Stalag Luft III

Book excerpt: Stalag Luft III is the camp most commonly associated with the Allied prisoner of war experience in World War II Germany. Housing mainly British and American flyers, it was the historical setting for the movie The Great Escape. As with most Hollywood treatments, however, the film blurred the line between fact and fiction. In Stalag Luft III: The Secret Story, Arthur A. Durand offers the first comprehensive historical examination of what camp life was actually like, from the mundane drudgery of the prisoners' daily lives to their harrowing struggle for survival against an enemy responsible for the deaths of millions. Relying on coded records kept by appointed camp historians, as well as personal interviews, letters, logs, diaries, and recently declassified government documents, Durand expertly combines impressive scholarship with dramatic narrative.