Etienne Henri "Hans" Larive, MWO, DSC and bar, was a Dutch naval officer during World War II. He escaped from the prisoner of war camp Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle in 1941, and spent the rest of the war in England serving aboard Motor Torpedo Boats. He later wrote his memoir Vannacht varen de Hollanders (1950), which was republished translated into English as The Man Who Came in From Colditz (1975) – a pun on the best-selling novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.
Hans Larive
Colditz Castle, prison camp (1945)
Oflag IV-C, often referred to by its location at Colditz Castle, overlooking Colditz, Saxony, was one of the most noted German Army prisoner-of-war camps for captured enemy officers during World War II; Oflag is a shortening of Offizierslager, meaning "officers' camp".
Colditz Castle as Oflag IV-C, April 1945
RAF group photograph at Colditz. Back row, from left to right: F/Lt Best, F/Lt Forbes, F/Lt Zafouk, F/Lt Flinn, F/Lt van Rood, F/Lt Halifax, F/Lt Donaldson, F/Lt Thom, F/Lt Milne, F/Lt Middleton, F/Lt Goldfinch. Front row, from left to right: F/Lt Dickenson, S/Ldr Stephenson, F/Lt Parker, S/Ldr Bader, S/Ldr McColm, S/Ldr Lockett, F/Lt Bruce.
Some of the French officers held at Colditz
The inner courtyard of Colditz castle which was used as the prison yard when the castle was the POW camp Oflag IV-C during World War II. The door flanked by bushes was the entrance to the "Prominente" quarters. Note the cutout depiction of Lieutenant Bouley to the lower left-hand side of the photograph.
