The Castle in the Middle Ages
The Castle of Colditz was first mentioned in 1046 in a marriage certificate. The German king Henry III. gifted it to his wife Agnes of Poitou. Their son later granted Colditz Castle to Margrave Wiprecht of Groitzsch in recognition of his long-standing support. Later, the German royal family entrusted the castle to their ministerial Thimo I. of Colditz, whose task was to administer it during their absence. From him descended the noble family of von Colditz.
In 1404, the von Colditz family was forced to relinquish their territory to the Margraves of Meissen and later Electors of Saxony, the Wettin dynasty. The Wettin electresses and electors used the castle as a widow’s residence and a hunting lodge. In 1430 and again in 1504, the town and the castle were engulfed in flames. The fires destroyed parts of the castle.
Hunting and Widow's Residence
In 1506, Elector Frederick the Wise had the castle rebuilt in the Renaissance style. The artist Lucas Cranach the Elder decorated the castle with paintings and designed the interior. In 1523, Frederick also had the Colditz Game Reserve laid out as his personal hunting ground and castle park.
After his death in 1525, the castle was frequently remodelled to suit the tastes of its successive ladies and lords. Over the next century, magnificent gardens and rooms were thus created. The most significant widow in Colditz’s history took up residence in the castle around 1603. Sophia of Brandenburg was formerly the wife of Elector Christian I. She resided at Colditz until 1622 and ushered in a final golden age for the estate. At the end of the 18th century, the Wettin family left the ageing Colditz Castle for the more magnificent palaces of the electoral court.
Workhouse and psychiatric Institution
After the departure of the electresses and electors, Colditz Castle was converted into a workhouse for beggars and vagrants, but also for people with disabilities and children. Around 200 men and women worked in the tailoring workshop, spinning rooms, and in the castle’s own household and gardens. In return, they received shelter, food, a small wage, and children were given a school education.
In 1829, the castle became a “State Institution for the Incurably Mentally Ill.” Its first director, Christian August Hayner, advocated for humane and professional care for the patients. The institution in Colditz remained until 1928.
Early Concentration Camp and Euthanasia
From March 1933 to August 1934, the National Socialist government imprisoned resistance fighters, Social Democrats, and Communists at Colditz Castle. A total of 2,311 people were held here under inhumane conditions and subjected to torture. Among the most well-known prisoners were the former Saxon Minister of the Interior Hermann Liebmann and the writer Bruno Apitz. With the systematic establishment of larger concentration camps, the Colditz camp was dissolved in August 1934.
Unfortunately, the end of the concentration camp did not end the National Socialists’ use of the castle. Beginning in January 1938, the castle once again became a “sanatorium and nursing institution.” However, there was no intention of caring for the well-being of the patients. In reality, Colditz became a testing site for the systematic murder of people with disabilities—a crime against humanity now known as “euthanasia.” In Colditz, 84 people were murdered through systematic starvation. Since 2017, a special memorial site in the castle has been dedicated to them.
POW-camp Oflag IV C
The prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV C was established by the Wehrmacht in October 1939 in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, a set of rules governing the humane treatment of prisoners during wartime. The Prisoners were officers of the Allied nations: Poland, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United States, and Czechoslovakia.
Despite captivity and the ongoing war, the prisoners attempted a number of spectacular and dangerous escapes. These escape attempts became legends in military history and later inspired numerous books, films, and other media.
