About:
Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis’ Fortress Prisonby Ben Macintyre is the true story of the POWs who tried to escape from Colditz Castle.
- 384 pages
- Publisher : Crown
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 0593136357
My rating for Prisoners of the Castle— 5
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More Books by Ben Macintyre*
Thoughts:
During World War II, Germany opened Colditz Castle as a prisoners of war camp for those who tried to escape from other camps. These defiant prisoners did not give up their escape attempts despite the high walls or guards. Quite the opposite, some of the escapes were creative, inventive and daring.
This gripping story is told much humor and reverence to the POWs, and even their guards. WhilePrisoners of the Castleby Ben Macintyre certainly doesn’t glorify the Whermarcht, it dos not vilify them either. It was, after all, the duty of the POWs to escape, and of the guards to stop them. Both sides respected each other, and solitary confinement was the worse punishment for attempted escapes.
I learned a lot from reading this book. I’ve heard of Colditz before but never read a history of the castle and the camp within it. The author said that a long-running BBC show was based on the memoirs of those within the castle’s walls. I can see how such a show would run for years, and I can only assume that some of the stories inspired episodes of Hogan’s Heroes (which I saw in reruns).
The book also has it dark side, the hopelessness, living conditions, and a mini-society rooted in classism and racism have found their place in Colditz as much as it did outside of it. Mr. Mcintyre is a gifted writer, the history comes alive and the audacious escapes are fascinating.
Buy Prisoners of the Castle from Amazon.com*
More Books by Ben Macintyre*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I got this book for free
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