Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle

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Nuanced and gripping . . . told with sensitivity and insight, with an eye for telling detail Gerard DeGroot, The Times

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. With renovations largely completed, the castle now includes both a museum and guided tours showing some of the escape tunnels built by prisoners of the Oflag during the war. The chapel has been restored to its prewar decoration, with glass panels inserted to the flag stone flooring to reveal an escape tunnel dug by French escapees.Macintyre stressed that, in relation to the castle, we must forget – with a few exceptions – the stereotype of brutal Nazi German guards. In fact, the author describes them in his book as very patient with the constant taunting of the British prisoners and the escapes, some of which were truly ridiculous. One involved French Lieutenant Émile Boulé, who tried to walk out the door disguised as a woman. Gp Capt Douglas Bader, RAF flying ace, double leg amputee and subject of the documentary book and film Reach for the Sky And much more,” added Macintyre, who has written widely about double agents and secret missions during the Nazi era. “I grew up, like most Britons, wrapped up in the Colditz myth. At the age of 14, I watched the 1972 BBC series with David McCallum. I played the board game, created by Pat Reid, [who was] one of the castle’s real escapees. Colditz’s heroes were part of my personal mythology: a story of brave Englishmen and courage. But, as often happens, the story turns out not to be so simple and not so uplifting.”

A remarkable cast of characters, previously hidden and lost in history emerges - prisoners and captors who lived in a thrilling and horrific game of cat and mouse. 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. 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. Bestselling author Ben Macintyre tells the astonishing true story of one of the Second World War’s most infamous prisoner-of-war camps.Schädlich, Georg Martin, Tales from Colditz Castle. Thomas Schädlich/Colditz Society, 2000. pp.4–6, 27, 61, 63, 91–101.