Prisoners of the Castle

An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison

By: Ben Macintyre

Narrated by: Ben Macintyre

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “entertaining [and] often-moving account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the remarkable POWs whose relentlessly creative attempts to escape a notorious Nazi prison embodied the spirit of resistance against fascism, from the author of The Spy and the Traitor

“Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann, author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon

In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend.

But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. In Macintyre’s telling, Colditz’s most famous names—like the indomitable Pat Reid—share glory with lesser known but equally remarkable characters like Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America’s oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; and Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture covert escape aids for POWs.

Prisoners of the Castle traces the war’s arc from within Colditz’s stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler’s war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.

Critic reviews

Praise for Prisoners of the Castle

“Macintyre so seamlessly fuses so many different accounts that their compilation creates something more profound than a simple escape yarn.”―The Washington Post

“In retelling the story of Colditz, [Macintyre] makes it his own. [An] entertaining yet objectiveand often-moving account.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Not since Ian Fleming and John le Carré has a spy writer so captivated readers.”—The Hollywood Reporter

“Macintyre details the famous escapes, but, just as importantly, gives a vivid picture of everyday life in what became Germany’s most elite prison. Set aside a few hours for this book, since once you start reading, you will not stop until the last page.”—AirMail

“Riveting . . . This is another engrossing tale of WWII intrigue from a master of the genre.”—Publishers Weekly

“A mixture of derring-do and a vivid, warts-and-all portrayal of the iconic castle.”—Kirkus Reviews



Praise for Ben Macintyre

“John le Carré’s nonfiction counterpart.”—The New York Times

“Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann

“One of the most gifted espionage writers around.”—Annie Jacobsen

“Macintyre is a supremely gifted storyteller. . . . His books are absurdly entertaining.”—The Boston Globe

My First audible book

I don’t think I have read a book sense middle school. I fall asleep after the first couple pages. So I figured this was a good idea to try and get back into learning and broaden my horizons, I enjoy learning about this era of history and this was a great book to start with. Thank you!

History unknown to me

this was extremely informative and well done. the way it was written and performed kept me interested and wanting more.

A great listen

Brilliantly written and researched. Funny, frightening, heroic, humane, honest. Fascinating. I highly recommend it. All of his books are great.

Outstanding

I would highly recommend this book, the content is excellent, well researched, even better presented and immensely entertaining. The narrator superb.

Accounts of escape attempts from Colditz

Narration is well done, excellent, in fact.

This is a thorough account of the many attempts to escape from Germany’s grim POW prison for obstreperous WW2 allied officers.

The subject matter and quality of writing certainly held my interest, as I am sure it will for other aficionados of WW2 history.