'The Great Escape!'

3/24/23 Marks the 79th Anniversary of 'The Great Escape'

From the desk of GREEN BOX Author Jim Kurtz...

March 24, 2023 marked the 79^th anniversary of one of most notorious prisoner of war escapes of all time. Characterized as ‘The Great Escape,’ 76 POWs tunneled their way out of Stalag Luft III. Within days, 73 were recaptured. Hitler ordered that 50 of the men were to be executed and that order was carried out.

My father 2nd Lt. Bob Kurtz arrived in Stalag Luft III five months later. Not surprisingly, security in the camp had increased dramatically. The guards were on edge night and day. Some of the friendships that had been forged between them and the prisoners in the earlier years no longer existed.

Exit of Tunnel Harry on the museum grounds today at Stalag Luft III

My father was assigned to Hut 122 in the North Compound. Originally three tunnels were dug for the escape. They were nicknamed, Tom, Dick, and Harry. Tom, whose tunnel began in Hut 123, was discovered early by the Germans and was dynamited. Dick had originated in Hut 122, the same as my father’s, but months earlier before his arrival, and had since been abandoned. That left Harry, which began in Hut 104 and ended up being the tunnel used for ‘The Great Escape.’ When I traveled with our film crew to Stalag Luft III in 2019, our host, Marek Lazarz, led us to the tunnel exit of Harry, where a memorial had been erected to honor those escapees who were executed on Hitler’s order.

Memorial to the POWs that were captured, returned to camp and executed after The Great Escape

Hut remains on the grounds of Stalag Luft III

Jim Kurtz with Marek Lazarz at the Museum

Marek, curator of the Stalag Luft III museum that was built on the site of the POW camp in Zagan, Poland, told me that each year on the anniversary of the escape, dignitaries from all over Europe travel to Zagan to visit his museum and tour the grounds where now only brick foundations of these huts can be seen.

In a previous newsletter, I mentioned that Marek was designing and building a display that features my father, 2^nd Lt. Robert Kurtz, utilizing various artifacts that I have donated to his museum over the past few years, including its latest addition, which was my dad’s service uniform. I am thrilled to tell you the display is now complete. Marek tells me that between 15,000 and 20,000 people visit his museum every year. I am very proud to honor my father’s legacy in this way.

As an aside, a few years ago, I spoke with my cousin who remembers visiting our home in White Plains, NY, when my dad was still living. Although my mom told me that my dad never spoke of the war or his time as a POW, he did tell my cousin one thing when asked what it was like to be a prisoner of war. My father said that it was his job was to fill up his pockets with sand that had been excavated from one of the tunnels the men continued to dig, even after Harry had been discovered. He would slowly let the sand filter out of the pockets from his pants as he walked around the camp’s grounds.

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Display case of 2nd Lt. Bob Kurtz & B24 crew

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