Colditz Castle

Colditz Castle is a curiosity of cultural history.

Once an imperial castle, later a hunting lodge of Saxon rulers and the widow’s seat of many electresses, the large castle was furnished with precious interiors and surrounded by magnificent gardens.

In the early 19th century, an insane asylum moved into the old walls, which no longer kept the sick, but tried to treat them – a novelty in Saxony.

In 1940 the castle is converted into the officers’ prison camp Oflag IV C. Prominent people and multiple escapees are held here – members of the British aristocracy and high officers of the Western European Allies. They undertake a plethora of creative escape attempts, traces of which can still be seen in many places in the castle. The adventures of these men are now legends of military history.

In GDR times, the castle became a hospital and nursing home. Today, the front courtyard houses a youth hostel and the Saxon State Music Academy. The stately buildings of the rear courtyard are to be turned into a museum in the next few years.

The castle’s use as a prisoner-of-war camp and its familiarity in Great Britain, which often seems strange to the German public, brings it many international guests.