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Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle

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As the government’s national archive for England, Wales and the United Kingdom, The National Archives hold over 1,000 years of the nation’s records for everyone to discover and use. Windows users should also consider upgrading to Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge, or switching to Firefox or Chrome. A much more sobering passage, in the Besieged section recounting the liberation of the castle by the advancing Allied forces, tells of systematic murder of Jews held in a slave labour camp on the outskirts of Colditz. Remarkables REMARKABLES Intriguing, stunning, or otherwise remarkable books These include fine editions, foreign publications exceptional for their interest or production, special editions and some first-rate books from very small publishers.

It was also the only way the prisoners could feel they were still making some kind of contribution to the war effort.So I was surprised to find that Macintyre’s latest book was about prisoners of war in the high-security officers’ prison in Colditz Castle. The structure of the castle was changed during the long reign of the Elector Augustus of Saxony (1553–86), and the complex was reconstructed into a Renaissance style castle from 1577 to 1591, including the portions that were still in the gothic architectural style. There does not seem to be much evidence of brutality or thuggery: instead there seems to be adherence of the Geneva Convention which was quite a surprise, given what was going on in other camps. Watched by several of the former prisoners of war who worked on the original, it was test flown at RAF Odiham during 2000. The radio-controlled replica made it safely across the river and landed in a meadow 180 metres below.

Ben Macintyre is the multimillion-copy bestselling author of books including Colditz, Agent Sonya, SAS: Rogue Heroes, The Spy and the Traitor, Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat and A Spy Among Friends.The prison building itself had thick stone walls that were ninety feet high, through which there was only a single gateway. He wanted him to remain in the prison to carry him up and down the stairs, cook his meals, and wash his stump socks every day. 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.

And as the first few inmates arrived back in Paris and London, they looked at a sort of fairy-tale world that had somehow survived while they had been locked up for years, isolated, bored, fearful, and frustrated.Yet, as Macintyre will reveal, the story of Colditz is also one of snobbery, class conflict, homosexuality, bullying, espionage, boredom, insanity and farce. While there is not much that is new in Macintyre’s book, it is still worth reading, not least for the way the author’s mastery of detail brings the story to life. There was also the crushing boredom of a daily ritual that remained the same month in, month out; year in, year out. Colditz Castle was used as a Nazi prison for Allied POWs, but not just your run-of-the-mill soldiers.

During 1404, the nearly 250-year rule of the dynasty of the Lords of Colditz ended when Thimo VIII sold Colditz Castle for 15,000 silver marks to the Wettin ruler of the period in Saxony. For younger bookworms – and nostalgic older ones too – there’s the Slightly Foxed Cubs series, in which we’ve reissued a number of classic nature and historical novels. There should be more given the amount of material available now, including taped archives, official archives, private papers, published and unpublished memoirs and reminiscences.His honourable behaviour fully deserves the recognition that Macintyre gives him, all the more so given the way he was treated by his fellow prisoners. Ben reveals for the first time a tale of the indomitable human spirit and one of class conflict, homosexuality, espionage, insanity and farce.

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