Great Escapes [open]
Explore the human spirit in times of captivity.
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- Plan your visit
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‘Great Escapes: Remarkable Second World War Captives’ is a major new exhibition revealing iconic and under-told stories of prisoners of war and civilian internees during the Second World War.
Explore famous escape attempts such as the escape from Stalag Luft III that we know as 'the Great Escape', and British officer Airey Neave’s escape from Colditz Castle dressed as a German soldier. Discover remarkable stories of individuals seeking escape through art, music and finding love.
Drawing on The National Archives’ vast collections of wartime era documents and photographs, the exhibition features never previously displayed records from MI9 – a highly secretive British government agency set up to help military personnel evade and escape capture. It includes recently-catalogued War Office records and incredible loans from organisations including:
- IWM
- Tate
- Leicester Museum and Art Gallery
- Eden Camp Modern History Museum
Glimpse the courage and ingenuity possible in desperately hard times.
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- Get emails about Great Escapes
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- Be the first to hear updates about the exhibition, and more.
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- https://pages.enews.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pages/subscribe
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★★★★☆ – A revelatory insight into the prisoner-of-war experience
The Telegraph
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- Great Escapes: Exhibition tour
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Exhibition events
Join us for fantastic Great Escapes events at The National Archives.
Discover more Great Escapes in these exciting online talks, by our specialists and guest speakers.
Plan your visit
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Explore Great Escapes
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- Judy, the only dog registered as a prisoner of war
- teaser_text
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- Blog – Behind the Wire: Mapping Second World War camp histories in the UK
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- Trace the location of prisoner of war and internment camps in the UK through a series of interactive maps.
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- https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/behind-the-wire/
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- Secret letter sent to British Secret Services
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- Podcast – On the Record: Second World War Captives
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- Historians Will Butler, Ela Kaczmarska, and Roger Kershaw dive into the experiences of prisoners of war and civilian internees.
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- https://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/second-world-war-captives/
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- On the Record Great Escapes
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- Roger Bushell and the 'Great Escape'
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- Feature – Fascinating survival stories
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- Take a look at just a few of the fascinating records in this exhibition and the stories of survival behind them.
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- https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/great-escapes/fascinating-survival-stories/
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Browse our specially selected exhibition books, gifts and more.