pseudonym Robot. Łukasz will visit Wąsosz Konecki and see the place, where partisans launched an assault on a German train. The main goal of the expedition is to meet partisans on ‘Wykus’.

 

We wish Łukasz the best of luck and look forward to hearing from him soon. His report will immediately be published here on our website.



31.5.2011 - National Association of Polish Armed Forces in the West

Today there is a presentation of veteran organizations which operate in Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province. Today we present  the Polish Armed Forces in the West Veterans Association – Grudziądz branch. Subsequently, we will be presenting the war experience of our colleagues from Grudziądz.

 

Ms Daniela Listewnik donated to the Museum her late husband’s soldier uniform. Mr Listewnik was the founder of Grudziądz branch of the Association.



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