News

In June of this year the Museum received POW memorabilia related to the person of Second Lieutenant Antoni Zacharzewski. This generous gift from the lieutenant daughter, Daniela Zacharzewska, is an interesting backdrop of the level at which camp education was conducted, as a large part of the given material consists student's books and diplomas certificating POWs professional development, including the names of numerous subjects and lecturers.

Second Lieutenant Antoni Zacharzewski was born in 1908 in Hamzičy (in present-day Belarus). He was a teacher by profession, and headmaster of several schools in what was then the Vilnius Voivodship. As a cavalry second lieutenant, he participated in the September Campaign, and then was a prisoner of war in the oflags: II A Prenzlau, II E Neubrandenburg and II D Gross Born. His time in captivity he devoted to intensive professional development, attending serious camp courses: Higher Teacher Training Course and Pedagogical and Social Studies.

The set of donated items also includes an inlaid wooden casket depicting soldiers in a trench, made in captivity - another artefact of this type in our collections. Other mementoes of Antoni Zacharzewski are: a military identity tag of the Polish Army of the Second Republic, a registration photo of a prisoner-of-war, a cross, a scapular medal, a blood test card of a prisoner-of-war and woodcut postcards of the intra-camp post office.