Colditz Castle

Colditz Castle is a castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany ({{coor dms|51|7|38.208|N|12|48|30.384|E|}}). Used as a workhouse for the indigent and a mental institution for over 100 years, it became notorious as Oflag IVc or Offizier Lager IVc (Officer's Camp IVc), a prisoner-of-war camp for "incorrigible" allied officers who had repeatedly escaped from other camps, as well as volksfeindlich (those "treasonous against the people") during World War II.

Suggested reading

This is not a complete bibliography of Colditz books. Most of these books are out of print now, but should still be available at larger libraries (or through their Interlibrary Loan), or via online vendors.

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Books in whole or in part about Colditz POW camp:

Ron Baybutt, Johannes Lange was longtime Colditz town resident who took the escape attempt photographs.

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• Camera in Colditz. London: Holder and Stoughton, 1982.
• Colditz: The Great Escapes. Boston: Little, Brown, 1983.

Michael Booker, avid UK collector of Colditz memmorabilia.

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• Collecting Colditz and Its Secrets: A Unique Pictorial Record of Life Behind the Walls. London: Grub Street, 2005.

A. Peter Bräuer and Gerhard Weber, detailed history of Colditz town and castle.

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• Colditz: Sächsische Stadt im Herzen Europas. Bonn: Pontes, 1990.

Paul Brickhill, former POW himself, and author of The Great Escape.

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• Reach for the Sky: The Story of Douglas Bader, Legless Ace of the Battle of Britain. New York: W.W. Norton, 1954.

Jack Champ and Colin Burgess, Champ was Colditz POW.

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• The Diggers of Colditz. Kenthurst: Kangaroo, 1997.

Henry Chancellor, tells the prisoners' own stories based on interviews with many of them.

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• Colditz: The Untold Story of World War II's Great Escapes. London: Hodder and Stoughtton, 2001.

Gris Davies-Scourfield, Colditz POW.

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• In Presence of my Foes: A Memoir of Calais, Colditz, and Wartime Escape Adventures. London: Wilton, 1991.

David Dunn, Colditz tour guide.

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• Colditz: A Visitor's Historical Guide: Based on the Book, Colditz: The Inside Story. Wakefield, UK: Lindley printers, no date.

Reinhold Eggers, Colditz Duty officer, then Security officer from November 1940 until April 1945.

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• Colditz: The German Story. Translated and Edited by Howard Gee. London: Robert Hale, 1961.
• Escape From Colditz: 16 First-Hand Accounts. Edited by John Watton. London: Robert Hale, 1973.

Green, Julius Morris, Colditz POW.

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• From Colditz in Code. No location: R. Hale, 1971.

F. Guigues, Colditz French POW.

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• Colditz, 1941-1943. 1971? .

Lord Harewood, Colditz 'Prominenten' POW.

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• The Tongs and the Bones. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1981.

Larive, E.H., Colditz Dutch POW.

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• The Man Who Came in from Colditz. No location: R. Hale, 1975.

Kenneth Lockwood, Colditz POW, edits this mostly then (and now) picture book.

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• Colditz: A Pictorial History. London: Caxton, 2001.

S.P. Mackenzie, Colditz compared to other POW camps.

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• The Colditz Myth: British and Commonwealth Prisoners of War in Nazi Germany. Oxford: Oxford, 2004.

Walter Morrison, Colditz POW for trying to steal a German airplane.

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• Flak and Ferrets: One Way to Colditz. London: Sentinel, 1995.

Airey Neave, First British Colditz escapee, and MI9 member.

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• They Have Their Exits. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1953.

Jack Pringle, Colditz POW.

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• Colditz Last Stop: Eleven Prisons, Four Countries, Six Escapes. London: William Kimber, 1988.

Patrick Reid, British escapee, his first book is basis for UK TV Series Colditz, which ran from October, 1972 until April, 1974.

Related Topics:
Patrick Reid - October - 1972 - April - 1974

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• The Colditz Story. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1952.
• The Latter Days . London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1953.
• Escape from Colditz: The Two Classic Escape Stories-The Colditz Story and Men of Colditz-in one Volume. New York: Lippincott, ?
• Colditz: The Full Story. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1984.
• Prisoner of War. New York: Beaufort Books Publishers, 1984.

Jim Rogers, Colditz POW.

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• Tunneling into Colditz: A Mining Engineer in Captivity. London: Robert Hale, 1985.

Giles Romilly and Michael Alexander, both 'Prominenten' Colditz POWs.

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• Hostages of Colditz. New York: Praeger,1954.

Georg Martin Schädlich, Colditz guard, and 'keeper of the keys'.

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• Colditzer Schlossgeschichten. Colditz, Germany: SWING, 1992.
• Tales from Colditz Castle. Translated by Wolfgang Ansorge. Colditz, Germany: Thomas Schädlich, 2003.

C.E.T. Warren and James Benson, Colditz POW.

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• Will Not We Fear: The Story of H.M. Submarine Seal and of Lieutenant Commander Rupert Lonsdale. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1961.

J.E.R. Wood, first postwar Colditz POW book.

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• Detour: The Story of Oflag IVC. Illustrated by Lieut. J.F. Watton. London: The Falcon Press, 1946.

Other Books (where Colditz is at least mentioned):

Barry, Rupert.

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• "The First Escape of the War."

Cash, William.

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• "Escape to Colditz". The Spectator, (7 April 1990), pp. 14-15.

Cavendish, Marshall.

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• Escape from the Swastika. London: Marshall Cavendish Books, 1975.

Gleeson, Janet.

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• The Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story. New York: Warner Books, 1998.

Graham, Burton.

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• Escape from the Nazis. Secaucus, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1975.

Langer, Herbert.

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• The Thirty Years' War. Translated by C.S.V. Salt. New York: Dorset Press, 1978, 1990.

McAvoy, George E.

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• A Citizen-Soldier Remembers, 1942-1946: 149th Armored Signal Company of the 9th Armored Division. Littleton, New Hamspire, Crawford Press, 1991.

McCombs, Don, and Fred L. Worth.

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• World War II: 4,139 Strange and Fascinating Facts. New York: Wing Books, 1983.

Melton, H. Keith.

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• The Ultimate Spy Book. New York: DK Publishing, 1996.

Mills, John.

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• Up in the Clouds, Gentlemen Please. New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1981.

Nafziger, George.

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• Lutzen & Bautzen: Napoleon's Spring Campaign of 1813. Chicago, Illinois: Emperor's Press, 1992.