COLDITZ CASTLE
Renaissance Elector's Castle and WWII Prisoner Great Escapes
Colditz Castle is a Renaissance period castle from the 16th Century perched on top of a hill above the Mulde River in Saxony, about a half hour from Leipzig or Dresden. A white gabled castle is one of the least altered architectural structures from its time in central Germany. The former ruling seat of Saxony-Meissen, a hunting lodge and the residence for a solitary grieving widow, Colditz is now best known for its history in WWII which it served as a prisoner-of-war internment camp for some of the highest ranking officers of the western allies, mostly for captured British aviators and made famous for their escape attempts. Officially designated Oflag IV-C (Offizierslager) meaning Officer’s Camp in the heart of Hitler’s Germany 400 miles from any border.
Like the 1963 movie “The Great Escape” story based on a camp in Poland, Stalag Luft III, Colditz was also a prison where the Germans moved the “incorrigibles”, the war prisoners whose escape attempts from other camps earned them a place in what the high command thought was one of its toughest internment facilities, but the high walls of a castle meant to keep invaders out could not keep clever and determined prisoners in, and Colditz became famous for a number of the successful escapes. The RAF prisoners at Colditz included some acclaimed notables. Douglas Bader, probably the most recognized flying figures of the war, who scored his ace status despite having lost both legs, and supporter of the big wing theory of air formations after the Battle of Britain (see RAF Tangmere).
Aside from Bader, notable prisoners held at Colditz included a nephew of England’s King George VI, a nephew of Winston Churchill, and actor Desmond Llewelyn, known as “Q” in the James Bond film series. Maybe Llewelyn got some clues for his character of a gadget inventor from his time at Colditz, where the prisoners spent much of their time not only planning ingenious ways to escape, but creating the devices of a normal life from found objects, some of which are on display in the castle’s Escape Museum, like a sewing machine made entirely from wood and a replica of the notorious glider built to soar over the walls of the fortress to freedom.
The first settlement at Colditz received its charter from the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III in 1046 with the first castle built by 1158, when the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (see Imperial Ruins Kaiserswerth) installed Thimo I as Lord of Colditz. For 250 years throughout the Middle Ages, the castle served as a watch post for the German Emperor in the hands of the Lords of Colditz until the last of the dynasty, Thimo VIII, sold the fortress to the Wettin Dukes of Saxony and Thuringia.
In 1430, the castle and town were set on fire during a siege by Czech Hussites in the Protestant Reformation. With extensive rebuilding of the castle beginning around 1464 under Frederick the Wise, Colditz achieved its status as a royal residence of the Electors of Saxony. Then in 1504, a baker’s assistant accidentally set the kitchen on fire and the blaze spread through the castle once again and burned a large part of the town. In the second reconstruction new buildings took the place of fortified walls, forming the courtyard, with the castle divided into the cellars, the royal residence and banqueting halls.
Colditz Castle took its present Renaissance architecture during the 30 year reign of Saxony Prince Elector Augustus I by architects Peter and Irmisch Kummer beginning in in 1577. Art decorations were later commissioned from Lucas Cranach, the Younger. It was during this period the Church Portal was built and the interiors of the Holy Trinity Chapel, decorated by Andreas Walthier. The castle was again expanded by Augustus the Strong, but no longer a permanent residence (see Zwinger Palace Dresden), instead as a summer palace “Hunting Lodge” and royal Game Preserve.
Under Elector Frederick Augustus III, from 1803, Colditz was used as a workhouse for the poor and a detention center jail. Then in 1929, it became mental sanitorium for the insane, generally for the noble classes, including the son of composer Robert Schumann. When the Nazis came to power, they turned Colditz into a detention camp for undesirables, communists, Jews and homosexuals, but at the outbreak of war in 1939, found its seven foot walls, 250 foot cliff, and extensive former royal rooms turned into wards perfect for housing captured allied prisoners. A significant portion of the castle today is taken up by the Colditz Castle Youth Hostel and the Saxony State Music Academy. For visiting tourists two museums and parts of the castle to explore are the battlements of the walls, the castle tower, the Renaissance portal of the Trinity Church, the Prince’s Residence and the Old Stone Bridge.
Visiting Colditz Castle
Entrance price for the Escape Museum is €4 adults, €3 students and seniors. Open hours are daily from 10 am to 5 pm April to October and 10 am to 4 pm November to March. Guided Castle Tours are offered three times a day April to October to two a day November to March. Admissing to Colditz is included in the Sachsen Schloesserland Pass. By car the road cuts through the back of the town. There is a modest amount of visitor parking, watch out for the Youth Hostel parking zones. © Bargain
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Colditz Castle
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See Also:
BATTLE OF NATIONS MONUMENT - LEIPZIG
BACH MUSEUM - LEIPZIG
AUERBACHS KELLER - GOETHE INSPIRATION LEIPZIG
