Briton in France organises commemoration for Allied POWs in World War Two
He presented certificates to French and British descendants of POWs at British Embassy event in Paris
Philip Baker started a memorial project with his friend, Charles Saunders, who was a prisoner of war in Lamsdorf, Poland (pictured here)
Maurizio Fabbroni/Shutterstock
A British man living in France is organising an event to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of English-speaking Allied prisoners of war held in Europe during World War Two.
It will take place in June in Manchester and will bring together relatives, researchers and other interested parties to share stories about the life and sacrifices that POWs endured.
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Organiser Philip Baker, who founded a website and charity in honour of these prisoners, said: “The subject of prisoners of war is so often reduced to footnotes in histories of war. One of our aims is always to raise their profile.”
He started his project, The Online Memorial and Museum of Prisoners of War, more than 20 years ago with the help of his friend and former POW Charles Saunders.
Mr Saunders died at the age of 101 in 2019.
From 1940 and for the next five years, he was a prisoner at Stalag VIIIB (344) Lamsdorf in Poland. He was also hidden for three months by a French family near Boulogne.
In 2001, the pair attempted to trace some friends Mr Saunders had made in the camp, and Mr Baker soon received letters, photographs, diaries and notebooks from relatives of other people who had been imprisoned in Lamsdorf.
As a result, he decided to create a website to publish the documents and serve as a memorial to these POWS.
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Other POWS and their loved ones have subsequently contacted Mr Baker to send in more stories and evidence of their experiences.
As well as the website and social media groups, Mr Baker organises conferences and tours to visit the locations of former POW camps. He has also published several books.
He moved to France in 2018, where he has been actively promoting his organisation’s work.
“In November 2021, at a ceremony in the British Embassy in Paris, I presented commemorative certificates to two British residents of France and two French citizens whose fathers or grandfathers had been prisoners of war,” he said.
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The Online Memorial and Museum of Prisoners of War became a charity in the UK in 2020, although Mr Baker was forced to step down as chair of trustees due to health reasons.
You can find further details about the charity at prisonersofwarmuseum.com, including details of the 80th anniversary event on June 7, 2025.
