Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle

Product Information

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. The population was comprised of Americans, Dutch, French and Polish and the groups tried to keep each other informed of their escape plans and shared ideas. At one point they even constructed a glider but the camp was liberated before it could be used. I had a tap on the shoulder from one of my tutors, who said, ‘There’s part of the Foreign Office that is slightly different from the other parts.’ He never actually said what it was, but it became pretty clear. I did the first couple of interviews and I enjoyed talking to them. But they took one look at me and realised that here’s a man who can’t keep a secret, as I’ve just demonstrated by telling you the story, which I’ve told others before.” The Red Cross was initially able to send parcels to Colditz, and these included a wide variety of books (their contents carefully vetted, of course). For an annual subscription of three guineas, individual prisoners received a selection of ten books a month. There were many literary discussions and lectures. If one is interested in spy craft and traitors during World War II and the Cold War there are few authors that have produced more satisfying works than Ben Macintyre. Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times (U.K.) and has written monographs whose narratives include the history of the British SAS; deceptions that encompass plans to misinform the Nazis in the lead up to the invasions of Sicily and D-Day; well-known spies such as Kim Philby, Oleg Gordievsky, the woman known as Agent Sonya, Eddie Chapman; and his latest the escapees from the Nazi fortress, Colditz. Whether describing and analyzing the actions of double agents loyal to the United States, Britain, or Russia or other topics, Macintyre’s approach to conveying espionage history is clear, concise, entertaining, and remarkably well written. All books are based on sound research and his readers will welcome his latest effort PRISONERS OF THE CASTLE: AN EPIC STORY OF SURVIVAL AND ESCAPE FROM COLDITZ, THE NAZIS FORTRESS PRISON.

Some of the few who did escape gained fame, becoming celebrities in Britain for years after the war. A surprising number kept diaries, as did at least one of the guards, which were among MacIntyre’s principal sources. And several wrote bestselling books about the experience, distorting and contributing to the enduring legend of Colditz in the British imagination. No doubt, it was their skill as writers which had a lot to do with making Colditz the most famous of the many WWII Nazi POW camps.

Select a format:

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. The French had the first few successful attempts. Some vaulted over the wire and climbed the walls, while others dressed up and walked out during a large sporting match.

The inventiveness that came out of this was remarkable, and one escape attempt followed another. But few were successful in making ‘home runs’. One of only a handful who did was Airey Neave, later a leading Tory politician and supporter of Margaret Thatcher. Divided inmates Colditz Castle, where Allied prisoners who repeatedly attempted to escape from other German camps during World War II, were sent. Credit: Getty Images Absolutely fascinating. Well researched and written, this book was a treasure trove of information on not only the history of the camp but also the psychology of the prisoners and the guards. The bravery of all the prisoners of Colditz is astonishing, as well as their maintained sense of humor. I appreciated how the author used nationality as a guiding point but not a definitive personality guide. The differences between the German and British minds (and of course American, Dutch, Polish, the list goes on) is shown in stark contrast - but it's not all-absorbing. Apparently not. Ben Macintyre’s book is the second on the subject to appear this year, following Robert Verkaik’s excellent The Traitor of Colditz. Whereas that focussed on a single episode, this is a soup-to-nuts account of everything that happened inside Oflag IV-C from 1940 to 1945, marrying the perspectives of captive and captor alike. Since it was not his intention to write a definitive history, or even a convincing ‘debunking’ history, what was his intention? Well, he gives the game away to some extent in a long and tedious digression about the (highly secretive) work of MI9 in which – you’ve guessed – he manages to shoe-horn in the name ‘Ian Fleming’, one of his (and The Times’) pet obsessions. Then, of all the hundreds of prisoners in Colditz, the two with whom we are expected to most identify are a rich, privileged, well-educated Indian doctor who was a victim of racial prejudice from his fellow prisoners, and Julius Green, a Jewish dentist from Scotland who sent coded messages to England. Given Macintyre’s spy monomania, the latter is understandable to some extent, but why then does he not mention the contribution, in this regard, of Douglas Bader, Peter Tunstall and numerous others? Why only Green? I think there might be a personal agenda here. As for the Indian, readers who are familiar with recent politics might well remember Theresa May’s speech after the EU referendum in which she said: “This country welcomes people from India, particularly the rich.”Ben MacIntyre has had a successful and lucrative career as a writer mostly of war stories, predominantly set during the second World War. Operation Mincemeat, the story of the cadaver that helped to divert German forces towards Greece and away from Sicily where the Allies intended to land in 1943, was made into a Hollywood film with an all-star cast last year.

Macintyre says there is an acronym, MICE, that roughly describes the four elements drawing people into spying: money, ideology, coercion and ego. “I’ve always thought the most powerful is ego. I’ve never come across an important spy who didn’t also think they were motivated by some higher calling. But ego is absolutely part of it. A spy once called it, ‘The ruthless exercise of private power.’Deeply researched and full of incredible stories, this is a tale of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances - and will change how you think about Colditz forever. The only faint criticism I have of this book is that it is, by nature, rather episodic. It does focus on a few of the prisoners, but there are many who come and go - whether by escape, transfer to another POW camp, or death. Still, I had no trouble following the cast of characters and events outside the castle's walls. It certainly made interesting reading after having seen the movie "The Great Escape" any number of times. No motorcycle stunts in this book (or at Stalag Luft III, for that matter), but fascinating nonetheless. Among the prisoners in Colditz were the Prominenten who were related sometimes only distantly, to distinguished individuals in their countries, and who were now held as bargaining chips (for ransom, exchange or to extract concessions from their countries). They were kept under especially tight surveillance. They included Giles Romilly, a communist journalist and a nephew of Winston Churchill., and Michael Alexander who falsely claimed to be the nephew of General Alexander, the commander of the Allied forces in the Middle East. Since mail was allowed, there was a marriage that took place using photos and vows sent over the wire.