Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle

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Buses only run every 2 hours. There was a 90 minute period from when the bus dropped me off to my return one, which was plenty for me. Others may want to stay longer but if you are using public transport from Leipzig, plan accordingly as the town itself is quiet.

During this period the portal at what is known as the church house was created during 1584, made of Rochlitz Porphyr ( rhyolite tuff) and richly decorated in the mannerist style by Andreas Walther II. This dimension stone has been in use in architecture for more than 1,000 years. It was at this time that both the interior and the exterior of "the Holy Trinity" castle chapel that links the cellar and electors' house with one another were redesigned. Soon thereafter the castle became an administrative office for the Office of Colditz and a hunting lodge. During 1694, its then-current owner, King Augustus the Strong of Poland, began to expand it, resulting in a second courtyard and a total of 700 rooms.As 1944 became 1945, serious hunger stalked the prison camp. The Red Cross parcels ceased to arrive, but the inmates still fared better than their guards, who had no extra supplies to add to their now-miserable diet. As someone who takes a keen interest in WWII history, I’ve always been fascinated by Colditz and have always wanted to see the place with my own eyes, and glad I’m glad I now have.

The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the sphere of suffering shared, and in this case extended to the death march itself, there is no spiritual or emotional legacy here to offset any reader reluctance. We did the extended tour with Steffi and she was a great tour guide. Very knowledgeable with a lot of great info to give about many of the places where escapes happened. Find sources: "Colditz Castle"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( June 2023) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)I listened to the audiobook with Simon. They say that truth is stranger than fiction.... This is an amazing book full of incredible true stories of escape, or many attempted escapes of prisoners of war from the notorious castle prison of Colditz. I'm not sure that Colditz is as well know in the U.S.A. In the U.K. it was entrenched in our culture and truly inspired fear. This is a comprehensive book about its subject. I can’t imagine any more details could be included. I have to give it 5 stars since it’s such a perfect book about Colditz. A half star off because even though it sometimes read like a thriller and was mostly interesting, at times it read slowly and was close to boring with all the minutiae. 4-1/2 stars The account is given (almost) chronologically and I think doing that was a good choice. But Macintyre also makes it clear that Colditz was unlike most POW camps. Firstly, its extraordinary location made escape appear impossible. And then there was the fact that everyone housed there was classed as deutschfeindlich, ‘German-unfriendly’, and had been sent there because they had tried to escape from other camps. It was like a school where all the bad boys had been gathered together under one roof.

Macintyre produces a great and thoughtful ending to a fine book that is about heroism and cowardice, kindness and cruelty, collaboration and inventiveness. Highly recommended. Colditz: prisoners of the castle Ben Macintyre Karl Höffkes German film archive Newsreel from a private archive: Two minutes of film of the castle and prisoners during World War II starts at timestamp 10:14:37

As an ex history and B.F.G. teacher who could not get to East Germany in the 1980s it was a visit I had always wanted to do. The Museum is small and compact but offers a lot of information on the POW inmates their failed and also successful escapes. There are also lots of pictures and memorabilia from the Period 1941-45 on view. Capt Pat Reid, Royal Army Service Corps, one of the Laufen Six then British escape officer at Colditz, before writing about his experiences I traveled from Leipzig which was straight forward. I took the train from Leipzig HBF to Gimma Banhof which takes just over half an hour. From Grimma you take the 619 bus to Colditz Leipziger stresse or you can get off at Colditz Sportzplaz, which again takes around half an hour.

Having read many WWII books and memoirs, Prisoners of the Castle is a new and unique addition to my WWII library that helps to broaden my perspective and understanding of the war and lives of those touched by it. Years ago, you could see a replica of a glider that was clandestinely built at Colditz Castle, on the top floor of the Imperial War Museum in London. Crazily enough, some of the officers attempted to escape by plane. “I’m not very convinced that they could have managed to fly.I think it had more to do with mythical escapism and imagination than with a real escape. It was a dream for the prisoner collective: to fly away to freedom,” said Macintyre. With Prisoners of the Castle we learn about the wily World War II prisoners of Colditz, and their ceaseless breakout attempts - told with the adulation and humor only warranted by a vivaciousness such as theirs. Astonishing triumphs of industry and inventiveness are clarified. For example, we learn some of methods this group of clever men utilized to spy on the Allies from prison. When the Nazis gained power during 1933, they converted the castle into a political prison for communists, homosexuals, Jews and other people they considered undesirable. Starting 1939, [1] allied prisoners were housed there.

It helps if you are familiar with many of the escape attempts as it helps you visualise what must of went on. There's not a huge amount of stuff left over from the wartime. There is the glider and a number of things to see in the museum. But other than that you need to use your imagination for each of the locations but that is helped by having a great tour guide explain lots of the escape attempts at each location. Because ultimately, this is the story of captivity. I had to read it in small doses because reading about POWs’ imprisonment does not make for a happy subject. Sure, I was rooting for the guys who, few and far between, actually succeeded in escaping. But every prisoner is a bored, angry, sexually frustrated captive and additionally there was plenty of elitism and racism. Another of Colditz’s famous prisoners was David Stirling – known as “the ghost commander” – who was the famous creator of the Special Air Service (SAS): a special forces unit within the British Army. He described the castle as “the best-guarded pension (hotel) of the Third Reich.” Stirling was captured in one of his famous raids against the airfields and bases of the Afrika Korps in January of 1943. After several escape attempts from various POW camps, he ended up in Colditz. How did this bold, determined, slippery guy not manage escape? “The problem was that he was very tall,” Macintyre said. Booker, Michael. Collecting Colditz and Its Secrets. London: Grub Street, 2005. ISBN 1-904943-08-X p.32