Stalag Luft III illuminated
Museum Director Marek shows me around what remains
Hello from the train to Opole!
Yesterday I met Museum Director Marek for a private tour of the Stalag Luft III site, which cost just under £20. Incredible for Marek’s enthusiasm, generosity of time, and knowledge.
He showed me around the museum, before taking me to the part of the Stalag Luft III site where the British Prisoners of War would have been housed, now reclaimed by pine trees.
It was the spot Fred would have been for around a year or so of his time as a Prisoner of War. (That’s if he was in Stalag Luft III, as the dates and what he describes in the letters suggest, despite it not being officially recorded. Official records have him listed as a prisoner in VIII-B, 357, and Stalag Luft 6).
Marek doesn’t like the sound of his voice, but he let me record audio of the tour, so I can use it for this project. We exchanged emails, so perhaps he will allow me to quote him in the future.
When we got to the prison area I felt a bit mean walking free around the perimeter of where the prisoners would have been.
The remnants of a water reservoir are what help orient yourself today, as the whole site is covered in pine trees that seeded themselves after the last prisoners left.
Marek told me some prisoners would sail model boats on top of the reservoir.
After we had walked around the site like it was my own personal Who Do You Think You Are? episode, Marek took me to the spots where the Great Escape took place.
We agreed that the Great Escape was a catastrophe. Despite the hero narrative of the three prisoners who escaped, the rest were either captured or shot and the whole thing helped the Nazis find even more people. Marek prefers the story of the Wooden Horse escape, where three men covertly dug a tunnel beneath the wooden gym equipment you vault over in P. E. and escaped. And nobody was hurt. I prefer that too. But he says that the Great Escape story is obviously good for tourism.
So where did we leave Fred?
A month after learning that her son was alive and a Prisoner of War, and sending him letters he was not to receive for a while, Fred’s mother finally received word from him:
Sgt. F.
16784
Stalag VIII B
(postcard)
15/08/40
My Dear Mum, I hope you received my letter. I could not say much as there were so many things I wanted. Don’t worry too much, I am getting on quite well and everything will be alright in the end. I may only be able to write about once a month in future, Mum, so don’t be surprised if there are long gaps between letters. Cheerio
Fred
So it was short and with much left unsaid.
Soon I’ll be at the museum in Opole, not too far from VIII-B, to continue the story…
Cheerio!