Uploaded March 2021 | Updated September 2026, 52 minutes ago
Found roughly half-way between Poznań and Wrocław, the town of Żagań was the site of one of the most celebrated prison breakouts of all time. Immortalised in the 1963 Hollywood blockbuster The Great Escape, the daring break from the Nazi prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft III has since been ingrained into English and Commonwealth culture. Opened in 1942 outside the German town of Sagan (now Polish 'Żagań'), the camp was designed to hold thousands of captured allied airmen, including the most persistent escapees inside the Reich’s network of prisons. Undeterred by tight security a hardcore band of 250 POWs made a brilliant attempt to tunnel out of the complex before setting off independently for neutral territory.
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Found roughly half-way between Poznań and Wrocław, the town of Żagań was the site of one of the most celebrated prison breakouts of all time. Immortalised in the 1963 Hollywood blockbuster The Great Escape, the daring break from the Nazi prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft III has since been ingrained into English and Commonwealth culture. Opened in 1942 outside the German town of Sagan (now Polish 'Żagań'), the camp was designed to hold thousands of captured allied airmen, including the most persistent escapees inside the Reich’s network of prisons. Undeterred by tight security a hardcore band of 250 POWs made a brilliant attempt to tunnel out of the complex before setting off independently for neutral territory.
📱 READ MORE → inyourpocket.com/greater-poland/the-great-escape-stalag-luft-iii-in-zagan_78297f
👍 FACEBOOK → facebook.com/polandinyourpocket
📸 INSTAGRAM → @polandinyourpocket
If you want to stay up to date with all cultural and historical events in Poland, make sure you SIGN-UP to our monthly English-language newsletter! 🇬🇧 / 🇵🇱 📰 → bit.ly/PolandInYourPocket-Newsletter-SignUp
