Tales from Colditz Castle
Capt. Eggers
Colonel Glaesche
Lieutenant Colonel Prawitt
Colonel Schmidt
sitting from the left: Admiral v. Unrug (Pole); General Piskor (Pole); General le Bleu (Frenchman); standing from the left: Lt. Col. Lucic (Yugo); Col. De Smet (Belgian); Oblt. Stayner (Englishman); Major Engles (Netherlands)
Tales From Colditz Castle
English text translated by Wolfgang Ansorge and edited by Adrian Simmonds, Menbers of the Colditz Society of Great Britain. Special thanks to David Ray, Secretary of the Colditz Society, for contributing detailed escapes maps and the cover photograph, taken in 1974, and also for checking and correcting this edition.
Revised English edition 2003
Thomas Schaedlich and Wolfgang Ansorge
Published by Thomas Schaedlich, Pestalozzistrasse 1, 04680 Colditz, Germany
Typesetting and Printing by Druckerei Zwickau GmbH
All rights reserved, particularly extracts and quotations in full or part and in any form.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Introduction
Colditz Castle – Colditz Town
Setting up the OFLAG IV C POW Camp
A Camp for the “Naughty Boys”
The Diary of Georg Martin Schädlich
1941
1942
1943
Half Century later
Summary of Escape Attempts
Succesful Escapes from Colditz
Unsuccesful Escape Attempts
Escape Tunnels and Shafts in Oflag IV C (1941-43)
Recollections of Rudolf E. Denzler – Swiss Protecting Power representative
This book is dedicated
to all those who during the times of dictatorship and tyranny
were ordered to become tools of the system
and thus also ist victims.
It is specially dedicated to all WW2 Prisoners-of-War.
and in particular to my Grandfather GEORG MARTIN SCHAEDLICH 1898-1945
COLDITZ 2003 – Thomas Schaedlich
INTRODUCTION
This book records life and events in the Colditz POW camp during the years of 1940 to 1943 based on the authentic recollections and diaries found by the publisher. No claim is made that these documents present a complete picture, and no interpretation of the recorded events is attempted. On the whole the book speaks for itself Additionally, the supplementary information and the reproductions of authentic materials will enable the reader to form his own opinion about the POW camp.
To the best knowledge of the publisher this ist he first comprehensive publication about Oflag IV C issued in Germany - the camp has of course been well documented in numerous books and publications in France, and particularly in Great Britain, where it was also the subject of a major TV series.
This book is based largely on the recollections of Staff-Sergeant Gebhardt from Leipzig - who was the „Camp Sergeant-Major - affectionately nicknamed “Mussolini” by his prisoners who generally liked him as a friendly and honest character - and of some former German guards.
However, the largest part of the book consists of the complete un-edited reproduction of the diary kept by Corporal Martin Schaedlich - who was Gebhardt`s right hand man and as “Schliesser” (“ the man with all the keys”) the senior camp corporal, always on the spot, with full access to the guard book and thus an extremely reliable witness. Although not well liked by the prisoners who nicknamed him “La Fouine - the Ferret” or “Dixon Hawke” (a shady character from some American detective story) he was nevertheless well respected for his ability to „sniff-out“ tunnels and escape plots.
Being a good deal older than many of the prisoners he very much regarded them as „naughty boys“ who had to be watched - and from time to time - taught a lesson.
The diaries were found by the publisher, who is the grandson of Martin Schaedlich just a few years ago.
They are completely authentic and have been read with great interest by some former prisoners who know the German language well. It should be pointed out that they are written in the German of the day - a somewhat antiquated style compared to the present day.
However, they accurately reflect the spontaneity and thinking of the time.
Georg Martin Schaedlich bought the „Wettiner Hof” after World War 1
GEORG MARTIN SCHAEDLICH the author of the diary, was born 1898 in the “Teichhaus” in Colditz (still standing today), and was trained as a typesetter - thus his diary is typed.
He served in the First World War from 1916 to 1918 with a machine gun unit in Macedonia and in France where he took part in the Marne Battle of July 1918.
Back in Colditz after the war he acquired the local hotel “Wettiner Hof” and married Elsa Hanschmann. In the autumn of 1940 at the age of forty three he was called up again and sent to northern France with a logistics units. His sudden trasfer back to Colditz in 1941 was due to a request from both his wife and the Commandant of the POW camp. In his hotel at times wives of German officers serving in the castle were accommodated. Often officers lived there as well. As the owner of the hotel was serving in France, most of the hotel and restaurant operations had been closed down. It is also assumed that officer`s wives used their influence in this matter. For this reason, and having been a veteran of the First World War, he was transferred back; this happened quite frequently in such circumstances.
He was made the „Schliesser“ - the NCO with the keys - of the camp and was able to run the hotel when off duty. This also improved the social amenities for the soldiers of the castle, which at that time was an important aspect in maintaining the morale of the conscripts serving there.
His duties as “Schliesser” did not only consist of ensuring the security of the POW camp - he also had to accompany officers on their outing. These were mainly to obtain supplies, visits to the town`s optician or dentist. One of his “regulars” was the famous British air ace Douglas Bader.
Although Schaedlich was very serious and conscientious in the execution of his duties he nevertheless had - although this was strictly forbidden and could be punished by death - good and often friendly relations with some prisoners. Among other things he would lend them books from his personal library. In one of them the French prisoner, Lt. Jung, (he was the mail officer of the POW`s) left the “thank you note” shown here.
Another French prisoner gave him a camera, with which some of the photos in this book were taken. And another prisoner modelled for him a bust of his son Erhard from a photograph.
THANK-YOU-NOTE left in a book:
„The miller likes to hike, to hike, to hike (German folk song)
To Mr. Schaedlich, with grateful memories
……..and with forbidden writing materials!
Colditz Castle, Christmas 1941
Lt. Jung
French POW
Unfortunately these items were taken by the Soviets when they confiscated the “Wettiner Hof” hotel in 1945. When in the summer of 1944 all possible reserves were mobilised by the Wehrmacht High Command Cpl. Schaedlich was called to arms as well. He was transferred to the Italien front.
All that is further known of him there is that at the end of the war he was in a military hospital in Merano, northern Italy, where he died on June 6, 1945, probably of a stomach wound or disease.
Thomas Schaedlich
COLDITZ CASTLE AND COLDITZ TOWN
Both town and castle have a very long history and have been closely entwined throughout the centuries. The town originates from a settlement in the Slav Chutici province which also included the areas of Leipzig, Grimma and Leisnig, and consisted mainly of villages in unwooded areas. Colditz is first mentioned as a castle ward in 1046, which was given by the Emperor Heinrich III together with Rochlitz and Leisnig to his wife Agnes. At that time the castle was a simple manned fortification, and the surrounding villages had to support it with taxes.
In 1083 Emperor Heinrich IV gave the castle ward to Wiprecht von Groitzsch, who constructed a proper castle from the fortification. Colditz was bought in 1147 by the Swabian Duke Friedrich, and as he was elected German King in 1152 Colditz became a Stauffer property. From 1158 Colditz came under the jurisdiction of the Emperor who installed a man named Thimo as his warden. His family ruled Colditz until 1253, when the whole area was given as security for the dowry of imperial Princess Margrethe to the Margrave of Meissen. Thus Colditz came for the first time under the rule of the Wettiners. After that, for a brief period only, Colditz became again an imperial property, but in 1307 after the Battle of Lucka the imperial rule collapsed and its representatives became regional rulers. Under Thimo V Colditz achieved much recognition and influence.
In 1404 the Margrave of Meissen bought Colditz, and installed his own administrator in the castle instead of the previous nobleman. Over the following years Colditz developed into one of the many centres of this decentralised county. From 1464 Colditz was ruled by the Wittum government of Altenburg. Margarete, the widow of the Elector Frederick the Mild resided in the castle, and her son, the Elector Ernest, died here in 1486.
Colditz Castle around 1940
By the middle of the 16th century the castle had almost fallen to ruin when a revival took place as the Saxon Elector Augustus the Strong, who was a passionate huntsman, was very much attracted by the forests around Colditz. He had the castle repaired and added a large palace type building to it so that he and his large entourage could use it for their hunts. Right behind the castle an animal park was constructed, and in 1694 he bought the castle from his sister in law.
In 1708 J. F. Boettger made the first porcelain in Europe in Meissen. His “mix” also included clay from a pit between Colditz and Terpitzsch. Subsequently, under orders from the Elector of Saxony, Augustus the Strong, some 18,000 hundredweights were carted from Colditz to Meissen, mostly “for free” as was noted in the Colditz town records.
In 1804 a ceramics factory was opened in Colditz, and a further factory in 1841. They were merged in 1907, but only in 1958 could it be said that Colditz was now producing its own porcelain. Although the factory was closed after German re-unification it is hoped that a modern plant will be erected in its place and continue the town’s manufacturing tradition.
But interest in the castle waned quickly, and from 1753 onwards the court did not come here any more. The buildings began to dilapidate. But in 1800 a new use was found - as Almshouse for the Leipzig District and district workhouse for vagrants and the workshy.
In 1829 the castle was ordered to take in incurable mentally ill peopleand was used for this porpose until 1992. After 1946 the castle also contained a hospital and an old people’s home.
Thus Colditz castle can look back on a very long and very varied history, but it finally achieved international fame when it became a special prison camp for allied officers during World War 2. What happened during these years on both sides in the castle and town makes headlines even today, and is the subject of the next chapters of this book.
SETTING UP THE OFLAG IV C POW CAMP
On the 30th October 1939 the professional soldier, Staff Sergeant Ernst Gebhardt was ordered to report to the Elsner Barracks in Grimma. He was to set up the world famous Prisoner-of-War camp in Colditz Castle, and his recollections, discovered only in 1990, are a historically important document giving a first-hand account of the camp’s establishment, of his service there and of life in the camp.
“Now one or even two Officers joined each group and we could figure out that a staff unit was being established. Then the Commandant spoke - he greeted us and explained that we were the staff unit for a POW Officer camp, and that we would be taken by lorries at 17.00 hours to Colditz.
So, we thought, a POW camp. Well, that’s something different. Nobody had any prior experience - but at least we knew our destination, and were prepared to await all further events.”
Gebhardt continues to describe the arrival in Colditz and the first few days in the castle.
“A company of Territorials (Landsturm) was already there, occupying the rooms of the castle. We were assigned our quarters which were unfurnished. Throughout the day we were ferrying in with lorries, beds, wardrobes, etc. so that we could start furnishing our rooms. However, as these items appeared only in dribs and drabs, we started to move round the castle in “raiding parties”, and got lost many a time. Until only a few days previously, the castle had been an asylum for mentally handicapped, and most of their rooms were as they had left them. We were given two days to sort out this chaos and prepare everything for the accommodation of POWs. It was a hell of a lot of work, especially as we also had to prepare all the duty rooms required for the camp organization and staff as well.”
Up to this point Gebhardt was intended to be the Inspector of Parcels. But as the sergeant who was to act as Camp Sergeant Major was not up to the job for health reasons, the Commandant asked Gebhardt to carry out this function. His first job was now to arrange the accommodation for the expected prisoners-of-war.
“The following morning my duties in the POW camp - the occupants of which had not yet arrived - began in earnest. At first the individual rooms were equipped in accordance with a detailed plan with an average 8 beds. But there were also rooms with 5 - and a few with 30, 40, 50, and even over 60 beds. We had to prepare sleeping and living quarters for approximately 1000 POW Officers and 120 orderlies allocated to them.”
On the third of November at half past five in the morning the first transport of POWs arrived at Colditz station. Gebhardt recalls:
“Out of two cattle trucks crawled freezing and terribly stinking men with a lot of luggage. They were the 71 Polish orderlies with 2 Ukrainian Officers. So that’s what the people looked like who wanted to be in Berlin after 3 days! After a Polish Sergeant who spoke very good German lined up this rabble in marching order, we took them through the still very dark streets of the town up to the castle. Here the Poles were shown to their quarters on the ground floor of the cellarhouse, where they fell, tired as they were, onto their beds - fully dressed, which in some cases meant only shirt and trousers. They had been on the train for three days. In the afternoon the Abwehr (German Military Security) carried out the listing of the prisoners and searched their luggage for forbidden items, which were also properly recorded. After this was done, the orderlies had to start their work - getting the rooms for their Officers ready.
On the 4th November everything was ready, and the first transport of 30 Polish Officers arrived in the morning of the 5th. They brought a lot more luggage than their orderlies. When their details were recorded we found out that a large number of these Officers had served in the former German or Austrian Armies and had become Polish nationals after their homelands had been annexed to Poland at the end of WW I. They had then either volunteered or been drafted into the Polish Army. Some of them were “Volksdeutsche” (ethnic Germans).
A lot was found when their luggage was searched, and we confiscated several thousand marks in German or Polish money from the first 30. When all these formalities were over, the Polish Officers moved into their quarters. I also made a list of the orderlies; name, POW no., rank, profession, etc., and allocated them to various duties. At first I selected the kitchen staff. A professional chef was made the cook and given 6 assistants. As the kitchen for the German staff was not yet ready, for some time the former asylum kitchen was shared with the prisoners which did not cause any problems as there were a large number of cooking pots available. But later it became more difficult, so the work to get the German kitchen ready was accelerated. On the 7th November a single Polish Officer arrived, and during the next few days the number rose to 39 Officers. On the 12th November, a transport of over 500 men, including same Generals, arrived at Colditz station at 17.00 hours. It took until 21.00 hours before they arrived in the camp. According to the accommodation plan, this transport should have been in their quarters by 24.00 hours, had it not been ordered suddenly to change these arrangements. This meant that we had to move everything from the prepared rooms into other rooms, and we were more dead than alive when everything was finished at 3.30 in the morning.
In the following afternoon a further 8 arrived, and the numbers increased daily until, together with the Schuetzenhaus camp, there were nearly 1100 captured Polish Officers. Also the number of orderlies increased to 120. In the castle camp we divided the prisoners into 3 companies which filled nearly the entire courtyard during the morning and evening roll-call. The higher ranking Officers, including 11 Generals, were accommodated in the Saalhaus (Assembly hall building) - there were 46 in all.”
In his recollections Gebhardt gives a detailed and vivid account of the first few days of the camp. Until the 18th of May 1940 only Polish officers and their orderlies were imprisoned in the castle, and Gebhardt writes this about this “Polish Time”
“As the Poles were eating garlic all the time and smoked like chimneys, there was a pervading stench in their quarters which made you feel sick. The only way to reduce this stench was to go round their rooms smoking a cigarette. Because during my duty hours I had to spend a lot of time in the POW quarters, my own clothing was smelling of garlic; so much, in fact, that from time to time I had them steamed in the delousing chamber. After a while we also had established a canteen, barber shop, clothing shop (cobbler and tailor), and also the parcel inspection office was set up. An urgent requirement was for the furnishing of detention cells - we had 12 which were always fully occupied. Reasons for punishment were usually lack of respect towards German Officers, late arrival at roll-call, etc. The early prisoners, however, did not make any attempts to escape. During the day they played cards for most of the time, or read, or played table tennis and other games which they had received from the Geneva Red Cross. In the canteen, daily takings increased steadily - they were buying the most useless things because money did not matter - they had plenty of it.
They had also formed an orchestra which gave concerts in the assembly hall, and they also organised drama performances. Twice daily the Poles were marched into the castle park, otherwise they spent their time in their rooms, which were turned into a “Polish Mess”, as whatever these gentlemen dropped, they simply left lying on the floor, which looked like a rubbish tip. After their orderlies had cleaned up, it took only a quarter of an hour for the whole place to look like a pig-sty again.”
Gebhardt also reports that there were a number of Polish officers of German origin. When this was properly established they were released immediately.
“The Officers did not like to be reminded of the war, it was embarrassing for them to be reminded of it as they had expected a different result. From the companies we separated all ethnic Germans who were released once their German origins were properly established. From time to time some Poles went into the sick bay, new arrivals came and other changes took place.”
It became absolutely necessary to de-louse all new arrivals in the camp. This became a routine and produced the desired results. But frequently it happened that prisoners also put their leather gloves, belts, braces or shoes into the delousing machine. It was a great amusement for all when shoes came out “children’s size”, belts were hard as glass and broke immediately, and braces had shrunk into a messy lump.
On 18.05.1940 all Polish prisoners were moved from the camp. The Kommandantur was quite pleased about this as the Poles had really messed up their quarters. It was hoped that new arrivals would show better behaviour. This was to be the case, but first all the accommodation had to be completely cleaned, renovated and refurnished.
The first new transport arrived in the camp on the 25th April - they were 96 Belgian officers with 12 orderlies. This number increased over the next few weeks to 723 prisoners. Gebhardt writes about this “Belgian Time”:
“A particular habit of the Belgians was that they always had their hands in their pockets. Discipline was hardly known to them, they assured us frequently that this also applied to the Belgian Army. They could only be called a real rabble!
And on top of this, the Belgians were very tight - they even expected to get cigarettes from the camp canteen for nothing. Therefore the canteen turnover dropped considerably. On the whole, the Belgians, particularly the Flamands, caused us little trouble, and they made no escape attempts.
The Belgian Officers had brought with them 6 bunker dogs of various breeds. Their barking at night was incredible! But soon this was stopped - when one of these dogs left his “mark” on the bottom steps of the staircase and the camp Commandant had the misfortune of treading into it, the dogs were banned. I had to round them up and take them away. The Belgians protested against the removal of their dogs and hid them in the most improbable places. But we found them all and took them to the local police station where they were given free to dog lovers. There were some very handsome animals among them, but also some genuine mongrels.
In the course of time, we found during our inspection patrols forbidden escape equipment which the POWs had somehow managed to smuggle past our controls and hidden in their rooms. It was mainly Belgian and German money, compasses, unopened tins of food, maps and other items. We were getting more and more experienced in finding these hiding places, often in the most impossible spots. No space, whether in the attic or the cellar, under the floorboards in the dormitories, in the chimneys, the tiled stoves or in the walls, was safe any more. Every spot that could possibly be used as a hiding place had to be examined and therefore regularly checked. We were always pleased about the astonished faces of the Officers when we yet again found a hiding place which they had considered to be completely safe.
On August 3rd 1940 it was found that a Corporal had promoted himself and was leading a very pleasant life as a Lieutenant - he was immediately transferred to the orderlies where under general laughter he had to share their work.”
On the 27th of August most of the prisoners were moved to another camp. Only the Flemish officers with their orderlies remained in the castle until they were sent to Antwerp and released from captivity.
Thus the “quiet” days of Oflag IV C came to an end. Until now none of the prisoners had tried to escape. But this was to change dramatically, as Gebhardt writes in his recollections:
“And a faint rumour was that Colditz was to become a Straflager (penal camp) for POW Officers who had escaped and been recaptured. This rumour was to become reality. We now had to prepare ourselves for many nationalities.”
A CAMP FOR THE “NAUGHTY BOYS”
From now on allied prisoners had to “earn” their transfer to Colditz, by having attempted to escape from another POW camp at least once. They were then to be taken to Colditz, which was considered to be escape-proof.
But the camp would not only house POWs - also persons of some importance for the Reich so called “Prominente” were to be kept in the castle. They included Giles Romilly, the nephew of Winston Churchill who was a journalist and got caught at Narvik. After an attempted escape he arrived in Colditz on the 25th of January 1941. He was accommodated in his own room, separate from the other prisoners. During the day he could move freely in the castle courtyard, but at night he was kept under guard in his room. Other “Prominente“ prisoners included later. Another early batch of prisoners were 64 Dutch colonial officers who had refused to sign an undertaking not to carry out any hostile acts against the German Reich after their release. Therefore, they had to remain prisoners.
The first British prisoners had also arrived - 6 of them - and with these and the other new arrivals from other nationalities Colditz became very lively. Gebhardt continues in his report.
“We now had 6 nationalities in the camp and it was getting interesting. We asked ourselves “How will they get on among themselves?“. An unnecessary question as they were all sticking together - mutual visits in their quarters, language lessons, games - and many close friendships were forged, particularly between the English and the Poles. On July 30th 1941, 11 Flemmen arrived and because of their linguistic similarities they were assigned as orderlies to the Dutch. They turned out to be the most decent, soldierlike and most cooperative orderlies we had in the camp. Many of them spoke very good German, but we could also understand their Flemish mother tongue quite well. They didn’t care much for the English POWs, but got on fairly well with the other nationalities. On the 12th December 1941 they were transported to Antwerp and released.
Over the years the quarters of the various nationalities were changed around a few times, but this plan shows the most frequently used layout
Absolutely genuine looking rubber stamps - made by the Dutch from linoleum or potatoes
Unfortunately the producer of this work permit was unable to finish his work. He was surprised by Schaedlich, who confiscated this unfinished letter heading
Peaked cap and insignia - all made by POWs
Whilst we had no difficulties with our early prisoners (Poles and Belgians), this had now changed.”
Among the prisoners there were technicians, engineers and experts in all manner of fields. From now on there was to be digging, scraping, sawing, probing and burrowing all over the castle. The tools required for these activities were either pinched or “manufactured” - from bedsteads, stair case railings, window hooks and such like. Soon the POWs had made false keys for every door. But in order to escape successfully they also needed German money, maps, clothing and disguises, false papers etc. Whatever could not be smuggled in - cleverly hidden in Red Cross parcels contents and “missed” by the parcel inspection - had to be obtained by other means or “produced” in the castle.