Euro Nomads: The First Big Break

Day 4 - Monday

After umming and ahhing about the next stop, we decided we’d take a look at Colditz Castle en route to Dresden.

The previous night, we’d had a look at the website and got the coordinates for the stellplatz in Colditz, but I had also noted some reviews which had mentioned that it wasn’t particularly pleasant. Now as it was free, I figured maybe they were being a bit demanding and expecting too much. However, on arrival, we saw for ourselves just what they meant. I’m sure it would have been perfectly safe, but it left a lot to be desired, even in broad daylight. The derelict school with broken windows right next door didn’t really help to make it look even remotely welcoming and despite it being free of charge, we made the decision to find somewhere else to park for our visit. The broken glass on the ground didn’t help matters either, especially when you have a four legged friend who walks around with no shoes on.

Parking elsewhere turned out to be a doddle and we found a spot right by the castle grounds, which was also free of charge and free of broken glass.

Initially, we had only planned on a quick visit to the museum, but we ended up having the full guided tour. We’re glad we did as we got to access parts of the castle that we would never have been able to see otherwise. It was rather pricey at 15 euros each, but Steffi, our English speaking German guide was very knowledgeable (well, she could have told us anything to be honest, as we wouldn’t have known whether it was true anyway!) and the tour last a good 2.5 to 3 hrs.

The castle itself has a rich history, with the first recorded settlement going back to the 11th century. In more recent years, since the 19th century, it has had numerous uses including a work house, mental institution for the 'incurably insane', a hospital and , probably most famously (at least in the UK) a POW camp during WWII. There is also a youth hostel within the grounds.

The Colditz tour, or certainly the English language version, currently focuses entirely on the use of the castle as a POW camp for captured enemy officers during WWII and in particular, the escape attempts made by a number of those POWs. I have to be honest and say that although I had heard of Colditz and the link to WWII, I didn’t really know a great deal about it, and having been born after the British TV series, I’d never even heard of that until we actually went to the castle!

We were amazed at the lengths that individuals would go to in order to escape; we really were made of sterner stuff back then! Unsuccessful escapees (and there were many!), once caught, were required to pose for the camp photographer, in order that their escape attempt could be recorded and passed on to other camps to warn them off. Some chose to attempt escape by posing as German army officers / soldiers. They made German army uniforms by dying their own uniforms and making weapons and adornments from paper and card. The detail was really amazing. I could harp on about their ingenuity for ages, but instead I’ll leave some space for pictures! All in all, a really absorbing few hours.