Colditz Castle in April 1945. Photo taken by a U.S. Army soldier.

The Colditz coat of arms over the gate to the outer courtyard

The porphyry mannerist portal of the church house carved by Andreas Walther II in 1584.

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Escape From Colditz

Colditz Castle is a castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany (51°7′50.82″N, 12°48′26.94″E). more...

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Used as a workhouse for the indigent and a mental institution for over 100 years, it became notorious as Oflag IV-C a prisoner-of-war camp for "incorrigible" Allied officers who had repeatedly escaped from other camps. The Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) made Colditz a Sonderlager (high-security prison camp), the only one of its type within Germany. Hermann Göring — holder of the singular rank Reichsmarschall ("Field Marshal of the Empire") — even declared Colditz "escape-proof". This was in part because of its lack of escapes during its term as prison camp in World War I, but mostly due to it being the only German prisoner-of-war camp with more guards than prisoners. Yet despite this audacious claim, there were multiple escapes by British, Canadian, French, Polish, Dutch, and Belgian inmates.

History

The original castle

In 1046, Henry III of the Holy Roman Empire gave the burgher of Colditz permission to build the first documented settlement at the site. In 1083, Henry IV recommended Markgraf Wiprecht of Groitzsch to develop the castle site, which Colditz accepted. In 1158, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa appointed Thimo I "Lord of Colditz", and major building works began. Around 1200, the actual city around the market was established. Forests, empty meadows, and farmland were settled and organized next to the pre-existing slavic villages Zschetzsch, Zschadraß, Zollwitz, Terpitzsch and Koltzschen. Around that time the larger villages Hohnbach, Thierbaum, Ebersbach and Tautenhain also emerged.

In the Middle Ages, the castle played an important role as a watchtower for the German Emperors and therefore was the center of the Reich territories of the Pleißenland (anti-Meißen Pleiße-lands). Around 1404, the nearly 250-year-old dynasty of the Lords of Colditz ended when Thimo VIII sold Colditz Castle for 15,000 silver marks into the possession of the Wettin family dynasty.

As a result of territorial politics in Saxony, the city and state of Colditz was officially established in the Margravate (county) of Meißen. In 1430, the Hussites attacked Colditz and set city and castle on fire. Around 1464, renovation and new building work on the Castle was carried out by Prince Ernst, who died in Colditz Castle in 1486. Under Frederick the Wise and Johann the Gentle, Colditz was a royal residence of the Electors of Saxony.

The rebuilt castle

In 1504, the servant Clemens the baker accidentally set Colditz on fire, and the city hall, church, castle and a large part of the city went up in flames. In 1506, reconstruction began and new buildings were raised around the rear castle courtyard. In 1523 the castle park was turned into one of the largest zoos in Europe. In 1524, rebuilding of the upper floors of the castle began. The castle was reconstructed in a fashion that corresponded to the way it was divided up — into the cellar, the royal house and the banquet hall building. There is nothing more to be seen of the original fortified castle, where the present rear castle is located, but it is still possible to make out where the original divisions were (the Old or Lower House, the Upper House and the Great House).