A review by lindarlissima
Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison by Ben Macintyre

5.0

Another five-star book by Ben Macintyre. I knew nothing about Colditz before picking up this book, despite numerous memoirs, histories and documentaries about it. It was fascinating how there was this little gentlemanly prison oasis in the middle of WWII. Great character studies, escape stories, and fun. Such a bizarre world was created in this castle and sometimes the interactions were absolutely absurd. This was the first I heard about the Swiss government overseeing relations between POWs and their captors. While I applaud the bureaucratic heroism of the Swiss official tasked with overseeing conditions at Colditz, I was absolutely infuriated with the conspicuous absence of the Swiss at every other damned prison in Germany, including the slave labor camp THREE MILES AWAY. Did nobody really honestly have no idea? I assumed no foreign government was allowed in but apparently not! But that’s not the story of this book.

As with all non-fiction histories, it’s sometimes hard to keep all the characters straight, but Macintyre does a good job reminding you who each guy is. He also has a playful writing style that helps you see the humor of some of the situations.