What was it really like to be a Prisoner of War in Nazi Germany? Hundreds of former POWs tell their stories
KEY FEATURES:
* The real-life stories behind the myths which TV and film have created
* Based on hundreds of previously unpublished letters, diaries, and taped interviews
* Covers Colditz and dozens of other POW camps
* Publication coincides with Remembrance Day 2004
* Coincides with the launch of the POW 'ESCAPE' exhibition at London's Imperial War Museum
DESCRIPTION:
Through films and books, Colditz has come to represent the popular image of plucky prisoners of war, outwitting their German captors, and attempting daring escapes. But for most POWs in Nazi Germany, the experience of captivity was very different.
Through the first-hand accounts of hundreds of British and commonwealth prisoners, Paul MacKenzie strips away the mythology, and presents the real picture of what it was like to be a captive of the Third Reich, to be captured and interrogated, and to endure the physical and mental hardships of captivity. He shows how the Colditz myth developed, and he sets the Colditz experience in the context of POW life in Germany as a whole. His book allows the voices of the prisoners to be heard as never before.
CONTENTS:
Introduction: The Colditz Phenomenon; Capture and Interrogation; Transit and Processing; Compounds and Commandants; Leaders and Followers; Body and Soul; Work and Play; Reprisals and Rewards; Allies and Aliens; Patriots and Traitors; Abiding and Escaping; Exodus and Liberation; Repatriation and Adjustment; Conclusion: Farewell to Colditz?; Notes on Sources; Select Bibliography
KEY FEATURES:
* The real-life stories behind the myths which TV and film have created
* Based on hundreds of previously unpublished letters, diaries, and taped interviews
* Covers Colditz and dozens of other POW camps
* Publication coincides with Remembrance Day 2004
* Coincides with the launch of the POW 'ESCAPE' exhibition at London's Imperial War Museum
DESCRIPTION:
Through films and books, Colditz has come to represent the popular image of plucky prisoners of war, outwitting their German captors, and attempting daring escapes. But for most POWs in Nazi Germany, the experience of captivity was very different.
Through the first-hand accounts of hundreds of British and commonwealth prisoners, Paul MacKenzie strips away the mythology, and presents the real picture of what it was like to be a captive of the Third Reich, to be captured and interrogated, and to endure the physical and mental hardships of captivity. He shows how the Colditz myth developed, and he sets the Colditz experience in the context of POW life in Germany as a whole. His book allows the voices of the prisoners to be heard as never before.
CONTENTS:
Introduction: The Colditz Phenomenon; Capture and Interrogation; Transit and Processing; Compounds and Commandants; Leaders and Followers; Body and Soul; Work and Play; Reprisals and Rewards; Allies and Aliens; Patriots and Traitors; Abiding and Escaping; Exodus and Liberation; Repatriation and Adjustment; Conclusion: Farewell to Colditz?; Notes on Sources; Select Bibliography