POLAND - The Great Escape

It was with much excitement and some trepidation that I started out on today's excursion. A two hour train journey from Wrocław brought me to the town of Żagań, a fairly nondescript place really but one that I have wanted to visit for some time. For this is the site of the Stalag Luft 3 Prisoner of War Camp, famous for "The Great Escape".

Now bear in mind that 

a) its Hollywood - Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Donald Pleasence & Co -  that have made this famous so it appeals first to the English speaking world and 

b) until the fall of Communism, Poland wasn't exactly at the top of Britain's holiday destination list  

What I am trying to say is don't expect an all singing all dancing multi media visitor centre because there isn't one - I was at the site for about 4.5 hours and only saw two other tourists! 

Walking south from Żagań's railway station (away from the town) you first come to a sign directing you to the memorial. Although 76 men escaped only 3 actually made it "home". Of the 73 that were recaptured, 50 of them were shot on the direct orders of the Führer.

The memorial was built by prisoners in the camp to hold the urns containing the ashes of the 50 who were murdered. After the war the ashes were taken to a military cemetery in Poznań but the memorial still stands in the woods and it is a very reflective place.

Further down the road is another sign this time pointing to a 1km walk up a dirt track to the site of the actual Stalag Luft 3 camp. Here the first thing you see is a stone marking where tunnel "Harry" came to the surface - Remember from the film - they started 3 tunnels Tom, Dick and Harry.  

Also remember from the film that when the end of the tunnel was opened, they found it was well short of the cover of the trees. There is a replica guard tower on the site of an original and this photo shows just how close to the tower they were.

Tunnel "Harry" is then marked out with stones and these photos hopefully give you an idea of just how long it was - over 100 metres. The entrance to the tunnel was under the stove in hut 104.

The rest of the site simply consists of foundations, a few with interpretation panels, that are gradually being given back to nature. 

This photo shows all that remains of "The Cooler", the solitary confinement black - think Steve McQueen and his baseball.

OMG - I've stood in "The Cooler" !!

Back out on the main road and a further 100 metres or so along you come to the museum. This is on the site of Stalag VIIIC camp that held Polish prisoners which explains why its here and not at Stalag Luft 3. Inside there are exhibits relating to all the camps, a model of Stalag Luft 3 and various artifacts found on the site. In the grounds a replica of Hut 104 where the escape started has been built and inside it has replicas of things like the trolleys they used, the air pump etc.

Model of the Stalag Luft 3 camp

Amazingly some of the escapees travelled long distances - Escape mastermind Roger Bushell - (Roger Bartlett (Richard Attenborough) in the film) was recaptured at Saarbrucken which is near the French border not far from Strasbourg. Dennis Cochran another of the 50 executed men, was caught at the Swiss border. The three that did safely get to Britain were two Norwegians who reached Sweden via a boat across the Baltic and a Dutchman who somehow made it all the way to Spain. 

And lastly the answer to the question you are all wanting to ask .................

Yes I was humming the theme music from the film all day ............. and I bet you are now too!