The Other Side of Colditz

Judy Urquhart recalls a forgotten use of Colditz Castle after the end of the Second World War – as a prison for German aristocrats.

Colditz Castle in April 1945; photo taken by a U.S. Army soldierColditz Castle was once the preserve of the Electors of Saxony; then it became a mental home before being used as a prison camp in the Second World War. But the ‘fortress rock’ was not only used to incarcerate Allied prisoners of war. They were liberated by US forces in April 1945, but under the Potsdam Agreement the Americans relinquished the land they had recently fought for east of the river Elbe.

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