Fifty Allied Airmen who made ‘The Great Escape’ were murdered on Hitler’s orders

In March 1944, 76 Allied Airmen broke out of Stalag Luft III, a prison camp in central Germany, in an action made famous by a 1963 Hollywood movie The Great Escape. Seventy-three of the Great Escapers were recaptured and then fifty of them were murdered by the Gestapo – the Nazi secret police. In retribution an outraged British Government promised ‘exemplary justice’. Three months after the war ended, Squadron Leader Frank McKenna took a small band of RAF Police into the chaos of post-war Germany and began to hunt down the men responsible.

The Great Escape: The Reckoning combines dramatic recreations of key moments in the investigation with revealing documentary commentary. Surviving Great Escapers and specialist historians outline the extraordinary details of the escape, the brave men who made it, and the brutal manner of their execution. And in a poignant and compelling interview, we hear from a 73 year old German woman, whose beloved father was one of the Gestapo officers hanged for the murders.

Awards & Festivals

• Winner Gold Award, Dramatised Documentaries, Australian Cinematography Society Awards for Western Australia 2009
• Winner Golden Tripod, Dramatised Documentaries, Australian Cinematographers Society National Awards 2010