Colditz German Jailers

Kommandants

In the words of Duty, and later Security Officer, Reinhold Eggers:

Colonel Schmidt (1866 – 1946 or 47)

Commandant of Colditz, October 1939 – 31st July 1942
“I had the impression of a mighty head, perhaps not quite balanced on huge shoulders and grey, and revealed his whole forehead. His movements and words were brief. On the whole an imposing figure, confirming my idea of a Prussian colonel.”

“His belonging to the old Prussian tradition was further stressed by his exterior appearance of austerity and simplicity.” “He was extremely punctual, very rarely entering his office later than 8 a.m. He often made a snap inspection through the camp: security, mail control, administration. After this he would sit down to have a look through his mail and newspapers.”

“According to old soldiers’ tradition the Colonel avoided political discussions. He undoubtedly had no more than a formal loyalty to the Hitler regime.” ” With his authority he never violated international law. He rarely used to the full his power to punish his prisoners. When, near the end of his time in 1942, their behaviour verged on mutiny, he did not employ force to restore military authority in the camp.” “He preferred the court martial as a weapon.”

“Colonel Schmidt retired on 31st July 1942 when he was seventy years old”. “He moved from Dresden to Klein Wanzleben after the air raid in 1945, and was arrested by the GPU. He was shortly released, only to be re-arrested and interned in the GPU cellars and in the camps of Klein Wanzleben, Gross Wanzleben, Magdeburg, Muhlberg, Frankfurt/Oder and Reval.”

“The few men who came home from the Russian camps who had seen him there reported that he was never tried by the Russians but that he stuck firmly to his principles during those dreadful years. I found no-one who knew the exact details or even the date of his end – in a hospital in Riga in 1946 or ’47.”

Colonel Glaesche (1889 – 1968)

Commandant of Colditz, August 1942 – 13th February 1943
“Edgar Glaesche was born in 1889. Our second Commandant, he came to Colditz in August 1942. He was a man of medium height and with a slight squint in one eye – a less imposing person than his predecessor, Colonel Schmidt.

Although accustomed to instant obedience, as he had previously been a regimental commander on the Eastern front, Colonel Glaesche lacked the aggression needed to enforce his orders on the mob of prisoners we had in Colditz. Finding himself at a loss, he avoided contact with them, never inspected their quarters, observed their parades from a high window near a mounted machine gun, installed a new alarm system and improved the guard posts with a high wooden watch tower and with cat – walks for the sentries.”

“All these precautions only made matters worse. His reign as commandant brought escape attempts to a climax; the punishment cells could not house the crowds of prisoners who disobeyed his orders. He was helpless for the Geneva Convention prevented his imposing more effective punishments. So Colonel Glaesche had to go after only six months and we lost a man whom we all respected.”

“We missed Colonel Glaesche, who went back to the east to his new appointment – District Commander of Russian prisoners in a group of camps in the Ukraine. Glaesche died at Stuttgart – Degerloch in 1968.”

Lieut. Colonel Prawitt (1899 – 1969)

Commandant of Colditz, 13th February 1943 – 15th April 1945
“A regular Infantry Officer, appointed Commandant of Oflag IVC from 13th February 1943 onwards (He claimed he had been promoted to full colonel in February 1943 in a telephone message from the General Kommando).”

“He was a martinet, and once publicly admonished the guard commander, Captain Thomann, for allowing one of his men to go on guard duty with his collar up to keep out the snow.”

“Colonel Prawitt often attended the parties given by rich families of Colditz, partaking to the full of the food and wine available. (When offered a cigar, for instance, he sometimes took more than one). Although his outward appearance and bearing were generally those of a model German Officer, he was in fact openly in opposition to Hitler, concealing his attitude only after the assassination plot of 20th July 1944.”

Second-in-Command
Major Menz, 2-I-C, 1939 – August 1941
Lieut.Colonel von Kirchbach, 2-I-C, August 1941 – February 1942

Captain Paul Priem, 2-I-C, February 1942 – 13th October 1942
Colonel Kalivius, 2-I-C, 13th October 1942 – May 1943
Major Amthor, 2-I-C, May 1943 – February 1945
Major Howe, 2-I-C, February 1945 – 16th April 1945
Security Officers

Captain Hans Lange

Captain Hans Lange, SO, 1939 – October 1943
Major Horn, SO, October 1943 – February 1944
Captain Reinhold Eggers

Captain Reinhold Eggers, SO, February 1944 – 16th April 1945
CO, November 1940 – February 1944
Camp Officers
A snap shot in time, 1941, demonstrates the structures and personalities of Lageroffizier’s (Camp Officers).

LO1 Hauptmann Paul Priem

“Hauptmann Paul Priem LO1 was a lively character, fond of battle, fond of life, very much a joker, fond of the bottle, too, and the only one who the British agreed had a sense of humour. Sometimes he would refer to us as ‘the etceteras’: he would give out notices on parade as applying to the French, the Belgians, the Dutch, the Poles ‘und so weiter’ (‘and so on’). The British once put on a variety show in the theatre performed by the und so weiter group. Priem did not worry much about discipline in the strict military sense. He had been a schoolmaster like Eggers, and thought he he knew how to handle the ‘bad boys” camp.”

‘Colditz The Full Story’, by P.R.Reid., M.B.E., M.C.

“Captain Paul Priem was our most memorable officer, both to the British and to ourselves. He was born in the early nineties of the last century in the region of Bromberg-Schneidemuhl, the district which is now Polish. It was then part of the German Reich of Kaiser William II, with a population of Germans and Poles.

Priem was of medium height, with a good soldier’s physique and gleaming blue eyes. He was lively and he reacted promptly to any surprise situation in which he found himself. He was above all a charming companion, especially at a good dinner party. When he had had a few drinks, his mind worked at double speed, producing an unbelievable number of fantastic ideas, bons mots and so on. There was no one in our whole staff who could match his ready wit. He was a born maitre de plaisir and a much sought-after speaker at festivities. On the whole we found him a jolly good fellow, and so did the British, who described him a “the only German officer with a natural sense of humour”. He was certainly a rarity, the best of comrades, noble and trustworthy.

His mercurial temperament, however, had its disadvantages when he dealt with prisoners. It was true he could be trusted to master every situation, but as an old headmaster he should have known that, for a new teacher, discipline is best established in the first few days of authority. Priem preferred the elegant way he managed the prison camp from 1039 to 1940; but when Colditz became a Soderlager for hard cases, full of spirited, rioting officers and expert escapers, it became evident that his methods were leading to disaster. I have served in some camps on the staff, and as a guest in others, but nowere have I found discipline on such a low level a it was in Colditz. Priem’s laxity was partly the clause. Pupcke and I, made from a different clay, tried in vain to rectify matters, but our hopes of doing this had been dashed by Priem at the start.

His audacious courage, quick action and reaction, honest principls, even his carousing, qualify him. Besides this, he did not abuse the hospitality of te rich citizens of Colditz to enjoy the pleasures of the etappenschweine.

Camp Officer at Colditz from 1939, Priem was dismissed from the army in January 1943 on medical grounds – he was subject to apoplectic fits. He died of a heart attack in August 1944.”

‘Colditz Recaptured’, by Reinhold Eggers

LO2 Rittmeister Aurich

“LO2 “was a cavalry captain, Rittmeister Aurich (until March 1941). He would blow up, going blue in the face at the least provocation, as the prsoners very soon discovered. He suffered from mortally high blood pressure. He was all in favour of violence against his charges.”

‘Colditz The Full Story’, by P.R.Reid., M.B.E., M.C.

Captain Hans Pupke