What was it that drove you to escape from Stalag Luft III? 

 

I took inspiration from the "Wooden Horse Escape": we knew it was possible, and this made us even more determined to succeed: failure was not an option. It is written in the Geneva convention that it is an officer's duty to escape. And that is what I did. That wasn’t the hard part though: getting through Europe was not only exhausting physically, but mentally as well. 

 

What exactly was "Big X"? 

 

Big X was the organisation that put together the escape plans. There were so many departments: but I was in the false paper department, and also linked with the bribery department. Big X was the most senior officer in the camp, Roger Bushell, and he was the master mind of all this: it was he who came up with 'Tom, Dick and Harry', and he who initialised the escape attempts. Without him, I doubt any would have had the motivation to actually escape. 

 

Can you explain what the 'cooler' was, and how it can be misinterpreted? 

 

The cooler was basically the punishment for misbehaving prisoners. Although some camps coolers were highly unhygienic, Stalag Luft III was actually famous for being very humane. Many today believe that prisoners actually spent all the time in a cooler, but at least in the German camps, all prisoners were kept in well-kept cabins. There were four compounds (these were to limit escape attempts, and a sport field, so prisoners led a monotonous but healthy life. 

 

What was so special about getting into Spain (after the escape)? 

 

Spain was a technically neutral country (if you could say as much), so getting into the country was the safest place to be apart from an Allied country. The reason I am sceptical, however, is because Spain engaged with the Nazis, supplying them with weapons and ammunition, which, in my eyes, is not neutral.  

 

Where is Gibraltar and why is it significant? 

 

Gibraltar is off the coast off Spain, and van der Stok was 'kept prisoner' (officially,) here once by English soldiers. On his way back to England, he was also kept there. In WWII, this didn't really count as a country, although it is part of the British Embassy, which is why he was put there 

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What was a Engelandvaarder? 

 

An Engelandvaarder is someone who escaped from the Netherlands to go to England to put forward their services. There were many Dutch people who ran away from Holland for themselves, so these didn't count as Engelandvaarders. 

 

Who was 'Uncle Alexander', and what was 'the code'? 

 

Uncle Alexander was someone who assisted Bram van der Stok get to England, and even showed him how to use a code, although sadly there wasn't even enough technology to start sending transmissions, code or no code. 

  

How was your escape funded? That is: food water, and supplies. 

 

Well, firstly, the post-escape part of the plan was very well thought out, and if all went well, I wouldn't need too much money at all: I would be in England before too long after all. However, it wouldn't hurt to have a little, so I stopped off at a bank in Belgium, and called my Uncle, who let me loan out some money in his name. 

Where was your role in Big X, and was it a major one? 

 

I played a senior role in the False Paper department: seeing as I knew all the Dutch, English, German and French languages, I was the perfect choice to write out the papers. We also created false seals to show the 'authenticity' of the work. Not only this, but I also was unofficially linked to the Briberies Department; I was adept at quickly making friends with the German soldiers, and could quickly and easily bribe them with chocolate and coffee. 

  
Did the escape, seeing as it was discovered halfway through, have to change in any way? 

 

Obviously, there was an abort after the 76th man was seen escaping from the hole. We had to quickly and efficiently disperse, seeing as, although the most senior would be punished, through a spell in the cooler, the junior ones, if found 'asleep' on their bunks, would be unsuspected. Unfortunately, in an ironic way, Roger Bushell made it out, and he was slaughtered by a firing squad from the SS upon his escape. Following this tragedy, at the end of the war, the Stalag Luft III commandant was charged as being part of the German Nazi movement, but he received many positive testimonies, and was repatriated. He died just two months before the movie The Great Escape was published. I did not testify either way, as I decided that my personal experience with the Nazis rendered myself too affected to go either way (I believed I was biased).