Transport of concentration camp inmates to Tyrol

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 were moved to the so-called Alpine Fortress – in the Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills – on the orders of the Nazi authorities. The transport's SS guards 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.

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 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 in any fear of capture.

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