Editing Colditz Castle (section)

== Use as POW camp ==
[[File:PicOf 4C LibBridge.jpg|thumb|Colditz Bridge in 1945 after the town had been occupied by the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]]]]
[[File:PicOf 4C Colditz.jpg|thumb|Colditz Castle in April 1945; photo taken by a U.S. Army soldier]]
[[File:Originalglider.jpg|thumb|The only photograph of the original [[Colditz Cock]] glider taken on 15 April 1945 by [[Lee Carson]], American war correspondent assigned to the task force which liberated the castle]][[File:SCHLOSS COLDITZ1.jpg|thumb|Colditz Castle in 2011]]
{{Main|Oflag IV-C}}
After the outbreak of World War II, the castle was converted into a high security [[prisoner-of-war camp]] for officers who had become security or escape risks or who were regarded as particularly dangerous.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Baybutt|first1=Ron|last2=Lange|first2=Johannes|title=Colditz: The Great Escapes|date=1982|publisher=Little, Brown|isbn=0316083941|page=[https://archive.org/details/colditzgreatesca00bayb/page/8 8]|url=https://archive.org/details/colditzgreatesca00bayb/page/8}}</ref><ref>
[[Pat Reid|P. R. Reid]] "The Latter Days at Colditz", chapter XXV</ref> Since the castle is situated on a rocky outcrop above the River [[Zwickauer Mulde]], the Germans believed it to be an ideal site for a high security prison.

The larger outer court in front of the ''Kommandantur'' (commander's offices) had only two exits and housed a large German garrison. The prisoners lived in an adjacent courtyard in a 90&nbsp;ft (27&nbsp;m) tall building. Outside, the flat [[Terrace (gardening)|terraces]] which surrounded the prisoners' accommodation were watched constantly by armed sentries and surrounded by [[barbed wire]]. The prison was named ''[[Oflag IV-C]]'' (officer prison camp 4C) and was operated by the [[Wehrmacht]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Colditz: The German Story |last=Eggers |first=Reinhold |author-link=Reinhold_Eggers |editor1-first=Howard |editor1-last=Gee |year=1961 |publisher=Robert Hale & Company |location=London |isbn=0-7091-3643-9 |pages=184 }}</ref>

While the camp was home to prisoners of war from many different countries, including Poland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Canada, in May 1943 Wehrmacht High Command decided to house only British and American officers. 
 
The camp's first British prisoners were the Laufen Six on 7 November 1940, who were transferred to Colditz after their first escape attempt from the [[Oflag VII-C|Laufen Camp]].

Although it was considered a high security prison, it had one of the [[List of attempts to escape Oflag IV-C|greatest records]] of [[Attempts to escape Oflag IV-C|successful escape attempts]]. This could be owing to the general nature of the prisoners that were sent there; most of them had attempted escape previously from other prisons and were transferred to Colditz because the Germans had thought the castle escape-proof.

One escape scheme even included a [[glider (aircraft)|glider]], the [[Colditz Cock]], that was built and kept in a remote portion of the castle's attic during the winter of 1944–45. The glider was never used, as the camp was liberated not long after its completion. After liberation, the glider was brought down from the hidden workshop to the attic below and assembled for the prisoners to see. Assigned to the task force that liberated the castle, American war correspondent [[Lee Carson]] entered Colditz on 15 April 1945 and took the only photograph of the glider completed in the attic.<ref name=AAM>{{cite web |url= https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/person/lee-carson |title=Lee Carson |publisher=American Air Museum in Britain |access-date=March 19, 2024 }}</ref> For some time after the war the glider was regarded as a [[tall tale]], as there was no solid proof that the glider had existed and Colditz was then in the [[Soviet occupation zone in Germany]]. Bill Goldfinch took home the drawings he had made while designing the glider, and when the single photograph finally surfaced the story was taken seriously.

During 1999, a full-sized [[replica]] of the glider was commissioned by [[Channel 4 Television]] in the UK and built by Southdown Aviation Ltd at [[Lasham Airfield]], closely following Goldfinch's drawings. Watched by several of the former prisoners of war who worked on the original, it was test-flown at [[RAF Odiham]] during 2000. The escape plan could have worked.<ref>South African R/C Modeller Issue 12. P. 16</ref> In 2012, Channel 4 commissioned another full-sized replica of the glider which was launched from the same roof as had been planned for the original. The unmanned radio-controlled replica made it across the river and landed in a meadow 180 metres below.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.windfallfilms.com/show/2132/escape-from-colditz.aspx|title=Escape from Colditz - Windfall Films|website=www.windfallfilms.com|access-date=8 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/news/escape-colditz|title=Escape from Colditz - Department of Engineering|website=www.eng.cam.ac.uk|date=6 August 2012|access-date=8 April 2018}}</ref>

Captain [[Pat Reid]], who successfully escaped from Colditz in 1942, went on to write multiple works on the living conditions and various escape attempts at Colditz from 1940 to 1945: ''The Colditz Story'' and ''The Latter Days at Colditz''. In the early 1970s, he served as a technical consultant for a [[BBC]] television series, ''[[Colditz (1972 TV series)|Colditz]]'' (1972), featuring [[David McCallum]], [[Edward Hardwicke]] and [[Robert Wagner]], that focused on life at Colditz.

The escapes from Colditz, featured in many works of fiction or documentaries, popularized the unrealistic image of [[Prisoner-of-war escape|prisoner of war escapes]] as being common; this is sometimes referred to as the "Colditz Myth".<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Moore |first=Bob |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/43087 |title=Prisoners of War: Europe: 1939-1956 |date=2022-05-05 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-187597-7 |language=en |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198840398.001.0001}}</ref>{{Rp|page=2}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=P. |first=MacKenzie, S. |date=2006-09-21 |title=The Colditz Myth: British and Commonwealth Prisoners of War in Nazi Germany |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/25603 |journal=OUP Academic |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:o}}</ref>

During the last days of the prison camp at Colditz, many of its prominent or high-ranking prisoners were transferred to Laufen by order of Himmler.  In April 1945, U.S. troops entered the town of Colditz and, after a two-day fight, captured the castle on 16 April 1945. In May 1945, the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] occupation of Colditz began. According to the agreement at the [[Yalta Conference]] it became a part of [[East Germany]]. The government turned Colditz Castle into a prison for local criminals. Later, the castle was a home for the aged and a [[nursing home]], as well as a hospital and psychiatric clinic. For many years after the war, forgotten hiding places and tunnels were found by repairmen, including a radio room established by the French POWs, which was then "lost" again to be rediscovered some twenty years later.

=== Notable occupants ===
* {{flagicon|GBR}} {{abbr|Gp Capt|Group Captain}} [[Douglas Bader]], [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] [[flying ace]], double leg amputee and subject of the documentary book and film ''[[Reach for the Sky]]''
* {{flagicon|GBR}} {{abbr|Capt|Captain}} [[Micky Burn]], [[No. 2 Commando]], journalist and writer
* {{flagicon|GBR}} {{abbr|Lt|Lieutenant}} [[Charles Hope, 3rd Marquess of Linlithgow|Charles Hope]], [[51st (Highland) Division]], 3rd Marquess of Linlithgow
* {{flagicon|GBR}} {{abbr|2Lt|Second lieutenant}} [[Desmond Llewelyn]], [[Royal Welch Fusiliers]], later known as the actor playing [[Q (James Bond)|Q]] in 17 ''[[James Bond]]'' films
* {{flagicon|GBR}} {{abbr|Lt|Lieutenant}} [[Airey Neave]], [[Royal Artillery]], later {{abbr|Lt Col|Lieutenant colonel}} and Conservative {{abbr|MP|Member of Parliament}}
* {{flagicon|GBR}} {{abbr|Lt Col|Lieutenant Colonel}} [[David Stirling]], founder of the [[Special Air Service]]
* {{flagicon|NZL}} {{abbr|Capt|Captain}} [[Charles Upham]] {{abbr|[[Victoria Cross|VC]]|Victoria Cross}} and [[medal bar|bar]], [[20th Battalion (New Zealand)|20th Battalion]], the only fighting soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross twice.
* {{flagicon|GBR}} {{abbr|Capt|Captain}} [[Pat Reid]], [[Royal Army Service Corps]], one of the [[Oflag VII-C|Laufen Six]] then British escape officer at Colditz, before writing about his experiences
* {{flagicon|GBR}} {{abbr|Capt|Captain}} [[Kenneth Lockwood]], [[Royal West Surrey Regiment]], one of the [[Oflag VII-C|Laufen Six]] then part of the escape team at Colditz
* {{flagicon|USA}} {{abbr|Col|Colonel}} William Schaefer, U.S. Army
* {{flagicon|POL}} {{abbr|Gen|General}} [[Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski]], Head of Polish Underground Army
* {{flagicon|FRA}} {{abbr|Gen|General}} [[Jean Adolphe Louis Robert Flavigny|Jean Flavigny]], Notable Tank Commander from the Battle of France
* {{flagicon|Free France}} {{abbr|Gen|General}} [[Georges Bergé]], co-founder of the Special Air Service
* {{flagicon|CZE}} [[Flight lieutenant|Flt Lt]] [[Josef Bryks]], Czech pilot, participant of the [[Stalag Luft III|Great Escape]], before which tried to escape three times.