ESCAPE FROM COLDITZ - Framed Collector’s Piece

Captain Pat Reid and his daring companions make their audacious escape from Colditz on the night of 14 October 1942.

In one of the most audacious escapes from the mighty prison walls, Pat Reid and three companions broke into the prison kitchens, forced their way out of a broken window and onto a roof. Unobserved by a patrolling sentry they traversed a floodlit courtyard to gain entry to a store, only to find the door leading to the garden beyond was locked and impenetrable. They discovered, however, a tiny vertical air vent, a shaft so narrow that the men were forced to strip off their clothes to squeeze through. One by one, pushing and pulling, all four inched their way out to find themselves on a path through the castle’s old dry moat. Reid later described the event as like ‘being squeezed through a hole in the wall like toothpaste out of a tube’.  Quickly making their exit from the castle grounds the four men split up into pairs and by using forged papers and disguised as Flemish workers, they travelled south by train. Within a week all four had safely crossed the Swiss border.

This completely unique copy of Keith’s stunning print has been enhanced with an original double reamrque in the lower border. And if that wasn’t already special enough, our expert framing team have included in the matting an original piece of the wooden floor from the Guardroom in the solitary confinement block at Colditz, PLUS the highly collectible autograph of the famous escapee depicted: