Transport of concentration camp inmates to Tyrol
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP The transport of prominent inmates of German concentration camps to the Tyrol occurred in late April 1945, during the final weeks of the Second World War in Europe. Large numbers of high-profile prisoners (Prominenten) were moved to the so-called Alpine Fortress, in the Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills on the orders of the Nazi authorities. The SS guards in the transport had orders to kill everyone if liberation by the advancing Western Allies became imminent. However, in the South Tyrol region, regular German troops took the inmates into protective custody. The entire group was eventually liberated by advance units from the US Seventh Army.[1]
Colonel Bogislaw von Bonin (center) with fellow hostage Sigismund Payne Best (dark suit right) shortly after liberation on 5 May 1945.
Contents
1 Transfer and liberation
2 List of prisoners
3 References
4 Sources
Transfer and liberation
The hostages were liberated from the Hotel Pragser Wildsee on the shores of Pragser Wildsee in South Tyrol on 5 May 1945.
On 17, 24 and 26 April 1945, 141 prisoners from Dachau Concentration Camp were transferred to Arbeitserziehungslager Reichenau (formerly a Labour Education Camp for undesirables), Innsbruck, Austria. However, the camp was not prepared to keep the prisoners. Instead, the prisoners were sent to a hotel near Niederdorf/Hochpustertal 70 km north-east of Bozen, Italy, where they arrived on 28 April.
The transport, which was composed of trucks and old buses, was guarded by several dozen troops from the SS and the SD. On board were the camp's most important and prominent prisoners and family members of the 20 July plotters. The officers in charge, Obersturmführer Edgar Stiller and Untersturmführer Bader, had orders to kill all the prisoners if there was any fear of capture.
Contrary to expectations, the Pragser Wildsee Hotel was unavailable, as it was being used by three German Wehrmacht generals. A delegation from the prisoners' committee, which included Colonel Bogislaw von Bonin, who had been imprisoned for allowing a retreat on the Eastern Front, made contact with the Wehrmacht headquarters in Bozen and made the identity of the high-status prisoners known as well as the fear that they were to be executed before liberation by US troops.
A message was sent to Wehrmacht troops at Sexten, 17 km east of Niederdorf, commanded by Captain Wichard von Alvensleben, who decided to come and protect the prisoners with his soldiers.
On 30 April, against the background of advancing US troops and Alvensleben's unit, which had now surrounded the village, the SS guards decided to escape.
The freed prisoners were then accommodated at the Pragser Wildsee Hotel until advance units from the 42nd Infantry Division and the 45th Infantry Division reached Niederdorf, on 5 May 1945.
List of prisoners
(by country)[2][3]
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References
^ "Defeat And Deliverance 1945 (newsreel containing the liberation)". British Pathé News. Retrieved 9 May 2015..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em
^ ab Peter Koblank: Die Befreiung der Sonder- und Sippenhäftlinge in Südtirol, Online-Edition Mythos Elser 2006 (in German)
^ 'Endgame 1945 The Missing Final Chapter of World War II'
^ Austrian Requiem
^ Niels-Birger Danielsen. "Modstand Frihedskampens Rødder 1933–1942" (in Danish). Politikens Forlag. ISBN 9788740015447. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
^ Thorkild Nielsen, Egon Jensen (2013). "Optrevlingen af Aarsgruppen februar 1944" (PDF) (in Danish). Vesthimmerlands Museum. p. 5. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
^ Svenson, Åke; Vandberg, Bent (1945). De hvite bussene (in Norwegian). Oslo: Gyldendal. pp. 74–76.
^ Shores, Christopher F., et al. Air War for Yugoslavia, Greece, and Crete, 1940-41. Grub Street, 1999.
Sources
Hans-Günter Richardi, SS-Geiseln in der Alpenfestung
ISBN 978-88-7283-229-5 (in German)
Pragser Wildsee.com (in German)- Peter Koblank: Die Befreiung der Sonder- und Sippenhäftlinge in Südtirol, Online-Edition Mythos Elser 2006 (in German)
ECHO Tirol 10 November 2005 (in German)
Fey von Hassell, Hostage of the Third Reich: The Story of My Imprisonment and Rescue from the SS,
ISBN 978-0-684-19080-8
Endgame 1945 The Missing Final Chapter of World War II
ISBN 978-0-316-10980-2
Klaus-Dietmar Henke, Die amerikanische Besetzung Deutschlands,
ISBN 3-486-56175-8 (in German)- Kurt von Schuschnigg: Austrian Requiem, Victor Gollancz 1946, London.