What do you think?
Rate this book
Out of Colditz: My Father the POW and the Nazi who Controlled his Fate
'A truly revelatory story of courage, treachery, intrigue, divided loyalties and vengeance' Damien Lewis, author of SAS Great Escapes
'A gripping, unsettling journey into the strange moral fog of the war's last days - and the shadows we inherit long after' Iain MacGregor, author of The Lighthouse of Stalingrad
The nephew of the King. The son of the Viceroy of India. Churchill's nephew.
Thrown together in late 1944 into the notorious prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle, these men were among the Prominente: a small group of captives who were scions of the British establishment and pawns in the endgame being played by the Nazi leadership.
As German defeat loomed, the head of the POW camps, SS General Gottlob Berger, made a pivotal to disobey direct orders from Hitler to 'kill them all' and grant them safe passage back to the Allied frontline. This Nazi overseer, later convicted of war crimes, held the future of the Prominente in his hands.
George Lascelles, Earl of Harewood, was one of the men who survived. Eighty years later, drawing on archives and family records from Britain and Germany, his son David retraces their extraordinary journey and asks what motivated Berger's fateful choice - remorse? Honour? Or simple self-interest?
'A gripping, unsettling journey into the strange moral fog of the war's last days - and the shadows we inherit long after' Iain MacGregor, author of The Lighthouse of Stalingrad
The nephew of the King. The son of the Viceroy of India. Churchill's nephew.
Thrown together in late 1944 into the notorious prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle, these men were among the Prominente: a small group of captives who were scions of the British establishment and pawns in the endgame being played by the Nazi leadership.
As German defeat loomed, the head of the POW camps, SS General Gottlob Berger, made a pivotal to disobey direct orders from Hitler to 'kill them all' and grant them safe passage back to the Allied frontline. This Nazi overseer, later convicted of war crimes, held the future of the Prominente in his hands.
George Lascelles, Earl of Harewood, was one of the men who survived. Eighty years later, drawing on archives and family records from Britain and Germany, his son David retraces their extraordinary journey and asks what motivated Berger's fateful choice - remorse? Honour? Or simple self-interest?
320 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 24, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Out of Colditz is about George Lascelles, nephew of King George VI and the author’s father, who was one of eight Prominente—prisoners of war considered to be highly valuable hostages held during WWII at the infamous castle fortress, Colditz. The book is also an exploration of the reasons and motivations behind the Prominente’s sudden release by SS Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger as the Allies closed in.
Although Lascelles admits up front he's no historian, I think he's done a stellar job of compiling, organizing, and presenting factual history with accounts from his family and the Berger family. It’s a deeply personal story as much as a historical one. Lascelles stayed as unbiased as possible in order to tell both his father's story and Berger’s with judicious empathy.
I very much appreciated the last couple of chapters where Lascelles talks about his own family’s dark history as perpetuators and participants in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which elevated them to the British aristocracy. By including this self-examination, Lascelles implores readers to confront and learn our history, take accountability, and never repeat it.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the eARC via NetGalley.
Although Lascelles admits up front he's no historian, I think he's done a stellar job of compiling, organizing, and presenting factual history with accounts from his family and the Berger family. It’s a deeply personal story as much as a historical one. Lascelles stayed as unbiased as possible in order to tell both his father's story and Berger’s with judicious empathy.
I very much appreciated the last couple of chapters where Lascelles talks about his own family’s dark history as perpetuators and participants in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which elevated them to the British aristocracy. By including this self-examination, Lascelles implores readers to confront and learn our history, take accountability, and never repeat it.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the eARC via NetGalley.
October 5, 2026
Great read! A WWII history book focusing on high-profile prisoners-of-war held at Colditz Castle and the Nazi General who defied Hitler’s execution orders to save them.
The author is the son of one of the members of a prisoner group known as the “Prominente” (as the Germans called them) imprisoned in 1944. George Lascelles, nephew of the King of England, was this prisoner. He along with his companions were spared by Gottlieb Berger in the hope they would remember this and help him should Germany lose the war.
The book is divided into three parts with the last entitled Coda. Part 1 explores the time and conditions for when Lascelles and his fellow prisoners were at Colditz Castle, their escape to the American lines, and their return to civilian life especially after the war. Part 2 focuses on Berger and what happened to him - no spoilers here as this one of the more fascinating parts of the book - the author’s meeting with the Berger family and how Lascelles dealt with WWII memories. In the Coda the author concludes with an examination of the impact of the Berger and Lascelles families had on history. Again one of the more fascinating aspects is the revelation of where the money for the Lascelles family’s fortune came - no spoilers here either.
This book resonated with me for its honesty and revelations. I thought it was also well written. I especially enjoyed finding words or phrases so typically British like “mobbed out” to describe Lascelles being mustered out of the Army. On the German side Berger was typical of the high ranking Nazi survivors, like Speer, trying to divest themselves of their Nazi ties and former activities. While he did defy Hitler it was more to maybe save himself than from altruism - he knew the Americans and Soviets were closing in.
I gave this book five stars for its topic - as I continue to point out we need to preserve truthful history and books like this help to do that; in fact the author ends with a stunning quote from Maya Angelou: “History despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage need not be lived again.” - for its refreshing honesty in telling the truth about a family’s past; and as always for the immense enjoyment I got in reading it.
The author is the son of one of the members of a prisoner group known as the “Prominente” (as the Germans called them) imprisoned in 1944. George Lascelles, nephew of the King of England, was this prisoner. He along with his companions were spared by Gottlieb Berger in the hope they would remember this and help him should Germany lose the war.
The book is divided into three parts with the last entitled Coda. Part 1 explores the time and conditions for when Lascelles and his fellow prisoners were at Colditz Castle, their escape to the American lines, and their return to civilian life especially after the war. Part 2 focuses on Berger and what happened to him - no spoilers here as this one of the more fascinating parts of the book - the author’s meeting with the Berger family and how Lascelles dealt with WWII memories. In the Coda the author concludes with an examination of the impact of the Berger and Lascelles families had on history. Again one of the more fascinating aspects is the revelation of where the money for the Lascelles family’s fortune came - no spoilers here either.
This book resonated with me for its honesty and revelations. I thought it was also well written. I especially enjoyed finding words or phrases so typically British like “mobbed out” to describe Lascelles being mustered out of the Army. On the German side Berger was typical of the high ranking Nazi survivors, like Speer, trying to divest themselves of their Nazi ties and former activities. While he did defy Hitler it was more to maybe save himself than from altruism - he knew the Americans and Soviets were closing in.
I gave this book five stars for its topic - as I continue to point out we need to preserve truthful history and books like this help to do that; in fact the author ends with a stunning quote from Maya Angelou: “History despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage need not be lived again.” - for its refreshing honesty in telling the truth about a family’s past; and as always for the immense enjoyment I got in reading it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews