Stalag XX-A

Stalag XX-A was a German World War II prisoner of war camp located in Thorn/Toruń, Poland. It was not a single camp and contained as many as 20,000 men at its peak. The main camp was located in a complex of fifteen forts that surrounded the whole of the city. The forts had been built at the end of the 19th century to defend the western border of Kingdom of Prussia.

Stalag XX-A
Torun, Poland
Stalag XX-A
Coordinates53.01°N 18.59°E / 53.01; 18.59
TypePrisoner-of-war camp
Site information
Controlled by Nazi Germany
Site history
In use1939–1945
Garrison information
OccupantsPolish, British, French and Soviet prisoners

History

In September 1939 some of the forts were used as POW camps for Polish prisoners, specifically those captured after the surrender of the Polish fort at Westerplatte at the mouth of the river Vistula and on the Hel Peninsula. In June 1940 additional forts were added to the camp to accommodate British soldiers. The first to arrive were 403 men from the Allied campaign in Norway. Later, about 4,500 arrived from Dunkirk and subsequently from the British 51st (Highland) Infantry Division captured at Saint-Valery-en-Caux. In 1941 and 1942 Soviet prisoners arrived. At the peak there were about 10,000 prisoners at the camp. However, many of them were located in sub-camps. The camp was liberated on 1 February 1945 by the Soviet Army.

Sub-camps

In accordance with the Third Geneva Convention, POWs below the rank of Sergeant were required to work and were attached to Arbeitskommando ("labour units"). They were hired out to military and civilian contractors. In the case of farm work, this was often carried out on state farms. Sergeants and above could not be forced to work and if they did so were sent to non-working camps. Some of these sub-camps were not the traditional POW camps with barbed wire and guard towers but merely accommodation centres. Some camps were large and created for a particular project.

  • Camp 34 - Construction of a large housing project for German colonists.
  • Elbing camp
  • Konitz camp

Historical Note:

British actor Sam Kydd was a prisoner in one of these camps throughout the War. During his internment, where he remained for the next five years, he took command of the camp's theatrical activities - devising and staging plays. He felt so strongly about his work there that, when he was offered repatriation after three years, he turned it down to continue with his theatrical work.

See also

References
  • "Stalag XXA POW Camp". The Wartime Memories Project.
  • "Stalag XXA". The Pegasus Archive.
  • "Prisoner of War Experiences". 51st Highland Division.
  • "Stalag 20A Thorn on the map". gps-practice-and-fun.com. Archived from the original on 2006-09-04.
  • Hanna Bukowska: Obóz jeniecki Stalag XXA w Toruniu 1939-1945. Rocznik Toruński 40 (2013).

Further reading
  • Kydd, Sam (1974). For You The War Is Over. London: Futura. ISBN 0-85974-005-6
  • Morrison, Charles (1989). We've Been A Long Time Coming Boys. Haddington: Albyn Press. ISBN 0-284-98840-5
  • Longden, Sean (2005). Hitler's British Slaves. London: Constable. ISBN 978-1-84529-519-6.
  • Mansel, John. "The Mansel Diaries" (1977). Privately printed. ISBN 0950391115
  • Foster, Steve & Clark, Alan (2018) "The Soldier who came back" ISBN 9781912624010


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