Stalag Luft III

Stalag Luft III was a German POW camp during the Second World War for mainly captured Allied Air personel. The camp is best known for the large prisoners escape (known as "The Great Escape") of 67 prisoners of war in the night of 24 on 25 March 1944. Only 3 of them reached Great Brittain. The others were captured and brought back to the camp. Hitler initially wanted to have not only the escapees shot, but also the architect who designed the camp, the camp's security officer and the guards on duty at the time. Many prominent nazi's were against this plan and Hitler eventually ordered to execute 50 prisoners of Stalag Luft III. Many people are not aware of an other prisoners escape in this camp, which occured before "The Great Escape" on 29 October 1942. All of the 3 escapees managed to reach Great Brittain.

Stalag Luft III was evacuated on 27 January 1945 and the prisoners eventually reached Stalag VII-A. This camp was liberated on 29 april 1945 by the U.S. 14th Armored Division.

The camp today:
There is not much left of Stalag Luft III, as it was demolished after the war. The famous escape tunnels from "The Great Escape" are pointed out as memorial roads.

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