Prisoners of the castle : an epic story of survival and escape from Colditz, the Nazis' fortress prison
The myth of Colditz, the most infamous prison in history, has stood unchallenged for 70 years: prisoners of war, mustaches firmly set on stiff upper lips, defying the Nazis by tunnelling out of a grim Gothic castle on a German hilltop. Like all legends, that story contains only part of the truth. In Ben Macintyre's brilliant, cliche-smashing new history, he offers a vision of Colditz previously unimagined, a story of much more than an escape, just as the prison's inmates were far more complicated than the cardboard saints depicted in post-war pop culture. Colditz was a miniature replica of office-class society at the time, only far stranger: a lethal, high stakes boarding school surrounded by barbed wire, initially containing prisoners of all Allied nations, including Canada, but eventually only Britons and Americans, a heavily guarded cage with its own culture, eccentricities, and internal tensions. In intimate and compelling detail, Macintyre explores what happens to people when they are locked up without committing a crime and with no idea when or if they might be liberated. Colditz, then, is a tale of the indomitable human spirit, but also one of snobbery, class conflict, hidden sexuality, bullying, espionage, boredom, insanity, and farce. With access to declassified archives, private papers, and never-before-seen photos, the author reveals a remarkable cast of characters, previously hidden from history: Indian doctor Birendranath Mazymdar, the only non-white prisoner, whose ill-treatment, hunger-strike and eventual escape reads like fiction; Florimond Duke, America's oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; Christoper Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture escape aids for POWs, from maps hidden in playing cards to a compass secreted inside a walnut; and many others. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed stunning new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.
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- ISBN: 9780771001970
- Physical Description xvii, 342 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cm
- Edition First edition.
- Publisher [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 2022.
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Additional Information
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100 | 1 | . | ‡aMacintyre, Ben, ‡d1963- ‡0(DLC)n 92021540 ‡0(NFPL)17856 |
245 | 1 | 0. | ‡aPrisoners of the castle : ‡ban epic story of survival and escape from Colditz, the Nazis' fortress prison / ‡cBen Macintyre. |
250 | . | ‡aFirst edition. | |
264 | 1. | ‡a[Place of publication not identified] : ‡b[publisher not identified], ‡c2022. | |
264 | 1. | ‡a[Toronto] : ‡bSignal, ‡c2022. | |
300 | . | ‡axvii, 342 pages : ‡billustrations (some color), maps ; ‡c25 cm | |
336 | . | ‡atext ‡btxt ‡2rdacontent | |
337 | . | ‡aunmediated ‡bn ‡2rdamedia | |
338 | . | ‡avolume ‡bnc ‡2rdacarrier | |
504 | . | ‡aIncludes bibliographical references and index. | |
520 | . | ‡aThe myth of Colditz, the most infamous prison in history, has stood unchallenged for 70 years: prisoners of war, mustaches firmly set on stiff upper lips, defying the Nazis by tunnelling out of a grim Gothic castle on a German hilltop. Like all legends, that story contains only part of the truth. In Ben Macintyre's brilliant, cliche-smashing new history, he offers a vision of Colditz previously unimagined, a story of much more than an escape, just as the prison's inmates were far more complicated than the cardboard saints depicted in post-war pop culture. Colditz was a miniature replica of office-class society at the time, only far stranger: a lethal, high stakes boarding school surrounded by barbed wire, initially containing prisoners of all Allied nations, including Canada, but eventually only Britons and Americans, a heavily guarded cage with its own culture, eccentricities, and internal tensions. In intimate and compelling detail, Macintyre explores what happens to people when they are locked up without committing a crime and with no idea when or if they might be liberated. Colditz, then, is a tale of the indomitable human spirit, but also one of snobbery, class conflict, hidden sexuality, bullying, espionage, boredom, insanity, and farce. With access to declassified archives, private papers, and never-before-seen photos, the author reveals a remarkable cast of characters, previously hidden from history: Indian doctor Birendranath Mazymdar, the only non-white prisoner, whose ill-treatment, hunger-strike and eventual escape reads like fiction; Florimond Duke, America's oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; Christoper Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture escape aids for POWs, from maps hidden in playing cards to a compass secreted inside a walnut; and many others. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed stunning new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told. | |
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650 | 0. | ‡aWorld War, 1914-1918 ‡xPrisoners and prisons, German. ‡0(DLC)sh2008113833 ‡0(NFPL)117051 | |
650 | 0. | ‡aWorld War, 1914-1918 ‡0(DLC)sh 85148236 ‡zGermany ‡zColditz. ‡0(DLC)n 83011353 | |
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