Toruń Fortress

Toruń Fortress (Polish: Twierdza Toruń, German: Festung Thorn) is a historic fortress located in Toruń, Poland, one of the largest fortresses in Central and Eastern Europe.

It was built in 1872–1894 by the Kingdom of Prussia, when the city was part of the Prussian Partition of Poland. The fortress complex – a chain of forts surrounding the city, as well as numerous smaller fortifications supplementing it – was intended to defend the eastern border of Prussia (with the Russian Empire). Despite much planning and investment, the fortress did not play a significant role in the First World War nor in any later conflict. During the German occupation of Poland in the Second World War, Germany established and operated a prison for Poles and the Stalag XX-A prisoner-of-war camp for Polish, British, French, Australian and Soviet POWs in the fortress. It was the site of German massacres of Poles committed as part of the Intelligenzaktion.