Great Escapes: Remarkable Second World War Captives was an exhibition that opened on Friday 2 February 2024 and closed on Sunday 21 July 2024.
Great Escapes explored the human spirit of hope and resilience during times of captivity, revealing both iconic and under-told stories of prisoners of war and civilian internees during the Second World War.
From 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, to remarkable stories of individuals seeking escape through art, music and finding love, the exhibition offered glimpses of the courage and ingenuity that is possible in desperately hard times.
Drawing on The National Archives’ vast collections of wartime era documents and photographs, the exhibition featured never previously displayed records from MI9 – a highly secretive British government agency set up to help military personnel evade and escape capture, war office records recently catalogued by volunteers and incredible loans from organisations such as IWM, Tate, Leicester Museum and Art Gallery and Eden Camp Modern History Museum.
The exhibition was accompanied by a book, Captives: Prisoners of War and Internees 1939:1945 published by The History Press.