“On March 24, at noon, a solemn roll call of remembrance will be held at the Stalag, the place where this historic escape took place. Guests at this event are likely to include representatives of diplomatic missions, military delegations, including RAF airmen stationed in Poland, and state authorities,” he stated.

“The culmination of the ceremony will be the flight of four F-16 aircraft and a transport Hercules, which is intended to refer to the fact that airmen were held at Stalag Luft 3,” Łazarz added.

‘The Great Escape’

Stalag Luft III was the Prisoner of War camp for airmen. It was located near the town of Sagan in the east of former Nazi Germany, which today is known as Żagań in Poland.

In 1943, so-called “Committee X” led by British Squadron Leader Roger Bushell planned a major escape from the camp. The prisoners started digging three tunnels called “Tom,” “Dick,” and “Harry”. They focused mainly on “Harry” which was located around 9m below the ground and was more than 100m long.

On the night of March 24 to 25, 1944, a group of 76 prisoners escaped the camp via the tunnel. Nazi Germans captured 73 of them and 50 were shot by the Gestapo at the personal order of Adolf Hitler. Among the murdered airmen were soldiers from the UK, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Lithuania, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Czechoslovakia and Greece, along with six Poles.

Only three of the prisoners managed to succeed. These were two Norwegians Per Bergsland and Jens Muller, as well as Bram van der Stock of the Netherlands.

The story of the escape from Stalag Luft III camp was commemorated in the movie “The Great Escape” from 1963 with the famous role of Steve McQueen and featuring Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson and James Garner.