Colditz Castle is a castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig,
Dresden, and Chemnitz in the Bundesland (province) of Saxony in
Germany. Used as a workhouse for the indigent and a mental institution
for over 100 years, it became notorious as a Prisoner of War camp for
"Incorrigible Allied officers who had repeatedly escaped from other
camps" and the Deutschfeindlich (anti-Germans) during World War II.
The Nazi Schutzstaffel made Colditz a Sonderlager (high security
prison), the only one of its type within Germany. Hermann Göring even
declared Colditz "escape proof." This was in part because of its lack
of escapes during its term as prison camp in World War I, but mostly
due to it being the only German POW camp with more guards than
prisoners. Yet despite this audacious claim, there were multiple
escapes by British, French, Polish, Dutch, and Belgian inmates.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colditz_Castle
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1746:
Battle of Culloden: In Scotland, the final battle of the Jacobite
Rising.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Culloden)
1917:
Vladimir Lenin returned to Petrograd from exile in Finland.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin)
1935:
The radio program Fibber McGee and Molly debuted.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibber_McGee_and_Molly)
1943:
Dr. Albert Hofmann discovered the psychedelic effects of LSD.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD)
1947:
Texas City Disaster: Thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate in Texas
City's port exploded.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Disaster)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich
and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and
beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls,
has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery
and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in.
Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has
made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much
and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than
cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities,
life will be violent and all will be lost." -- Charlie Chaplin in The
Great Dictator
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin)