The Great escape

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/719289.stm


Hitler ordered 'Great Escape' massacre

The massacre of 50 fleeing Allied prisoners of war in 1944, immortalised by the film The Great Escape, was ordered by Hitler, it has been revealed.
General Major Adolf Westhoff, who was interrogated by British intelligence officers after the war, said Hitler and SS head Himmler decided the matter between them and the German secret police, the Gestapo, carried it out.

"The Fuhrer himself always took a hand in these affairs when officers escaped," he said.

The testimony was among files released by the Public Record Office in Kew, south-west London.

Westhoff recounted how an "excited and nervous" Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel summoned him to a meeting shortly after the mass break-out in March 1944. He was one of Hitler's most loyal military followers and was also ultimately in charge of PoW camps.

"Gentleman, this is a bad business," Keitel said, giving the news that around 80 Allied airmen had escaped from the camp, Stalag Luft III at Sagan, east Germany.

Saying he had been personally admonished by Hermann Goering in the presence of SS head Heinrich Himmler, Keitel warned he must "set an example" to other prisoners, Westhoff recounted.



He said: "We shall have to take very severe measures. I can only tell you that the men who have escaped will be shot."

When told it was out of the question to execute recaptured men, Westhoff remembered the Field Marshal answering: "I don't care a damn. We discussed it in the Fuhrer's presence and it cannot be altered."

Westhoff said the meeting was told how Hitler and Himmler had decided the matter.

One by one the escapers were recaptured and on Himmler's orders, handed over to the Gestapo.

This was not the normal practice. Usually, recaptured PoWs were handed over to, and dealt with, by the civilian police

Gestapo groups later submitted almost identical reports that the prisoners whilst relieving themselves, bolted for freedom and were shot whilst trying to escape.

Westhoff recalled how the bodies of the 50 were burnt and their ashes returned to the camp in urns.

The massacre was intended to be an example to other would-be fugitives and created shock in Britain.

Some 21 of the Gestapo executors were themselves tried and put to death by the Allies after the war.

Westhoff spoke of the "honour" of the English officers, and claimed he had once told a meeting of the German high command: "Gentlemen, we only act according to the (Geneva) Convention."

"Gentlemen," came the chilling response from a Nazi Party eminence at the meeting, "the convention is a scrap of paper which doesn't interest us."

 

1994 pictures of Stalag Luft III

http://www.elsham.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/gt_esc/site2001.html

 

Great site on the remains of the Stalag.

I sure hate to see that practically nothing is preserved though.

 

Thats what 50 years behind the Iron Curtain will do to ya

oh yea i almost forgot

"Thank you Roosevelt! You Bolshevik Bastard"

 

Aint that the truth.

I was peeved to learn that russians turned more than one centuries old cathedral or church--into a stable for their horses.

 

My father, Father Fl/Lt Pawel W. Tobolski was one of the FIFTY Murdered after escaping from Luf iii on 24/25 March 1944.

I have been to the site several times over the past few years. In fact I was last in Zagan one year ago at an official gathering for the 65 memorial.

I had also been in attendence for the 60th.

Over the past five years many improvements had been carried out on the sight and the near by memorial to the Fifty.

In addition, a replica (half size in length) had been built using the sizes of rooms of the original. Some of the rooms have furniture representing what would have been available to the PoWs.

Paul Tobolski
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

 

I couldn't get this link to work (it IS 7 years old, after all - probably buried somewhere DEEP in the wideworldinterwebnet-thing.)

I did find this site, with some 2007 pictures of Stalag Luft III.

... if anybody is interested.

....probably not.

-whatever

-Lou

 

Escape stories have always interested me. Many people forget how long and hard it was to make a mass escape like this, and many people forget those 50 where were murdered.

Colditz has always been where I focus on the most, and I own a few books about Colditz and its escape, but Stalag Luft III was one of the most daring escapes I have ever read about, and it was a shame it had to end like it did.

 

I visited the site last year. It is overgrown with pine trees but the building foundations are there, lots of info boards too.

It's only 3 hours drive from Colditz. We made it a double trip, well worth doing!

 

any pictures Hilts?

 

It is a special place to visit.................

 

Thanks Hilts, much more than just foundations actually and it seems it's indeed worth visiting.

 

We started at Colditz, stayed two nights, drove to Sagan, stayed one night then drove to Berlin.

 

Nice Pictures, I See your standing on top of Harry and it shows the tunnel leading to the fence.

 

Colditz looks like a nice holiday place.

 

I'll bet there's a few ex-POW's that might argue that point.

But, I agree...... it sure cleaned up nice.

-whatever

-Lou

 

Does anyone have photos of the replica that Paul mentioned? If so, I for one would be interested in seeing them.

-whatever

-Lou

 

I guess he means the replica hut at The nearby Museum..............?? I have a coupla pics on my home PC, I'll post them later!

 

View attachment 11459

 

The leather jacket and the baseball mitt are a nice touch!

Well done. Thanks for posting it.

"YOU!!! COOLER!!!"

-whatever

-Lou