Unknown photographs from Stalag IV A Hohnstein at the Museum

A very interesting collection of thirty-two photographs documenting the captivity of Corporal Piotr Gąsior at Stalg IV A Hohnstein, has been donated to the Museum.

Piotr Gąsior, in 1939, was a soldier of the 26th Infantry Regiment. He was made prisoner-of-war by the Germans (no. 16861) at Stalags IV A Elsterhorst and IV A Hohnstein.

The donated in February collection contains group photographs of prisoners-of-war during Christmas time (especially noteworthy are those with a group of female prisoners-of-war who participated in the Warsaw Uprising as well as were the Home Army soldiers) or sports competitions. Also, interesting are the photographs depicting fellow prisoners-of-war and a photo of the family members of a prisoner who was sent it to the camp by his relatives, and finally a photograph of a caricature and a portrait of a camp mate with a dedication: Stalag IV A. The gem of our chamber, No. 12. To the beloved polyglot, actor in "The Stop", moreover, one of the best colleagues and a righteous man, the beloved Piotr Gąsior, an image of him from his youth (1940) is presented by M Knebloch from Borysław Hohnstein, 26.V.42.

The cognitive value of the collection is enhanced by the numerous camp censorship stamps and annotations on the reverses of the photographs, thanks to which it is known where, when and to whom each photograph was taken. This information has already proved helpful in identifying people and places immortalised in other photographs of the Museum's collection. It should be added that we already know the person of Piotr Gąsior from Aleksander Popławski's collection of POW memorabilia.

We would like to say thanks to Mr. Witold for his beautiful gift!

 

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