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We are currently in the process of accepting into the Museum’s collection memorabilia from Krzysztof Toczek, who visited us in March to give us his family photographs, correspondence, and objects which were left by his father, Ensign Karol Toczek (1916-1980).

Karol Toczek fought in the 11^th Infantry Regiment during the September Campaign (as the leader of a grenade launcher unit) and got into captivity near Tomaszów Lubelski. Nevertheless, he had managed to escape from the train transport and, not earlier as November 1939, when apprehended in Mielec, was sent, among others, to Stalag VI G Bonn-Duisdorf (the POW labour unit No. 281 in Hoffnungsthal). After the war, he stayed in camps for "dipis" in Wetzlar, Darmstadt and Weinheim, before returning to Poland where he settled down in Gdańsk.

The given memorabilia are mainly associated with the artistic activity of Karol Toczek about which says a great deal the dedications on photographs left by his fellow prisoners-of-war: To the long-standing soloist of the chorus and revellers of the "Hoffnungsthal opera", to Dear Little Tenor of the "Hoffnungsthal" theatre, to Dear Loleczek "the nightingale of the Valley of Hope", to the incomparable performer of "Goodnight my Dear" and other serenades, and to the greatest terror of the Hoffnungsthal forests, in memory of the beautiful moments spent together on the stage, and in the forest... (the prisoners-of-war worked in the working party in Hoffnungsthal, where, among other things, they cut down trees). Among the memorabilia there are also personal items, including a POW identity card and documents.