Where there is a Will

Presented by Horsens Museum

On the day before Christmas 1949, Carl August Lorentzen escaped from his prison cell by crawling through an 18m tunnel, which had taken him nearly a year to dig. In this exhibition, Horsens Museum presents a reconstruction of FÆNGSLET’s best known and most spectacular escape. Following the subterranean tunnel under the prison’s forecourt – from the southwesterly staircase tower in the main building to the front building – visitors can experience Lorentzen’s escape route first-hand.

He had spent several months planning and preparing for the escape, which he realised during the night of 23 December 1949. Behind a cupboard in the cell, Lorentzen had made a hole in the wall and dug a tunnel, which led down below the prison courtyard across to the prison governor’s potato cellar. From here, Lorentzen was able to walk out into the open air. He left a sign saying: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way!” Lorentzen spent 39 years of his life in prison. He died at Horsens State Penitentiary in 1958, 62 years old.

DATE
1st June - permanent

VENUE
The Prison Museum, Horsens

AUDIENCE
Everyone