Scan barcode
A review by ash_thelibrarian_reads
Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison by Ben Macintyre
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
4.0
As someone who majored in history and has learned/read a lot about WWII I could not believe I had never heard of Colditz before reading this book. I’m so glad to have found it and will be recommending it to all the non-fiction readers at my library!
I enjoyed how the book was broken up by year during the war and allowed us to see the desperation of the men grow as it became clear Hitler was losing the war. What would happen to the prisoners of the castle if the Reich knew they were falling? Would they be ordered executed rather than turned over to allied forces?
It was fascinating learning about all of the escape attempts and how on the one hand each nationality represented in the prison had to work together in order to not be found out by the guards yet they all were still working on their own escapes!
I especially enjoyed the appendix at the end that let the reader know what befell all the main characters mentioned throughout the book after the war ended. I read this in print form and feel it would make a really compelling audiobook!
I enjoyed how the book was broken up by year during the war and allowed us to see the desperation of the men grow as it became clear Hitler was losing the war. What would happen to the prisoners of the castle if the Reich knew they were falling? Would they be ordered executed rather than turned over to allied forces?
It was fascinating learning about all of the escape attempts and how on the one hand each nationality represented in the prison had to work together in order to not be found out by the guards yet they all were still working on their own escapes!
I especially enjoyed the appendix at the end that let the reader know what befell all the main characters mentioned throughout the book after the war ended. I read this in print form and feel it would make a really compelling audiobook!