Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison by Ben Macintyre

Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison Reviews

• 
  Anne

  The Great Escape is a fairly well-known movie with a star-studded cast. It is set in a POW camp in Poland and portrays the real-life audacious escape attempt of 76 Allied airmen during WWII. A different POW camp in Germany was Colditz Castle. It was supposed to be the most secure German POW camp so was specifically used as the prison of last resort for Allied officers who had previously attempted escape or were otherwise high risk. Despite the designation of "escape proof," Colditz turned out to be the ideal camp for escape-inclined Allied prisoners. With so many escape-prone prisoners housed together it was inevitable that they would plan escapes. They organized and created an "escape committee" which arranged the details of each escape, including who would produce or procure money, tools, maps, disguises or any other required materials. They also organized the dates of escapes so that one group did not interfere with another.
  
  Solitary confinement was the only consequence for escape attempts. Though that is bad enough, the Geneva Convention laws were followed at Colditz so there were no summary executions. The German security officers recognized that it was the duty of the Allied POWs to try to escape and that their own job was to try to stop them. This respectful attitude permeated everyone's life at the camp including prisoner-guard interactions.
  
  I found the ingenious and audacious escapes fascinating and often humorous. But getting out of the camp was only half of the battle. Getting across the German border undetected was a whole other matter. Accounts of the escapees who got beyond the gates read like real-life thrillers. A WWII camp in which German officers treat Allied officers with decency is a world I am glad to know about. I can't quite say that this is a feel-good or fun book but relative to anything else I've read about WWII it is both of those at times. Simply reading the Wiki page about Colditz and the incredible number of inventive schemes is enough to put a smile on my face.
• 
  Jill Hutchinson

  Colditz, the medieval castle, located in the state of Saxony in Germany, is probably the most famous of the Nazi's POW camps in WWII..........so well known that films have been made about it (although usually fictional). Those Allied prisoners held there were known as "difficult" because they had escaped or attempted to escape from other camps. Colditz was meant to be totally secure and the Nazis were sure that no one would ever break those bonds. Oh, were they wrong!
  
  This book covers, not only the successful escapes but also the many unsuccessful attempts (and there were many). The prisoners were determined and some of their efforts were quite daring, inventive, and amazing. The author delves into the lives and personalities of these brave men and those of the Nazis who were in charge of the camp. The treatment of the prisoners was fairly humane except for solitary confinement and boredom was basically the worst part of the experience.
  
  The population was comprised of Americans, Dutch, French and Polish and the groups tried to keep each other informed of their escape plans and shared ideas. At one point they even constructed a glider but the camp was liberated before it could be used.
  
  There is so much more in this book that it can't all be covered, nor should be, in a review. Needless to say, it is extremely interesting and well written. I highly recommend it
• 
  Julie

  I listened to the audiobook with Simon. They say that truth is stranger than fiction.... This is an amazing book full of incredible true stories of escape, or many attempted escapes of prisoners of war from the notorious castle prison of Colditz. I'm not sure that Colditz is as well know in the U.S.A. In the U.K. it was entrenched in our culture and truly inspired fear.
  
  Ben Macintyre has written a truly gripping account of the inhabitants of Colditz both the German guards and the multi-national prisoners. Narration is also provide by the author, and is amazing. We enjoyed our time listening together over many evenings and remained enthralled throughout.
  
  Quotes:
  "Of the 35,000 Allied troops who made their way to safety from captivity or after being shot down about half were carrying one of Hutton's maps."
  
  "Christopher Clayton Hutton's bizarre achievements prove that war is not solely a matter of bombs, bullets and battlefield bravery. They also serve who work out how to hide a compass inside a walnut."
  
  About Douglas Bader: "Each Camp Commandant was deluged with requests from local bigwigs who wanted a chance to see him. A German poster was printed describing his distinctive stiff legged gait in case he should escape again. He was a captive of his own notoriety. Bader was [...] an incorrigible prisoner and a valuable propaganda prize. Germany's highest security prisoner of war camp was the obvious place to put him. This then was the warrior celebrity saluted by the admiring German sentries as he clumped into Colditz on the 18th of August, 1942. A man with legs of tin, a heart of oak and feet of clay."
  
  "After two and a half years, the Whermacht reached the belated conclusion that it was a mistake to cram all the most recalcitrant prisoners of every allied nation into one place. Instead of dampening rebellion, the chemistry of international competition and collaboration had made the place even harder to police."
• 
  Faith

  For four years during WWII, Colditz Castle in Germany was a prison for Allied officers (and some lower ranking prisoners who served as their orderlies). These officers were the incorrigible ones - the ones who had escaped before and intended to do so again. The head of the prison was a former school teacher, who knew that putting all of the bad boys in the same class was not a good idea, but he followed the rules for the treatment of military prisoners. His job was to keep them imprisoned and their job was to escape. There were constant, and very creative, escape attempts utilizing tunnels, disguises, forged papers and even hiding in a mattress. Many escaped but most were returned to the prison. Many of the prisoners also found inventive ways to get under the skin of their captors. The end of the book explains what happened to a lot of the people featured in the book.
  
  There was a definite cinematic feel to this book. That is understandable since the story of Coldwitz has been the basis for movies and a TV series. Interviews that were recorded with survivors for the TV series were an invaluable resource for the author. He also used autobiographies written by many of the survivors and also by the head of the prison. This was a very interesting and entertaining book, and the author did a very good job narrating the audiobook.
• 
  Tracy

  With Prisoners of the Castle we learn about the wily World War II prisoners of Colditz, and their ceaseless breakout attempts - told with the adulation and humor only warranted by a vivaciousness such as theirs. Astonishing triumphs of industry and inventiveness are clarified. For example, we learn some of methods this group of clever men utilized to spy on the Allies from prison.
  Naturally, despondency is always close at hand, as efforts to escape backslide, hopelessness lingers. 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. Be that as it may, these men never allow their spirts to be completely snuffed out. The ways in which they frequently worked in unison - in lieu of diversities and any misgivings - provides many lighthearted and inspiring moments for the listener/reader.
  With Prisoners of the Castle, Mr. Macintyre does a superlative job in bringing a very important moment in history to the forefront. I learned so much without feeling like I was being taught - thanks to his talents as a gifted wordsmith. He also does a phenomenal job as narrator, and is clearly one of those rare authors who shines as both writer and voice of his novels. Much thanks and kudos.
• 
  Lisa Vegan

  I knew about this prisoner of war camp from having read and reread and loved
  Reach for the Sky, a book about Douglas Bader. He not surprisingly makes an appearance in this book and not a flattering one. There is an entire chapter about him and he’s also included in some of the rest of the narrative. It turns out that the book I loved (and still own though maybe not for long) was full of propaganda along with the truth. Almost all this book’s contents were new to me. I learned a lot. I was flabbergasted by a lot of the information. The glider was amazing! I’m so glad that the famous woman journalist took the only photo of it and that the photo was included in the book. When reading I had no idea it would look as good as it did. There were so many other details of the camp and related to the camp that struck me. Even Audrey Hepburn makes a fleeting secondhand appearance.
  
  This is a comprehensive book about its subject. I can’t imagine any more details could be included. I have to give it 5 stars since it’s such a perfect book about Colditz. A half star off because even though it sometimes read like a thriller and was mostly interesting, at times it read slowly and was close to boring with all the minutiae. 4-1/2 stars The account is given (almost) chronologically and I think doing that was a good choice.
  
  Included are wonderful photos and maps and drawings! The book wouldn’t feel as complete without them. This is a superb book.
• 
  Steven Z.

  If one is interested in spy craft and traitors during World War II and the Cold War there are few authors that have produced more satisfying works than Ben Macintyre. Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times (U.K.) and has written monographs whose narratives include the history of the British SAS; deceptions that encompass plans to misinform the Nazis in the lead up to the invasions of Sicily and D-Day; well-known spies such as Kim Philby, Oleg Gordievsky, the woman known as Agent Sonya, Eddie Chapman; and his latest the escapees from the Nazi fortress, Colditz. 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. All books are based on sound research and his readers will welcome his latest effort PRISONERS OF THE CASTLE: AN EPIC STORY OF SURVIVAL AND ESCAPE FROM COLDITZ, THE NAZIS FORTRESS PRISON.
  
  As in all of his books. PRISONER OF THE CASTLE tackles subject matter with gusto and goes beyond the conventional story that may have been told before. In his latest effort he breathes new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told as over a period of four years allied prisoners tried to escape the impregnable Nazi fortress. Macintyre traces the evolution of World War II from within the prison to the point of liberation when inmates feared their rescue would not come quickly enough to save them. As described by the author, the prisoners were an amalgam of self-identified “communists, scientists, homosexuals, women, aesthetes and philistines, aristocrats, spies, workers, poets, and traitors” who created their own replica of pre-war society and culture within the prison as a means of survival.
  
  There are two components that dominate Macintyre’s monograph; the replica of the British social class structure that dominated prison life, and the integration of an eclectic and diverse group of prisoners whether British, Dutch, French, Polish, or American. There are other themes that the author introduces that include the Nazi leadership that ran Colditz, the ebbs and flows of the war which prisoners were able to keep up with by building a surreptitious radio, the planning of escapes and what happened to the escapees, the plight of Prominente – a group of influential and famous prisoners whom the Nazis sought to maximize a return, and how Berlin reacted to what was occurring in the prison.
  
  Running through the heart of Colditz ran a wide and almost unbridgeable social class divide. This was a camp for captured officers, but it also consisted of a fluctuating population of orderlies, and prisoners of other ranks who performed menial tasks for the Germans, but also served as personal servants for officers. Only officers were allowed to take part in escape attempts and orderlies were not expected to assist them. No orderly tried to escape because if caught the consequences could be devastating. If an officer was caught he was returned to the prison usually unharmed. There was a working class of soldiers and orderlies, and an upper class of officers, reflecting the class structure of the time.
  
  The officers had a British “boarding school mentality.” They tried to recreate the traditions of Eton and other private schools coopting behaviors such as bullying, enslaving individuals on the lower rung of society, “goon-baiting” Germans, and diverse types of entertainment. Those who did not attend a boarding school were rarely included.
  
  Macintyre describes the prison infrastructure that the prisoners studied assiduously to determine weak points and when they might escape. For most prisoners escaping became their life’s work and interestingly the different nationalities kept a score card highlighting successful escapes. The food was abysmal, but edible and it was offset by Red Cross packages of food, clothing, toiletries and other important items. Many packages contained objects hidden in food and other articles that might assist an escape. Prisoners cooperated in digging tunnels, one of which was known as Le Metro dug mostly by the French, performing logistics, obtaining and making tools, and often attempted an escape that involved a substantial number of men. On the other hand, there were prisoners who worked alone and wanted no part of being in a group. The prisoners created numerous committees to regulate prisoner life and tried to produce a sense of normality. One in particular was most important – if a prisoner wanted to try to escape he needed the approval of an Escape Committee headed by the highest ranking officers.
  
  Macintyre’s attention to detail is a strength of the book. He delves into strategies developed and objects needed, i.e.; the “arse keeper,” a cylinder to hide money, small tools and other objects in one’s anatomy was most creative. 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.. The author also includes how prisoners tried to keep themselves sane by developing their own entertainment. They set up theater performances, choirs, concerts, bands, jazz ensembles, plays etc. Sanity was a major issue and for those who remained at Colditz for years PTSD was definitely an issue.
  
  The characters Macintyre describes are a diverse and fascinating group. The following stand out. Alain Le Ray, a French Lieutenant in an elite mountain infantry force, and a self-contained individual who planned and tried to execute numerous escapes. Captain Pat Reid, a gregarious member of the British Royal Service Corps who shared his plans and was involved in many escape attempts. Joseph Ellison Platt, a self-righteous Methodist preacher tried, and usually failed to keep prisoners on the straight and narrow. Airey Neave, wounded at Calais used planning escapes as a tool to ease his depression. He would finally escape and work for MI9 to assist other prisoners. Birendranath Mazumdar, an Indian doctor and an officer who was treated poorly by his British “allies” reflecting the racist attitudes of British officers. He turned down working for the Germans but was still a victim of his compatriots. Giles Romilly, a nephew by marriage of Winston Churchill, was a journalist and communist captured in Norway. Christopher Layton Hutton designed and developed numerous escape kits and other inventions for prisoners. Michael Sinclair escaped from Poland who was obsessed with escaping and reuniting with the Anglo-Polish Society, a secret resistance network – he would make seven escape attempts, dying on the last one. Julius Green, a Jewish dentist from Glasgow developed the most prolific code-letter system and treated Nazi patients who disclosed valuable information that he was able to forward to the right authorities. Checko Chalovpka, a Czech pilot whose affair with Irmgard Wernicke, a dental assistant in town who was a spy who fed information provoked awe. Walter Purdy, a British supporter of Oswald Mosley turned against his fellow prisoners and made radio speeches condemning the allies – his fellow prisoners wanted to lynch him. Wing Commander Douglas Bader, a double amputee fighter pilot who was held in high esteem by most prisoners. Lee Carson, a beautiful and fearless journalist who traveled with American troops, who was known as the “Rhine Maiden.” There are also important Nazi figures highlighted by Lt. Reinhold Eggers, the Supreme Security Chief at Colditz who tried to be fair to the prisoners and was often overruled. Eggers is extremely important in that he maintained a written history of the camp that Macintyre had access to. Eggers appears almost as a background narrator of the story presenting his battle with prisoners and the thinking of the German occupiers.
  
  The turning point for prisoners came after D-Day. As long as the German Army was in charge of the camp treatment was palatable. However, as the war turned after D-Day and the July 1944 Plot that failed to assassinate Hitler more and more the SS and the Gestapo under Heinrich Himmler took over the camp. Escapees were warned, if you were captured you would be shot, not just returned to the barracks as before.
  
  I agree with Andrea Pitzer’s September 29, 2022, Washington Post review as she writes, “Macintyre tells the story of the POW camp that had more escape attempts than any other during World War II. He parades a brigade of officers, some of whom have since been lionized or found postwar fame through film, television and multiple books. Ultimately, Macintyre offers a more complete and complex account than is typical in popular histories from the Nazi era. Read in that light, this is less a fairy tale than an honest account of heroic but fallible men in captivity, made more compelling through the acknowledgment of their flaws and failures.”
  
  The strength of the book lies with Macintyre’s unique ability to weave a story involving so many different characters, not allowing individuals to get in the way of his material. Macintyre writes as if he is aware that his story is not a literary one, but a recounting the stories of many important men and stitching together their experiences from the disparate historical record.
  
• 
  Boudewijn

  Survival and escape from the Nazi fortress prison
  
  I don't know if non-fiction thriller is a legitimate genre but if it is, Ben MacIntyre would be the Stephen King of it. In this book MacIntyre takes on the iconic nazi-castle of Colditz, where high ranking Allied prisoners or prisoners that tried repeatedly to escape, were guarded by the Wehrmacht, which mostly abided by the rules of the Geneva Conventions. In one instance, after succesfully escaping to France, the Germans dutifully sent his suitcase after him.
  
  It is a strange paradox that the Germans decided to lock up the prisoners in a medieval castle, full of unknown passages, drains, cellars and abandoned sections, where medieval doors could be easily picked.
  
  Most of the time therefore is devoted to escape attempts in which creative prisoners tried all sorts of ways to escape - but almost all failed. Not only the attempts itself, but also the perilous journey to the Swiss border, some 400 miles away, gets it due attention.
  
  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. The French were antisemitic and preferred Pétain to de Gaulle. The Dutch, clean and orderly, were described by the Germans as model prisoners but in fact this was al a calculated sham - no Dutchman would ever bow to the Germans and in fact they were the most successful in their escape attempts, probably aided by the fact that they all spoke German.
  
  Prisoner abuse was rare, and in fact the German prison guard tended to be older non-combatants of World War I. In the later war years, the prisoners were actually better fed than the guards, thanks to the Red Cross packages being sent to them.
  
  MacIntyre writes an entertaining story but sticks to the facts. The prisoners were fed, well treated and - especially compared to other POW camps - had a better chance of survival. He doesn't romanticise the story, which perhaps happened in the Colditz folklore immediate after the war, but also points out the negative aspects of the prisoners and the hardships they endured.
  
  What rests is a vivid portrayal of the iconic castle and its inhabitants. An enjoyable read for everyone, even if you are not a World War 2 buff.
• 
  Stephen

  Interesting new book looking at the history of Colditz when it was home to various different POW's during WW2 and the characters involved some well known others not so. learnt some new things about the castle which didn't know beforehand
• 
  Susan

  This is an excellent account of Colditz, a special prisoner of war camp for special prisoners. These included those who had escaped from other camps, as well asthose who could be used as possible bargaining chips (minor members of the Royal Family, Churchill's nephew and others). Colditz was meant to be completely safe, impregnable and impossible to escape from. Of course, this did not quite work out to be the case.
  
  Although this has incredible accounts of those who tried to escape, often successfully, it is also the story of a very unique prisoner of war camp. It held many officers, who could not be forced to work for the Reich, and whom often imposed their own class rules and public school ways onto those inhabitants of the camp. There are theatre shows, tunnels, coded letters, M19, bizarre escape attempts and many wonderfully erratic and eccentric prisoners. Many are well known - such as Airey Neave, Pat Reid and Douglas Bader. I found the incredibly rude and rather unpleasant Bader curiously moving. When he was shot down, the Germans allowed the RAF to deliver a new leg, which seemed an incredible allowance during wartime. Once he had two prosthetics, he immediately hoisted himself out of a window and hobbled off - even the Germans, who he aimed endless venom at, seemed impressed.
  
  As time passed, power shifted and you felt the German officers balancing the best way to get out of the war alive. As such, this is an incredible tale, not only of a unique place and time, but of a world in minitature, with all its postive and negative aspects. The best and worst of mankind is here, from snobbery and racism, to incredible bravery and kindness. Ben Macintyre always tells a wonderful tale and I enjoyed this book as I have enjoyed all the others I have read by him.
• 
  Max Gwynne

  Ben Macintyre returns here, with his devilishly absorbing writing style, to examine one of the legendary POW camps used by the Germans to house Allied officers during the Second World War, Colditz Castle.
  
  Flowing chronologically, Macintyre effortlessly weaves a fascinating narrative of prisoner relations, (both between nationalities and the enemy ‘goons’ that held them captive), the effects of captivity on their mental health, prisoner rations and diets, and of course the ingenious escape methods cooked up by the plucky chaps detained there. All of which are explored in fascinating first hand accounts and rid of any biased viewpoints.
  
  An impeccably readable and enlightening read, ‘Colditz’ is undoubtedly now one of the most authoritative accounts of the legendary gothic castle and its residents throughout the war.
  
  
  
• 
  Brandon Forsyth

  Ben Macintyre has done it again. At this point, I should stop being surprised. Generally speaking, I’m more of a fan of his espionage tales than the broader war histories he’s done, but this takes all of those elements and boils it down to one incredible pressure-cooker of a story. Macintyre has always been a fantastic storyteller who makes history come alive, but you can almost feel the walls of Colditz closing in on you while reading this, and I think he’s outdone himself in conveying how history feels to its participants. I loved the way he explores the culture of the camp as well, looking at the ways race and sexuality and class defined the war experience of so many. Absolutely brilliant.
• 
  Ben

  Some great stories, but it can also be a bit slow. The perspective is also very limited.
  
  > the Germans thought they had escaped. In fact, they were hiding in a secret compartment under the chapel pulpit that had once been part of the great French tunnel. At night, they would emerge and be replaced by two other prisoners, while Harvey and Best slept in the vacated beds: the Germans sometimes conducted head counts of sleeping prisoners. They both took the names of other officers, in case they happened to be intercepted by the guards, and circulated like normal prisoners, until the next roll call: Harvey was “D. E. Bartlett” and Best became “Bob Barnes.” After an escape, a ghost would take the place of an escaper, to buy time, before disappearing back into the hole.
• 
  Kay

  What joy -- a new Ben Macintyre book!*
  
  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. What strikes me here, as in a previous book on,
  Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War, is his refusal to whitewash or sugarcoat anything. In Rogue Heroes, as I recall, the French Resistance came in for some less than flattering portrayal at times, and here Macintyre demonstrates the characters and actions of both the POWs and their German keepers with admirable even-handedness.
  
  There were some real surprises for me here, too. Who knew there was a link between one of the prisoners and Audrey Hepburn, for example? (Read most of the book and you'll find out what it was.) Aside from some of the most famous prisoners (a few of whom came in for a scathing analysis, such as flying ace Douglas Bader), the person who most intrigued me was the German security officer and former schoolmaster Reinhold Eggers, who doggedly thwarted many of the escape plans but who also won the admiration of some of the prisoners for his fairness and strict adherence to the Geneva Convention. He wrote a book after the war,
  Colditz: The German Story, which I think would make an appropriate follow-up to this book.
  
  The only faint criticism I have of this book is that it is, by nature, rather episodic. It does focus on a few of the prisoners, but there are many who come and go - whether by escape, transfer to another POW camp, or death. Still, I had no trouble following the cast of characters and events outside the castle's walls. It certainly made interesting reading after having seen the movie "The Great Escape" any number of times. No motorcycle stunts in this book (or at Stalag Luft III, for that matter), but fascinating nonetheless.
  
  *(Wow, I just looked over my book list and noted that this is the thirteenth book I've read by Ben Macintyre.)
• 
  David Highton

  An excellent book on Colditz, much more realistic and rounded than some of the previous accounts which seemed to glamourise the legend. Clearly very well researched from German officer sources as well as Allied accounts.
• 
  Liz

  I devoured this book. The number of remarkable stories it contains is incredible, the pacing is fast and taut, and the inclusion of original recollections from the prisoners and one of their captors adds tremendous texture. Transfixing.
• 
  Maine Colonial

  I received a free advance digital galley from the publisher, via Netgalley.
  
  Colditz, a forbidding German castle fortress, was the destination for Allied officer POWs, and some other high-profile prisoners. It’s important to know that Colditz was different from POW Stalags for enlisted men run by the often brutal Gestapo and SS guards. Colditz was staffed by Wehrmacht (regular army) personnel who generally complied with the Geneva Convention. According to the Geneva Convention, captors were allowed to set their enlisted prisoners to work—but not officers. As a result, most of the prisoners at Colditz were at the leisure to go stir crazy, unless they thought of other ways to keep their minds busy—like dreaming up escape plans.
  
  There were dozens of attempts from 1941 to 1945, and Macintyre chronicles them in all their variety, inventiveness, and risk. Despite what you might see in old movies, it was rare that an escape was successful and, even when they were, the escapee still had to make his way across hundreds of miles of hostile territory to get to Switzerland or another border. Few did, but you can imagine the spark it gave to the prisoners when they learned of a successful escape.
  
  The book isn’t just about the escape attempts, though. A closed community tends to have intensified social dynamics. On the positive side, the prisoners threw themselves into cultural pursuits, including putting on concerts, skits and plays. Hilariously, the British chaplain was appalled at prisoners dressing up as women for some of the plays and skits they acted out in the castle’s theater, thinking that even these ridiculously ersatz women would stir the men’s passions.
  
  At Colditz, there were various nationalities, primarily British, French, Dutch and Polish, and they didn’t always work well together. There were also problems with class conflict, racial prejudice, and anti-Semitism among some of the prisoners. Sadly, there were prisoners who shared many of the same fascist and racist attitudes as the Nazis. Some prisoners were communist sympathizers, which foreshadowed the Cold War conflict. These differences caused problems in themselves, but also served to further divide the prisoners when some suspected that there were moles among them tipping off the Germans to escape plans.
  
  A special intelligence operation in the UK, MI9, came up with dozens of ingenious ways of smuggling contraband and information to the Colditz prisoners. MI9 wisely equipped flyers with many hidden escape aids, in case they were shot down and captured. When you read about some of these bits of spycraft, you won’t be surprised to learn that their inventor inspired the creation of the Q character in the Bond films. Amazingly, Denholm Elliott, who played Q, was a POW of the Germans in WW2 (though not at Colditz).
  
  As always, Macintyre’s book reads more like a novel than a history. His research is deep and detailed, but he weaves it smoothly into his storytelling. Just as I hoped, he includes a postscript describing the postwar lives of the most notable characters. This factual story is more gripping and entertaining than any fiction about Colditz could hope to be.
• 
  Mal Warwick

  World War II prisoner-of-war escapes are a staple of adventure fiction. IMDB lists twenty-one films on the theme, most prominently the 1963 production The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough. In reality, however, successful escapes were rare. Britain’s Imperial War Museum notes that “Of the 170,000 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war in Germany in the Second World War, fewer than 1,200 of them managed to escape successfully and make a ‘home run.'” But the numbers fall far short of conveying the sheer drama in the German camps. And perhaps the most colorful examples have emerged from Colditz, the Nazi camp for Allied officers in Germany’s east from 1939 to 1945. Author Ben MacIntyre brings the drama into high relief in Prisoners of the Castle, a nonfiction rendering of life in the most famous of the nearly one hundred WWII Nazi POW camps.
  
  A MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON FOR ESCAPE-PRONE OFFICERS
  Beginning in 1940, Colditz Castle served as a maximum security prison for a special breed of Allied officers. Colditz held hundreds of French, British, Polish, Dutch, and Belgian officers who had been caught escaping from other POW camps. The population shifted dramatically over the years, with huge numbers of French officers sometimes housed for short periods. Understandably, a Briton himself, MacIntyre focuses on the British, some of whom were interned there for as long as five years. His biographical sketches of the best-known among them are fascinating portraits of extraordinary individuals. They’re easily worth the price of the book.
  
  DRAMATIC ESCAPES—AND BESTSELLING BOOKS
  Much of the drama in MacIntyre’s account centers on the almost continuous succession of attempted escapes, many of which were extremely elaborate and required months of preparation. One British officer tried eight times, but many others were almost equally persistent. Few were successful. Although there are reports of 174 who made their way outside the castle’s walls, only thirty-two of them reached home. Colditz was 400 kilometers from Switzerland, and the route led through vast expanses of heavily policed Nazi territory.
  
  Some of the few who did escape gained fame, becoming celebrities in Britain for years after the war. A surprising number kept diaries, as did at least one of the guards, which were among MacIntyre’s principal sources. And several wrote bestselling books about the experience, distorting and contributing to the enduring legend of Colditz in the British imagination. No doubt, it was their skill as writers which had a lot to do with making Colditz the most famous of the many WWII Nazi POW camps.
  
  THE “PROMINENTE“
  Someone high in the Nazi hierarchy—MacIntyre speculates that it was Heinrich Himmler—decided midway through the war that if Germany lost he might trade his own life for a handful of prominent British officers. When German troops captured Giles Romilly, Winston Churchill’s Communist nephew, he was sent to Colditz at Adolf Hitler’s personal order, the first of the “Prominente.” (Churchill despised the man, and in any case he would never have let such a connection influence his conduct of the war.)
  
  Soon, at orders from above, the sons of World War I Field Marshall Douglas Haig, the Viceroy of India, and the US Ambassador to Britain joined Romilly. Other Prominente included the commander in the Warsaw Uprising and a handful of members of the sprawling British royal family. And a man masquerading as the nephew of a top British commander bluffed his way into the group, although he was only a distant cousin.
  
  The Prominente were sequestered apart from the other officers and received better food. They were the most privileged among the prisoners at Colditz—until April 1945, when Adolf Hitler ordered that they be executed. The drama surrounding that order, which was never carried out, reveals a great deal about the state of the German military as the Nazi state disintegrated.
  
  CONDITIONS AT COLDITZ WERE SURPRISING
  MacIntyre’s account may upend your understanding of conditions and practices in a Nazi POW camp—at least those in camps where only Western officers were imprisoned. Until the later stages of the war, as Germany’s defeat first became likely and then certain, the British, French, Dutch, Polish, and Belgian officers interned at Colditz had free access to packages from the International Red Cross that brought them a bounty of food, warm clothing, and family news on a continuous basis. In fact, because of the food they received, they ate much better and were far healthier than the Germans guarding them. But only Western officers fared well, at least at Colditz. The Wehrmacht officer in direct command of the guards insisted they be treated fairly and respectfully.
  
  At other WWII Nazi POW camps, conditions even for officers might have been worse. And circumstances changed even at Colditz beginning in 1944, when the prison food, still the basis of their diet, grew steadily less plentiful and nutritious. Then the flow of Red Cross packages stopped, as the war came home to Germany. In the final months, the prisoners began to starve, as did the guards.
  
  Enlisted men received harsher treatment even at Colditz, which included forced labor as batmen to the officers. Elsewhere, Soviet POWs experienced far, far worse. According to Wikipedia, “It is estimated that at least 3.3 million Soviet POWs died in Nazi custody, out of 5.7 million. This figure represents a total of 57% of all Soviet POWs and it may be contrasted with 8,300 out of 231,000 British and U.S. prisoners, or 3.6%.” Most of the Soviet soldiers who died in German custody were among the 2.8 million taken in 1941-42 as the Nazi juggernaut raged across Russian land toward Moscow and Leningrad.
  
  ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  Ben MacIntyre (1963-) is a columnist for The Times of London and the author of at least fourteen works of nonfiction, of which this book is the latest. His father was an Oxford University historian, and he himself gained a degree in history from St. John’s College, Cambridge. So it seems no accident that all MacIntyre’s books are histories. He is best known for his writing about World War II and espionage. Five of his books have been made into documentaries for the BBC. They are all based on in-depth research that seems the equal of anything a diligent academic historian might display.
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  Rob Thompson

  An epic story of survival, class wars and daring escapes: inside the fortress walls of Colditz Castle
  
  Macintyre’s latest nonfiction thriller transports us inside this notorious Nazi prison. He suggests that prisoner boredom partly explains why there were more attempted escapes from Colditz than any other camp. And this helped inspire the supreme levels of ingenuity and invention accompanying those efforts.
  
  What's refreshing is that he tells the story of castle characters covering many nationalities. Not only that but he details the toxic British class system that overrode everything in the prison.
  
  A mixture of derring-do and a vivid, warts-and-all portrayal of the iconic castle.
  
  I listened to the abridged version on BBC Sounds.
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  Jill Robbertze

  Colditz Castle in Germany was used as a prison for troublesome Allied Officers who were prisoners of war and many were sent here as they were repeat offenders of escape attempts. I found this account so interesting; The daily lives of these officers (who were treated fairly well, and according to the Geneva Convention and it's international humanitarian law) and particularly their numerous and imaginative escape attempts....many ultimately unsuccessful but a number that were "home runs".
  Ben McIntyre is a master of Non-Fiction stories from WW2, especially those of spies, interesting characters, double agents and all aspects of espionage. I found it impossible to keep perfect track of the numerous characters and I also found some of the background history a little tedious at times but there was more than enough totally absorbing events to hold my attention to the end.
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  Kasia

  Fascinating.
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  Charlie Grozier

  8.5/10
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  Emma

  Tragic, human, riotously funny.
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  Elliott Petty

  What a refreshing book. I greatly enjoy WWII history but sometimes books on that topic are too brutal, and depressing. This book was a refreshing change because it dealt with German captors who kept their humanity and followed their legal responsibilities to their prisoners from France, Germany, Holland, And even India. Those prisoners are extremely interesting. Their repeated, elaborate, and sometimes bizarre attempts at escape are a nice change from the stories of Grunts on the front lines. Great book!
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  Julianne Saratsis

  A very unique window into WWII, as well as into prison life. The author himself narrates the audiobook - I truly enjoyed listening to the tales of this strange Nazi castle and the many brave men who were so determined to escape. Fascinating for history buffs!
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  Michael Kerr

  Macintyre has done it again. The myth of Colditz is treated to the author's objective scrutiny teasing apart unexpected aspects of the fortress POW camp such as the snooty class distinctions evident amongst the prisoners. Who knew that "other ranks" weren't permitted to escape? And the arrogance of some members of the upper crust is breathtaking. The pretty astonishing escape attempts make for a core theme here, and his depictions of the main players really sparks up the narrative--as Macintyre has achieved in his earlier works. The author also provides a good view of the differences in German military factions, contrasting the Wehrmacht with the SS and so on. This is a good read.
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  Janet Hutchinson

  Interesting read about Colditz Castle, a prison for “difficult” prisoners during the Second World War. These were prisoners who defied the Nazis, attempted to escape , or were just generally hard to handle. McIntyre does an excellent job of drawing each character out (on both the Allied and the Nazi side). Most of them attempted, (some many times) to escape, using ingenious and simple methods. I particularly liked the last chapter, where he followed up on what happed to the main characters.