Games of volleyball were one way that Allied PoWs passed the long days at Colditz, along with music, drama and social clubs. There were orchestras in Colditz, there were chamber groups, there was a Hawaiian string band, there was a Polish choir.

Ben Macintyre is the multimillion-copy bestselling author of books including 'Agent Sonya', 'SAS: Rogue Heroes', 'The Spy and the Traitor', 'Agent Zigzag', 'Operation Mincemeat' and 'A Spy Among Friends'. The prisoners were geniuses in developing tactics to confuse their captors, and instruments that were used to make their escape attempts possible, including a glider that was completely built, but never used. Christopher Clayton Hutton's bizarre achievements prove that war is not solely a matter of bombs, bullets and battlefield bravery. There is a lot of mental strain that comes from being in any kind of prison, but being in a prisoner of war camp is particularly hard because it is seemingly without end. Outside, the flat terraces which surrounded the prisoners' accommodation were watched constantly by armed sentries and surrounded by barbed wire.

Detail Aerial Photograph Detail from an aerial photograph of Colditz Castle in Saxony, Germany, on 10 April 1945 just three days before U. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. But there were many darker aspects of the camp’s history including racism, class divisions and mental breakdowns. In addition, as WWII continues to rampage, profound severances of class, religion, race and rank frequently shape an environment which makes living behind bars even more punishing.

Despite the designation of "escape proof," Colditz turned out to be the ideal camp for escape-inclined Allied prisoners. He had lost both his legs in a flying accident before the war, yet nonetheless, he became an enormously brave Spitfire pilot.

Well, Irmgard Wernicke was the German dental assistant in the town of Colditz, but she was also an anti-Nazi resistance plotter. She was a Scotswoman in Warsaw, speaking perfect Polish and posing as a Polish housewife, who was actually running the escape networks out of Poland. Goon” was a slang term for the German guards, and a huge amount of ingenuity went into this activity: teasing them, mocking them, whistling on parade, refusing to stand up straight – anything the prisoners could do to drive them mad. Another Brit, Michael Sinclair – known as the “Red Fox” – studied a German sergeant for months, imitating him carefully, so as to be able to slip out of the castle unnoticed… Until he ran into the very same guard while trying to escape.

Staffed by numerous armed guards and located some 400 miles (640 km) from friendly territory, Colditz seemed to offer no hope for escape. Ben Macintyre is well known for his books on spies and espionage, like Agent Zigzag, Double Cross, and Philby. Instead of dampening rebellion, the chemistry of international competition and collaboration had made the place even harder to police. Yet prisoners of Colditz were among the better-treated POWs - the main men in charge of the camp actually (mostly) adhered to the Geneva Convention of 1929. Prisoner abuse was rare, and escape attempts were punished by solitary confinement, not execution, although conditions deteriorated in the war’s final year.

The castle was home to several notable figures during its time as a mental institution, including Ludwig Schumann, the second youngest son of the famous composer Robert Schumann, and Ernst Baumgarten [ de], one of the original inventors of the airship. 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.

During 1504, the servant Clemens the baker accidentally set Colditz afire, and the town hall, church, castle and a large part of the town was burned. The prisoners self, almost exclusively English, although there were also some small contingents of Polish, French and Dutch prisoner, were mostly all upper class, who treated the enlisted man who served them with disdain. He went on hunger strike and insisted he be moved to an all-Indian prison, of which there were very few.In fact, they were hiding in a secret compartment under the chapel pulpit that had once been part of the great French tunnel. The Jews and other "undesirables" sent to concentration camps like Auschwitz had it much, much worse than the prisoners of Colditz. I don't think I'm the only one that looks forward to a new book from Macintyre's pen, and this book has rightfully garnered glowing reviews.