Colditz castle - bloody brilliant.

I was touring half of Europe last week on my motorbike, one of the main things we wanted to see was Colditz. It's right over the other side of Germany, which was kind of the point, but what a fantastic place to visit. Well worth the effort.

Nobody anywhere else in Germany has even heard of it. It's just not famous to them, to the point that when tourists started turning up after the wall came down in '89, the people of Colditz didn't understand what the hell they were interested in.

The escape attempts were just relentless and ranged from utterly ingenious (gliders, papier mache dummies, carved wooden skeleton keys that still worked when a former inmate tried one he brought back in 1993) to sheer brass neck (escaping from solitary after being put in there for trying to escape, dressing as german officers and walking out of the gate, studying the mannerisms and accent of one of the officers then trying to order guards from their posts disguised as him). The guards must have been driven nuts. These guys just never stopped.

Half of the castle is now refurbed as a youth hostel and even though some of the rest of it needs a lot of work it's a brilliant place to see if you are remotely interested in it.

You've probably read it already Danny but 'Colditz' by Henry Chancellor is a excellent book of the stories about Colditz, I hope to visit one day.
In fact I'm gonna read the book again it was so good. Any pics?

I hadn't read up on it Gareth. I have bits in my head from general knowledge stuff, but dad was the one who suggested this. I'll be reading up plenty now I have been round the place. I didn't take many pics as the weather was a bit rubbish and my little travel camera probably isn't terribly resistant to water. But there are a few in the album for the trip here on facebook and a video diary thingummy to follow.

Pictures look great Danny, looks like you had a good time.

Yeah looks like a great adventure there Danny, great pics like Sean said, nice one.

I've been to Colditz too. Germany is MASSIVE.

It's a tiny village and it ain't really much of a castle other than it's up a bit. I've never read a book about it though.

Colditz is fun. Well worth it.

Bet you loved in Danny

It is a small place and nothing much to the rest of it. Did you do the tour Doug? That's what made it. Although it may not have been running all that long, I get the impression that they are only catching up with the idea that they are a tourist attraction in the last few years. The castle is up a bit but a lot of the point was that it was up a bit on a bloody great lump of granite that rather hampered tunnelling.

Awesome, hope to see that before I die.

Great story and fab pics. Ive just read Fatherland so brilliant to see the pics of Berlin!

We went to Colditz a couple of years ago - with our German friends! Thoroughly enjoyed it - could see David McCallum with that glider!!

Danny,

I went ages ago, about 8 years ago or something. There was no tour on, although we had a look at what we could. And yeah..!!! It is kinda on a big piece of rock. I understood the villagers didn't even know it was POW place and it was no suprise. Well worth the visit. If you go with German friends, you can play fun games. I have German rellies, so I've seen quite a bit that way.

Great stuff.

Fascinating - I remember reading a book as a teenager, and being really taken up with the whole story of Colditz. The refusal to give up, and the ingenuity displayed by the inmates is what makes the 'legend' really.

My father was one of that generation, and very much that type (he wasn't in Europe during the War, though - he landed up in Burma) - it's true to say that there was an attitude and a spirit to these guys that seems to be uniquely British. I know it's turned into a bit of a cliche - stiff upper lip and all that - but they were definitely very real! It's no exaggeration to say that I never once saw my father lose his temper, or get visibly ruffled or upset by anything, in my entire life. You could argue that it was all repressed emotion/ bottling things up, and all that sort of thing, but certainly nothing reached the surface that would ever make you think there was much of a problem. He just coped with stuff - no fuss, no bother. "Keep Calm and Carry On" as they used to say (and have now just revived)!

We probably built an Empire on that approach to life!