Three Easy Ways to Live in A Castle

Since the aristocracy is notoriously difficult for people to break into (especially pesky Americans), I've come up with some other ways for you to land yourself a spot at a castle. For this to work, you need to be one of these things:

1) Indigent (poor, homeless, etc.)
2) An Allied soldier/prisoner of war
3) Insane (err, mentally unstable?)

Now, I promise to explain, so hold your horses. These are all ways to be a resident of one castle in particular, Colditz Castle (doesn't that sound dreadful) in Saxony, Germany. Despite its dreary name, Colditz has a long (and illustrious? notorious?) history. The first Colditz Castle was built in 1158 for Thimo I with the permission of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (kingpin of the Third Crusade, and possessor of one of the most BA names ever). In 1404 the castle was sold to the Wettin dynasty and became part of Saxony. Since I know everyone loves cool names as much as I do, I'll let you know that during the 15th century, Colditz Castle was home to Frederick the Wise and Johann the Gentle, both Electors of Saxony.

Legend has it that in 1504, a servant named Clemens accidentally set the castle, church, and much of the town of Colditz on fire (I can't imagine that ended well for him). The castle's 16th century owners took that opportunity to do a lot of renovations to the castle and its design, changing and adding things in the Renaissance style (it even had a zoo!). In 1694, Augustus the Strong (the English should take a naming lesson from the Saxons) ordered a huge expansion of the castle, roughly doubling its size.

From 1803-1829 the Electors of Saxony (props to them for keeping hold of the castle for so many centuries) used the castle as a workhouse which provided food for the poor, the ill, and people under arrest. After that, the castle changed purposes again. From 1829 until 1924, Colditz served as a sanitarium (mostly reserved for wealthy people and the nobility).

At this point in history, things got a little crazy for Germany. The Nazis rose to power and took personal control over castles like Colditz. Being the generally nasty characters they were, the Nazis decided to use the castle as a prison for "undesirables" (which to them is, you know, pretty much everyone). When WWII got real, they started using the castle as a prisoner of war camp for captured Allied soldiers. This camp was reserved for particular tough cases: the people who landed in Colditz were either habitual escapees or trouble-makers from other camps (which does make them seem cooler, doesn't it?). Oflag IV-C, as the obsessively organized Nazis called Colditz, was designated as a high-security prison that the Germans thought pretty much impossible to escape from (owing to its geographic position). However, Colditz had one of the highest records of successful escape attempts for prisoners (possible because its prisoners were already the escapee-type). Today, you can still visit and see some of the tunnels they dug in order to escape.

In 1945, the Soviets captured Colditz and it subsequently because part of East Germany. The East Germans used the camp as a prison for thieves and non-communists (not really much a change from the Nazis). Later on, they used it as a nursing home for the elderly (maybe because the non-communists got old?)

The castle recently underwent refurbishment and has been put into use as a museum, youth hostel, and hotel. This means that if you wanted to, you could stay there yourself for a night...in a castle!