Hello from Poland!
I’m in Zagan, which in World War II was called Sagan.
May Day
I left Berlin yesterday, where I spent 12 hours of May Day partying with this beautiful human…
I wonder if my grandfather could have imagined that I would be hanging out with my favourite German in Berlin on my way to Stalag Luft III.
I met lots of my friend’s friends, including one Syrian artist who told me that they have tortoises in Syria! I never knew that. He said nature has come back during the war there in parts. And spoke about Syria in a bigger-picture way, saying it will return to peace eventually as it has always done.
Zagan
Yesterday I took the train from Berlin to Cottbus, then Cottbus to Forst and Forst to Zagan. The two little Polish trains for the last two legs of the journey went through beautiful pine forest with the sun shining down on everything.
So here I am in Zagan.
When I arrived, I dumped my stuff and took a taxi to Stalag Luft III. I had booked some time with the museum director over the phone but wanted to check he’d got the message and to have a first glimpse of the place.
I looked at some of the personal items used by Prisoners of War…
Then I walked back through the quiet pine forest, passing rural houses and a horse tied to a tree, a father and son on a motorbike and sidecar riding off over the sand. And teenagers riding bikes along the path.
It was very peaceful.
Ich bin gefund
Did my grandfather Fred’s mother hear more after receiving news he had been taken prisoner of war?
16/07/40
Ich bin gefund leicht verwundet in deutfche kriegsgefangenfchaft geraten und befinde mich wohl.
Stalag VIII B, Germany.
This typed postcard was sent from inside the Army Prisoner of War camp VIII B Fred was initially placed in.
It explains that he, ‘has been found slightly wounded and is now in a Prisoner of War camp where he is comfortable.’
So as you see, despite being an airman, Fred’s first camp was VIII B in Lamsdorf, now Łambinowice here in Poland. (Spoiler: guess where I’m off to after Zagan.)
I am going to go to the train station shortly to make some reservations for trains over the next couple of days then back to the museum to be shown around.
Cheerio!