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Colditz: Das Leben in Oflag IVC
Aquarelle von W. F. Anderson -Solitary
Colditz: Everyday Life in Oflag IVC
Watercolours by W.F. Anderson - Solitary
 

William Faithfull Anderson painted this picture in 1942 during one of several spells in solitary confinement. 

He also spent some days around D Day in June 1944 in a cell like this as a result of being caught digging a tunnel. 
It was while in solitary that he heard news of the Normandy landings on the German guards' radio. 
But of course he could not say anything about this in his letters….
  
 
Solitary 1942
From a letter dated 4 June 1944
"Little news except that I had an unlucky day on Thursday, leaving my wrist watch by a wash basin and losing it, and being found on the wrong side of a locked door under boring circumstances which will result in my spending a week or two behind another one. The latter is all in the days work, but the watch is annoying as it has gone everywhere with me for 15 years.... 
From a letter dated 18 June 1944
"My 5th birthday inside, and well inside this time, in jug; I've spent nearly all the time drawing, drawing lots of trees in lots of ways and my cell in sunlight or shade (indistinguishable) and the time flew - I go out tomorrow. I think most of us having proved by demonstration (which we never would have believed!) that we can do four years are fairly reserved and philosophical about the months that may remain; we're probably a mass of complexes and repressions but they don't hurt too much.” 

Letter extracts © W.F.Anderson 1942, 1996 and 1999  © Web Page: Antony F.Anderson 1999