The fairy-tale 11th century Colditz Castle,
sited on a rocky hilltop overlooking the town on the River Mulde between
Leipzig and Dresden in the former East Germany, is notorious for its
use as a high security Nazi prisoner of war (POW) camp in World War Two - Oflag
IVc.
Allied Officers who had made repeated attempts to escape from other
POW camps were housed here by the Germans in the expectation that
they would never get out of such an imposing fortress. However, as
seventy books and various films have shown, 300 did escape and several
made “home runs” back to Allied lines.
The POW population was typically a shifting one but of the thousand
or so who were there, it is estimated about 40 were Jewish and it
is known that there were about 60 French Jewish political internees
as well. Thus, about 100 Jewish prisoners out of 1000 makes a very
high percentage compared to our numbers in the general population.
Of the military prisoners, approximately one third were French, one-third
Polish/Dutch and one-third British/Commonwealth. Only some of the
Jewish names are known, especially as many Jewish POW’s used pseudonyms
and new identities to protect themselves [1] .
One famous Jewish NCO,
however, was cockney Fusilier Solle Sydney
Goldman, Royal Northumberland Fusiliers,
who was badly treated by the Germans because
of his Jewish faith but was sent to Colditz
as an orderly for senior officers. He
was remembered for his terrific sense
of humour despite the ill treatment (although
the British Officers tried to protect
him) and when he finally became ill, was
repatriated to Britain in 1943, but died
in 1974 of illness as a result of his
experiences in German hands [2]
Anthony “Fish” Karpf was a Polish Jewish Officer born in Rzeszow;
he too was ill treated and subjected to a mock execution at Colditz.
He eventually escaped and came to live in Britain after the war [3] . The work of Benjamin Miertchak [4] made it possible for the author to cross
reference the list of POW’s in Colditz, taken from Chancellor’s book [5] , with Meirtchak’s list
of Polish Jewish POW’s and revealed the following names, though this
is not definitive as we know many Polish Jewish servicemen hid their
true religious origins from both the Poles and the Germans; 2nd Lt Franciszek Baumgart; 2nd Lt Mieczyslaw Chmiel ( he
made two escape attempts but was later murdered at Buchenwald after
the escapes of September 19th and 20th 1943);
Capt. Henryk Fajerman; Lt Jerzy T. Grudzinski (later killed in the
Dossel Oflag “friendly fire” bombing by the RAF in 1943); Capt. Mayer
F. Hauptman; Lt Bernard P. Jasinski; 2nd Lt Adam Niedenthal
(died 27/9/44); Col Poznanski; 2nd Lt. Benjamin J. Rubinowicz;
Lt. Bernard Stajer/Staier; 2nd Lt Jakub/Jerzy Stein (Navy) [6] ; 2nd Lt. Henryk Stiller; Lt Col. Henryk E. Szubert. It also appears that
two Polish Jewish civilians were interned at Colditz – Pinkus Kurnedz
and Jack Aizenberg [7] .
When the French Gentile Officers tried to ostracise their fellow
French Jewish comrades in their barrack, British officer Airey Neave
( a “home runner” and later a Conservative Minister in the Thatcher
government) and many of his Commonwealth comrades, expressed their
outrage and total solidarity with the Jewish officers and the row
died down – though it was much exploited by the Germans in their propaganda.
Among the French Jewish escape attempts were Lieutenant P Levy,
Col. P. Francis Didier, Lt. P. Manheimer (the youngest French officer
in Colditz) and Lt. C. Clein (two escape attempts). In Chancellor’s
lists (see above), the following Jewish names appear as POW’s at Colditz
– O. Bergmann; Capt. R Blum; G. Cahen-Salvador; Capt. Dreyfus; A Hirsch;
M Hirsch; Lt R Levy; Lt. A Levy-Ginsburger aka Levit; E Rosenberg;
R Schaeffer; A Sternberg; S/Lt Klein of the Free French ; Cpl. N
Blomme of the 1st French Paras
On a recent visit to the museum at Colditz the author found and photographed
displayed portraits of prisoners Capt. Isidore Schrire/Schire, MBE
(a Jewish officer in the South African Army Medical Corps, captured
at Dunkirk) [8] . There was also a very famous Palestinian
Jewish Royal Engineers officer, Lt Shimon Ha-Cohen [9] ; he boasted to the Germans – to the great amusement of
the British - that not only did he come from Israel, had been born
in Russia – and was thus thrice damned by the Germans! Ha-Cohen had
been a Sgt. Major in the British Army in World War One [10] .
Another French Colditz POW was Baron Elie de Rothschild; there were
also about 60 French political Jewish prisoners held there too.
Capt. Julius Green – a dental officer from Glasgow – was exceptional
in that he worked for MI9 in the prison and sent coded letters to
his wife. The information was forwarded by her to British Intelligence.
It included material supplied to Green by recaptured escapers about
local German railway, troop and shipping movements and anything else
gleaned whilst on the “outside”. He also advised on what materials
useful for escape could be smuggled into Colditz via parcels from
home as well as advice on what officers should carry with them in
battle in case they were captured and sent to Colditz – hidden compasses
for example – that would be useful for escapes. He published a book
about his experiences [11] . Green’s other important act was to expose the English
Nazi stooge in the prison, Purdy, who was prosecuted for treason after
the war
Rifleman Solomon Dennis Halfin (KRRC - Rangers) aka Halpin, arrived
in Colditz by accident. Born son of Israel and Edith in West Ham,
London on 1/1/18, he was captured in Crete by the Germans on 29/5/41
but escaped and spent 3 months in the mountains with the Partisans [12] . On the
night of an attempted escape by submarine, he was re-captured with
some other Commonwealth troop evaders when the Germans got wind of
this escape plan, and ended up at Lamsdorf camp in Germany, where
he became friends with a French Canadian POW Sgt Roger Cordeau, a
dental technician by trade, captured at Dieppe. Dennis escaped from
a working party at Lamsdorf but was re-captured at the Polish border.
About to be sent to another camp, and not wanting to be separated
from his friends, he exchanged identities with Cordeau. But his plan
backfired when the Germans noticed he (Halfin aka Cordeau) was a dental
technician, and he was sent to Colditz to assist with the POW officers
dental care in June 1943! The first man he met on entering the castle
was an old friend, 6850731 Riflmn. Samuel Cohen aka Cowen, of the
same Rangers batallion as his, also at Colditz as a batman to POW
officers! By Sepember the Germans, having seen Cohen and Halfin talking
and meeting, discovered evntually that he was not really Cordeau and
he ended back at Lamsdorf! [13]
Another British Jewish inmate was Lt J M Barnet, Royal Engineers, [14] who was captured in November 1940,
arrived in Colditz (re Chancellor’s list) on Aug. 4th 1941
and was repatriated to Britain on 6/9/44 with feigned illness and
so counts as an “escaper”.
Another probable Jewish inmate was Ft. Lt. Josef Bryks of the Czech
Sqdn., RAF. A sadder case is that of Commando Rifleman Cyril Henry
Abram, captured with 6 others after a successful raid in Norway (Operation
“Musketoon”) in Sept.1942. They spent 2 weeks at Colditz in 1944
and were then taken and murdered at Sachsenhausen Death Camp [15] . Abram, from Manor Park, was probably Jewish.
Among the Dutch escapers was a “Home Run” by Cdr. Francis Steinmetz
of the Royal Netherlands Navy, via a manhole, in August 1941, (with
comrade Lt. F Larive). Other Dutch Jewish inmates included Capt. A
P Berlijn, Lt. M Braun, Lt L De Hartog, Capt. A J A Pereira, Lt. J
G Smit and Capt. L T W De Vries – of the Royal Netherlands Army, and
Stoker W De Lange of the Royal Netherlands Navy [16] .
Anyone with further information and names of other
Jewish POW’s at Colditz should contact Martin Sugarman at AJEX House,
East Bank, Stamford Hill, London N16 5RT.