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Prisoners of the castle : an epic story of survival and escape from Colditz, the Nazis' fortress prison
Book |
First edition. |
Signal,
[Toronto] :
2022.
- 4 of 10 Copies Available at Libraries in Niagara Cooperative (Show)
- 0 of 2 Copies Available at Fort Erie Library System
- 1 current hold with 10 total copies.
| Branch | Call Number | Location | Holdable? | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centennial | HISTORY EUROPE MACIN 2022 | New Books | Copy hold / Volume hold | Checked out |
| Centennial | HISTORY EUROPE MACIN 2022 | New Books | Copy hold / Volume hold | Checked out |
About
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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Details
- ISBN: 9780771001970
- Physical Description: printxvii, 342 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cm
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: [Toronto] : Signal, 2022.
- Bibliography, etc. Note: Includes bibliographical references and index.