Colditz Castle is possibly most widely known as a maximum security prison camp used by the Nazis for the duration of World War II to detain Allied prisoners who were regarded as being "incorrigible". Bear in mind, the castle is over 800 years old consequently there is considerably more to its background than the six years when it was identified as Oflag IV-C.
Building work began in the mid 12th century on the imposing castle set on a hill overlooking Colditz in Saxony, Germany. Within a few years, habitations started to appear in the vicinity of the castle and after approximately 250 years, it was sold by the Lords of Coldtiz.
A massive inferno in the early 16th century meant that sizeable parts of the castle were required to be rebuilt along with the city hall, church and sizeable sections of the city. Over the years, restoration and reconstructing building work saw the shape of the castle evolve and in the 1800s it was reconstructed once more and utilised as a workhouse and eventually a mental hospital until 1924.
In 1933, Hitler came to power and converted the castle to a prison for political prisoners of war. Immediately after the start of World War II in 1939, POWs were imprisoned here. It was used to contain top risk prisoners of war who were regarded as dangerous and certainly going to make an attempt to escape. Even though it was a top security pow camp, the nature of the inmates at Oflag IV-C (it's prison camp name), meant there were several imaginative escape efforts. There was even one plan where POWs plotted to make use of a glider even though it was never attempted as the Allies retook the castle before the escape attempt could be staged.
Colditz was a prisoner of war camp for officers and there were also some well known inmates including the British air ace, Douglas Bader, Patrick Reid who wrote numerous books on Colditz after the war, Airey Neave who was the first officer to escape from the POW camp and was also ultimately elected to the British Parliament, Sir David Stirling who set up the Special Air Service and Charles Upham from New Zealand who was awarded the Victoria Cross and bar. One of the most notable of all was Giles Romilly who was the nephew of Winston Churchill's wife.
In more recent years, Colditz Castle has been refurbished and is open to visitors to see this historic building for themselves.
Building work began in the mid 12th century on the imposing castle set on a hill overlooking Colditz in Saxony, Germany. Within a few years, habitations started to appear in the vicinity of the castle and after approximately 250 years, it was sold by the Lords of Coldtiz.
A massive inferno in the early 16th century meant that sizeable parts of the castle were required to be rebuilt along with the city hall, church and sizeable sections of the city. Over the years, restoration and reconstructing building work saw the shape of the castle evolve and in the 1800s it was reconstructed once more and utilised as a workhouse and eventually a mental hospital until 1924.
In 1933, Hitler came to power and converted the castle to a prison for political prisoners of war. Immediately after the start of World War II in 1939, POWs were imprisoned here. It was used to contain top risk prisoners of war who were regarded as dangerous and certainly going to make an attempt to escape. Even though it was a top security pow camp, the nature of the inmates at Oflag IV-C (it's prison camp name), meant there were several imaginative escape efforts. There was even one plan where POWs plotted to make use of a glider even though it was never attempted as the Allies retook the castle before the escape attempt could be staged.
Colditz was a prisoner of war camp for officers and there were also some well known inmates including the British air ace, Douglas Bader, Patrick Reid who wrote numerous books on Colditz after the war, Airey Neave who was the first officer to escape from the POW camp and was also ultimately elected to the British Parliament, Sir David Stirling who set up the Special Air Service and Charles Upham from New Zealand who was awarded the Victoria Cross and bar. One of the most notable of all was Giles Romilly who was the nephew of Winston Churchill's wife.
In more recent years, Colditz Castle has been refurbished and is open to visitors to see this historic building for themselves.
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The famous Colditz Castle provided many of the most inventive escape stories of the Second World War.. This article, Colditz - A Castle with a Rich History has free reprint rights.
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