Colditz

Prisoners of the Castle

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Colditz

By: Ben Macintyre

Narrated by: Ben Macintyre

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

In a forbidding Gothic castle on a hilltop in the heart of Nazi Germany, an unlikely band of British officers spent the Second World War plotting daring escapes from their German captors. Or so the story of Colditz has gone, unchallenged for 70 years. But that tale contains only part of the truth.

The astonishing inside story, revealed for the first time by bestselling historian Ben Macintyre, is a tale of the indomitable human spirit, but also one of class conflict, homosexuality, espionage, insanity and farce. Through an astonishing range of material, Macintyre reveals a remarkable cast of characters, wider than previously seen and hitherto hidden from history, taking in prisoners and captors who were living cheek-by-jowl in a thrilling game of cat and mouse.

From the elitist members of the Colditz Bullingdon Club to America's oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent, the soldier-prisoners of Colditz were courageous and resilient as well as vulnerable and fearful -- and astonishingly imaginative in their desperate escape attempts. Deeply researched and full of incredible human stories, this is the definitive book on Colditz.

© Ben MacIntyre 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Ben MacintyreBen MacintyrePenguin

Europe

Germany

Military

War

Thought-Provoking

Europe Germany Military War Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

A fine feat of storytelling . . . will surely become the last word on the subject (Patrick Bishop)

Like watching a black-and-white photograph being colourised . . . rich in humour and quirky detail . . . another compelling narrative (Clare Mulley)

Nuanced and gripping . . . told with sensitivity and insight, with an eye for telling detail (Gerard DeGroot)

Fascinating

Every Ben Macintyre book is a treat (Jane Thynne)

Entertaining yet objective and often moving

Macintyre's genius has long been to excavate the nuance, subtlety and ambiguity beneath the myths he explores . . . remarkable (Matthew D'Ancona)

Another fine history . . . His unerring eye for the telling detail that can illuminate a greater story is apparent in Colditz (Ronan McGreevy)

Macintyre so seamlessly fuses so many different accounts that their compilation creates something more profound than a simple escape yarn: a biography of the prison itself and the world detainees built there (Andrea Pitzer)

Macintyre recreates the daring escape stories with punchy flair . . . a lively page-turner (NJ McGarrigle)

Most relevant

A riveting telling of a story I thought I knew well, having watched the 1950’s movie and subsequent 1970’s TV series.
This book sheds light on elements of the story previously untold. Highly recommend.