Out of Colditz with David Lascelles

Combining family history with a cinematic depiction of the final days of the Second World War, David Lascelles’ compelling true story follows the life of Gottlob Berger, the SS head of the POW camps, who inexplicably saved the life of the author’s father.

About the event

The grandson of a King. The son of the Viceroy of India. Churchill’s nephew. Held captive at the notorious Colditz prisoner of war camp, they were the Prominente: scions of the British establishment, and pawns in the hands of Nazi leaders. As a German defeat loomed, the SS head of the POW camps Gottlob Berger made a pivotal decision: he would disobey direct orders and spare their lives. ‘Please remember what I have done for you when the war ends,’ he asked. This Nazi overseer, who would later be convicted of war crimes, held their future in his hands. Eighty years later, David Lascelles – the son of George, Earl of Harewood, who would never have been born if his father had been executed – traces the Prominentes’ extraordinary journey and wonders who Gottlob Berger was and what motivated his fateful decision: compassion? Remorse? Or self-interest?

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About the speaker

David Lascelles is a BAFTA-winning film and TV producer. He is the 8th Earl of Harewood and a trustee of Harewood House Trust, an educational charity. Under his guidance, Harewood has been at the forefront of the movement to be more open about addressing its colonial past and its involvement with the transatlantic slave trade. Out of Colditz is his second book.