Author(s): The Daily The Daily Telegraph

Military/War

Colditz Castle was one of the most famous Prisoner of War camps of the Second World War. It was there that the Germans interred their most troublesome or important prisoners. It made sense, the Germans believed, to place the most troublesome Allied prisoners in one place where they could be carefully watched and guarded. The place that was selected was the notorious Schloss Colditz deep in eastern Germany.

During the First World War Schloss Colditz became a hospital and when the Nazis came to power in the 1930s it became a political prison. With the need for a high security prisoner of war facility following the outbreak of war in 1939, Schloss Colditz became Offizierslager, or Oflag IV-C.

In reality, the decision to confine these inveterate escapers in one place ensured that Colditz was turned into a hotbed of industry and invention. Though the castle was built on an outcrop of rock, with a sheer drop of 250 yards down to the River Mulde, and the fact that Colditz was 400 miles from any frontier not under German control, the prisoners began escape planning from almost the day they first arrived - and they continued to do so throughout the months and years that followed, becoming ever more daring and ingenious. Tunneling, impersonation, disguise, bribery of guards, forgery of documents and trickery of all kinds were the order of the day.

By the time that Oflag IV-C was liberated in 1945, some thirty prisoners had made successful 'home runs', escaping back to Allied or neutral territory. There were also countless failed attempts, some of which were quite brilliant in their conception. The most remarkable of these was the plan to build a glider and fly over the walls to freedom - perhaps the most ambitious and extraordinary escape story of all time.

This unique collection of obituaries from the pages of The Telegraph presents a fascinating insight into some of those held captive in Schloss Colditz.