Company Sergeant Major John Henry Lake

From:  Val Blench

Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2011

My dad was at Lamsdorf and one of the Racketeers!! His name was CSM John Henry Lake of the Royal Norfolks.

I will add a photo and some more info later as I am working right now …. my sister and I visited Lamsdorf when we visited Poland in 2008

I did a small write up in my blog on http://ismeval.webs.com/poland2008.htm [link ‘frozen’] there is a picture there and some info.

Our trip to Krakow, Poland 2008

It was over a year or so ago that my sister Linda and myself began talking about a possible trip to Poland. Our dad had been a prisoner of war in a German run camp for almost all of World War II. We had done a little research on the internet and found out that it was now a museum, dedicated to the men imprisoned there. We wanted to go straight away! Linda’s son and his partner were the first to go. They went in 2007 and stayed in Krakow. They arranged a trip to Lamsdorf (where the camp was) and it made us just want to go all the more! We finally arranged our trip for June 2008. I e-mailed the hotel where Andrew and MaryAnne had stayed in Krakow and booked with them. We also arranged the same personal guide to take us to my dad’s camp and also a visit to Auschwitz/Birkenau concentration camps which were quite close. After arranging that, all that was left was the flight …. I hate flying – I really do, and only my nephew Andy understands how I feel as he hates it too. Unfortunately it was the best way to get there so it had to be done.
Linda came up from Norwich to stay with me for a couple of nights and then on Monday 2ndJune we were off! …. Newcastle airport is horrendous – just one queue after another – but within a couple of hours or so we were up in the air. I am sure Linda had my nail marks on her hands! We finally touched down at Krakow and headed for the taxi rank. We had pre-booked a taxi with the hotel and sure enough there was someone waiting for us with a big board with my name on!
Don’t really know how to describe the drive from the airport to Krakow … these drivers are crazy!!! … first we went over a rail crossing with the train just a few feet away! The train flashed its lights and tooted the horn at us we were so close! …. Then we came to roadworks. The lights were on red our side and two cars were already stopped in front of us …. What did the driver do ???? he drove round them!!!!
We arrived at our hotel, the Hotel Pollera, which was in the heart of the old town. A beautiful old hotel with fantastic stained glass windows at the top of every flight of stairs. Our room was lovely and looked out onto the front. Opposite was a fantastic theatre! We had four beds in the room, a TV, radio, telephone, and en-suite shower and toilet. Really lovely. We had booked for four nights and five days. This hotel is really worth staying in if anyone is thinking of going over there. It is situated just a couple of minutes from the famous old town square and just oozes history and atmosphere …if you want to see what I mean then please go to their website at: http://www.pollera.com.pl

The first morning we were up very early, showered and went down to breakfast. We were amazed at the table set with so many things to choose from. Lots of different meats and cheese, lovely breads, cereal, eggs, yoghurts, juice, tea and coffee….. fantastic! We then got ready and waited for our guide to arrive and take us to Auschwitz ….. what can I say about Pawel, our guide? He was fantastic – arrived in a lovely car and was just so friendly. Linda’s son had recommended him to us and I can also recommend him to everyone visiting the area. He is so knowledgeable about his country and its history. He didn’t mind my endless questions and was eager to talk about the Polish way of life …. Thank you Pawel – you helped us understand about your country and its ways and customs …

Our visit to Auschwitz/Birkenau was not quite what I expected. I had read many books over the years and had a good idea of what took place there. However it is strange to look up on the gates with the words ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ written on them – which means ‘Works means freedom’ ….. it certainly didn’t mean that to the thousands who only found death waiting there. Quite a few people had told me to prepare for the silence at Auschwitz and most said that no birds flew over there …. Well not quite true … there were many birds flying there and singing in the sunshine ….. in stark contrast to the horrors perpetrated there …. Pawel let us take our time there and told us anything we wanted to know … we then went a little further to Birkenau which was the larger death camp. I am sure most people have a vision in their minds of the railway tracks leading to the twin-towered entrance gate where the people faced selection…….

The next day we were up bright and early and Pawel drove us to the prisoner of war camp at Lamsdorf. It’s approximately 2 and a half hours drive from Krakow and it rained!! But only for a little while, and then the sun shone again. The scenery is wonderful – farms and forests … on the way Pawel would point out places of interest and tell us of the history – we certainly learned a lot from him. When we arrived at Lamsdorf we were introduced to Anna who was to be our guide with Pawel for the day. First we watched a small film about the history of the camp from World War I to the present day … then we drove into the actual camp … the guard room is still standing but there is nothing left of where the British prisoners were kept. There are parts of the area where Russian prisoners were kept and subjected to a dreadful existence. Because Stalin had not signed the Geneva Convention they were not protected in any way and the Germans took advantage of that and treated them horrendously. Anna managed to get us permission to go through the forest and see the ‘water tank’ which was kept full in case of fire, but the prisoners were allowed to swim there. Our dad would almost certainly have taken advantage of that! Back at the museum we had a look at all the photos. We had taken some of our dad and Anna is going to put them up. He was one of a small group of Royal Norfolks who had been taken prisoner and spent almost all of the war there. He was a Company Sergeant Major and belonged to a small group called the Racketeers. These men managed to get some almost impossible things by trading with the guards some chocolate, cigarettes etc which had been sent in Red Cross Parcels. We also saw on one photo a wireless receiver which had been made by one of these men – our dad!! The picture on the left shows the Racketeers and our dad is the man at centre back.

John Henry Lake (centre back)

We didn’t feel sad or emotional at this place – just happy in some way to have the connection with our dad, although he was probably looking down saying ‘Look at those two – walking into a place I wanted to get out of!! Thank you Pawel for making this possible … if anyone is going to Krakow then don’t hesitate to hire Pawel – you will be pleased you did …. Go see his website at:
http://www.krakowguidedtours.com/ [link not working].

The next day and a half were for me and Linda to explore at our leisure. We did know about the famous Cloth Hall in the old town market square but were still overwhelmed when we saw it. A Beautiful old building – and inside? Amber jewellery and lots of it!! I have never seen so much amber in my life and of course we had to buy a few things. It is incredibly cheap and well worth buying… the square is bordered on all sides with restaurants and cafés situated in wonderful old buildings. All serving excellent meals and drinks. Most of them also sell wonderful ice creams! There is so much history surrounding this place and we are so pleased to have seen some of it. The Polish people seem to love flowers …. Almost every balcony had window boxes full of flowers … We also took a ride in a sort of golf-car thingy which drives you around places of interest. We went over the river and into the old Jewish quarter. Very interesting and sad. Oskar Shindler’s factory is still there …. and the square from which the Jewish people were deported to camps has a remarkable tribute to them in the way of very large chairs placed all over the square. We took the opportunity to go look inside the ‘Barbican’ which is an amazing building and also a short walk around the town walls ….. Krakow is so packed full of history and wonderful old buildings …. the people are very friendly and helpful. Krakow town square is also beautiful at night with all the lights from the restaurant tables dotted around the square …. and the horses and carriages also with lights …. so much to see and so little time …..

We so enjoyed our short stay and would go back again sometime …. If only we didn’t have to fly!