Colditz Castle

[Colbro]

"If you escape you will be shot. If you escape again, you will be sent to Colditz!"
As a boy, I had avidly read the "Colditz Story" and the "Latter Days at Colditz" and have watched the film many times. The ancient mediaeval schloss which became the "Sonderlager" for officer prisoners, who were persistent escapers and were declared "Deutschfiendlich" (enemy of Germany), lies within the former GDR, about 40 miles from Leipzig. Last September I made a visit to this place and was not disappointed.
The ancient schloss had been allowed to decay, following the war's end and restoration work means that there are only a couple of days a week, when people are allowed to visit. My first view of the castle, is more or less what you see here, from the river, with the castle in the background. It is very massive and as you can see, a building of great beauty, which enhances the pretty village of Colditz. As we approached the castle, along the narrow streets, it became obvious that there was no vehicle park. We had the devil's own job of finding a parking place for the bus, without blocking the streets.
And so, across the dry moat bridge, through the gatehouse, into a quadrangle with the clock tower facing us. Through the massive arch in the ten foot thick walls, bearing the coat of arms of the Electors of Saxony, to whom this castle once belonged and into the German courtyard. To the right, dominating the courtyard, the high wall with many windows, of the former German Kommandantur.
Across the German courtyard, through another identical massive arch and into the prisoners compound. I tried to imagine myself as a prisoner, in the early war years and my heart sank to my boots. Massive beetling walls, with hundreds of windows (all barred). I imagined the guards, some in forage caps, many steel helmeted and carrying rifles. Almost the whole of Europe under the swastika, Britain isolated and under siege. No way out of here surely? Just long years of imprisonment, with no end in sight, with hundreds of others, on a diet that was almost starvation and would have been, had not Red Cross parcels kept arriving.
The prisoner courtyard, incidentally, slopes very steeply. None of the films or dramatisations show this!! There was scaffolding everywhere. We were shown the restored wine cellar, with the famous French tunnel, which was discovered by the guards just before the breakout. Unfortunately, although the restoration was very substantial, they had removed a lot of writings and prisoner graffiti from the walls. Madness!
The ingenuity and commitment of the prisoners in fabricating civilian clothing, German uniforms and German documents (ausweis) with current photographs and official stamps, as well as obtaining and hoarding genuine Reichsmarks which would be required for train tickets and food on their attempts to reach the nearest border, 400 miles away, was truly amazing. As an avid reader of any POW literature, since the age of 11, I was familiar with all the escape attempts from Colditz and never thought that I would see artefacts of the escape material at first hand, Colditz having been for many years, in the former GDR.
Several extremely ingenious escape attempts involving disguise were unsuccessful at the last minute down to plain bad luck.
One such attempt involved Mike Sinclair, who was a thorn in the side of the Germans, throughout his long incarceration, as he was continually organising escape attempts and breaking out, which is why he ended up in Colditz! Very sadly, he was fatally wounded after being shot by a guard during his final escape attempt.
Some years, previous to this, there was, at Colditz, an Oberstabsfeldwebel (Sergeant Major) Rothermeyer, dubbed "Franz Josef" by the prisoners, on account of his huge moustache, like the one worn by the late Austrian Emperor.
Sinclair, a fluent German speaker, noted that he and Rothermeyer had a similar cast of features and he shadowed him, noting his typical body language, his gait and also practising imitating his voice. In the meantime, the Colditz Escape Committee fabricated a double of the uniform worn by Rothermeyer.
One night, when all was ready, Sinclair, as Franz Josef, sporting a huge moustache and the uniform, succesfully relieved two sentries who trotted off obediently. The third and crucial sentry, politely demanded his pass. Sinclair produced it. Unfortunately, this sentry was a stickler for book procedure and equally politely, demanded the current password. The prisoners did not know it had been changed very recently. Realising the position he was in, Sinclair tried to bluff his way out and subjected the sentry to a blistering Prussian, militaristic tirade, his voice rising angrily, as the sentry remained unmoved and uncowed, finally pressing the alarm bell.
A corporal and a couple of privates arrived post haste from the guard room and were extremely confused as to what the significance was of this tirade between the sentry and their senior NCO. Sinclair continued his tirade but when his hand passed (probably unintentionally) near to his cardboard wooden pistol holder, the corporal drew his revolver. In the ensuing scuffle, the revolver went off and Sinclair received a bullet in the lung.
"My God! You've shot Rothermeyer!" exclaimed one of the guards. Sinclair made a full recovery from the wound he received during this attempt.
We were shown the museum, with much escape equipment, including forging material, stamps made from linoleum and forged German Ausweis and other documents, a wooden sewing machine that the prisoners had constructed, for altering uniforms into civilian clothes and German uniforms used in escape attempts.
Airey Neave tried to get out in the uniform of a gefreiter but was caught, on that occasion. Around the walls are photos and drawings of the prisoners - Douglas Bader, Peter Storie-Pugh, Dick Howe, Pat Reid, Airey Neave and many others, too numerous to mention.
All in all, a triumph of the human spirit, when you consider the number of escapes and particularly the number of "home runs" from this "escape proof" camp.
Finally, I must mention the highly amusing and informative video, "Escaping from Colditz" by Peter Storie-Pugh, recorded in 1997. It is available from the British Legion, for £7 from:

Royal British Legion Village,
Aylesford,
Kent,
ME20 7NX

And your money goes to a good cause!

[CHRISCHA]

Cobro, I visited Colditz last June. I went with the KM, ( I'm from Maidstone ). I was very shocked at the slim hole the French built. Of the group, not one of us would have been able to fit down it. I know it would have to be small to reduce the work and less chance of detection, but it was an eye opener. Very good post. Kind regards.

[Colbro]

Thank you Chrischa. Here are photographs of Rothermeyer and Mike Sinclair (aka the Red Fox) His death (in the later attempt) was an absolute tragedy, the bullet hit him in the elbow but instead of exiting, it was deflected along the line of the bones in his arm and entered his heart. He had become "wire happy." What made it all the more sad was that if he had just sat it out, he did not have much longer to wait, for the Americans to liberate the camp.