PEO Peterborough Chapter Tech Talks: Escapes from Colditz Castle in WW2

Join us in person for an exciting session titled Escapes from Colditz Castle in WW2. Dive into thrilling stories of daring escapes and clever strategies from one of the most infamous POW camps. It's a great chance to connect, learn, and be inspired by history's coolest escape artists. Don't miss out on this unique event hosted by the PEO Peterborough Chapter!

In 1940, the Nazis began using Colditz Castle (Oflag IV-C) – a forbidding, supposedly escape-proof, gothic fortress perched on a 30 metre rock outcrop above the eastern German town of the same name – to hold Allied officers who’d proved particularly troublesome, or particularly adept at escaping from other prisoner-of-war camps. The escape attempts that took place here have connections to civil and aeronautical engineering. Some prisoners dug through rock and wooden beams using hand tools, and others built a glider in a hidden attic room. About 30 prisoners successfully escaped from the castle; called "home runs". Compared to only 6 from StalagLuft 3; where the "Great Escape" took place.

Our speaker, who in 2018 had an all-day tour of the castle that covered all the known escape attempts, will talk about some of the interesting attempted and successful escapes. See “en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colditz_Castle” for more information about Colditz Castle POW camp.