PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
80th anniversary of the Great Escape (14 April 2024)

That this House notes the 80th anniversary of the Great Escape, an act of defiance during the Second World War in which 76 prisoners of war tunnelled out of a German prisoner of war camp, Stalag Luft III, into a snowy forest; highlights that this camp was considered one of the hardest to escape from; underlines that, in fact, over 600 prisoners were involved in the construction of the tunnels; further notes that the three tunnels were named Tom, Dick and Harry and that only 76 of the planned 200 escaped; further highlights the 73 were recaptured and, of those, 50 were executed and that three men successfully fled to safety; and remembers the legacy this story leaves behind and that the lives of all those within Nazi prison camps will never be forgotten.

Sponsored by:
Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party)