I totally agree about his last episode - I felt very let-down by this {though Anthony Valentine did his best with what he was given - "rabbits"!}, as I had fully expected Mohn to be there right at the end. He certainly wasn't someone you would ever perceive as a coward, though he was clearly quite afraid of the SS, knowing that they would murder anyone who got in their way. * On a side-note, "Colditz" could so easily have been a 3 series show, giving us more details across the 5/6 years it was set. Oh, and I think the reason for some of the timeline confusion is that some events in different episodes cross-over.
Back to Mohn - I suspect he had issues with his father, due to that need to prove he was the best at everything, and I'm quite sure his competitiveness at chess came from his childhood. When he and Tony Shaw were talking: "... prove yourself worthy of the thing you believe in.", "Thing, or person?", from Mohn's reaction, I think it was more than just Hitler he needed to feel worthy of. Also, he was only in his early 30s, and had grown-up under the influence of a lot of propaganda, and probably followed parental views. And being given the chance to work on Hitler's personal staff for a few months would have brought him into contact with all sorts of information {it can only have been a short time, given that he was evacuated from Stalingrad in January 1943 [Mohn said he left on one of the last planes, which was in January. - * though we have another timeline confusion: the real 'big' escape was in October 1942 [Pat Reid and co], and Mohn is supposed to have arrived at the camp 3 weeks later. So did the series change the date to mid-1943?}.
Though he was a believer in Nazi ideology {as I said above, I put that down to 'influences'}, I think he was a soldier, not a killer - otherwise, for someone with a sadistic streak, why did he not join the SS? I also think the sadistic moments came about from his bitterness and anger, deep emotional damage, and the physical pain {which he refused to let get the better of him}, because, as we saw in his final episode and others, he had a good sense of humour {as when talking to Ulmann about Squadron Leader Shaw}, and could be quite nice when he wanted to be. I think he could have been redeemable when he first arrived at Colditz, but the constant frustrations against Simon Carter, and being unable to do the job he was assigned unhindered, just made things worse for him. What the man really needed was a good therapist!
Re: Mohn's medals
* On a side-note, "Colditz" could so easily have been a 3 series show, giving us more details across the 5/6 years it was set. Oh, and I think the reason for some of the timeline confusion is that some events in different episodes cross-over.
Back to Mohn - I suspect he had issues with his father, due to that need to prove he was the best at everything, and I'm quite sure his competitiveness at chess came from his childhood. When he and Tony Shaw were talking: "... prove yourself worthy of the thing you believe in.", "Thing, or person?", from Mohn's reaction, I think it was more than just Hitler he needed to feel worthy of. Also, he was only in his early 30s, and had grown-up under the influence of a lot of propaganda, and probably followed parental views.
And being given the chance to work on Hitler's personal staff for a few months would have brought him into contact with all sorts of information {it can only have been a short time, given that he was evacuated from Stalingrad in January 1943 [Mohn said he left on one of the last planes, which was in January. - * though we have another timeline confusion: the real 'big' escape was in October 1942 [Pat Reid and co], and Mohn is supposed to have arrived at the camp 3 weeks later. So did the series change the date to mid-1943?}.
Though he was a believer in Nazi ideology {as I said above, I put that down to 'influences'}, I think he was a soldier, not a killer - otherwise, for someone with a sadistic streak, why did he not join the SS?
I also think the sadistic moments came about from his bitterness and anger, deep emotional damage, and the physical pain {which he refused to let get the better of him}, because, as we saw in his final episode and others, he had a good sense of humour {as when talking to Ulmann about Squadron Leader Shaw}, and could be quite nice when he wanted to be.
I think he could have been redeemable when he first arrived at Colditz, but the constant frustrations against Simon Carter, and being unable to do the job he was assigned unhindered, just made things worse for him.
What the man really needed was a good therapist!