Fate of the 104 special prisoners and 37 family prisoners (1945)

The fate of the 104 special prisoners and 37 family prisoners (German: Schicksal der 104 Sonder- und 37 Sippenhäftlinge) from 17 nations in 1945 was an adventurous, fateful story in the final phase of the Second World War, in which, despite the turmoil of the times and the merciless advance of the enemy, reason and conviction ultimately prevailed among the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in South Tyrol. In older sources, the number is 98 special prisoners and 37 family prisoners from 16 nations (according to the RSHA name list). Vera von Schuschnigg, residing in her hometown of Munich and since 23 March 1941 a mother, requested to be voluntarily imprisoned with her husband Kurt von Schuschnigg, along with daughter Maria Dolores Elisabeth "Sissy", which was granted in December 1941. Both were not formally listed as prisoners, therefore, the official number of prisoners should be 139, not 141.

Hotel "Pragser Wildsee" – then and now

History

Wichard von Alvensleben

At the Hotel "Bachmann" in Niederdorf on 29 April 1945, at a meeting of more than 130 special prisoners, SS-Obersturmführer Edgar Stiller declared his willingness to relinquish command of the transport and hand it over to the recently formed prisoner committee and the already alerted Wehrmacht. His relenting and the telephone call to SS-General Wolff, who ordered the SS to leave the prisoners unmolested and to withdraw, are underappreciated in military history.

Special prisoner Colonel in General Staff Bogislaw Oskar Adolf Fürchtegott von Bonin (to his left, in the dark suit, the Germanophile British agent Sigismund Payne Best) in front of the "Pragser Wildsee" Hotel under US guard, 5 May 1945. Meanwhile, US media had arrived and were photographing and filming incessantly. For days, the prisoners had been lovingly entertained and cared for by hotel owner Emerentiana "Emma" Heiss-Hellenstainer (1888–1959). On 8 May 1945, von Bonin was taken prisoner of war by the Americans. He was not released until the end of 1947. He then worked, among other things, at car manufacturer Daimler-Benz and from 1952 onwards was head of the “Military Planning” sub-department at the “Blank” office (Amt „Blank“), where he was responsible for preparing the plans for the German contribution to the European Defence Community and later NATO.

In Germany, over 100 special prisoners were interned, mainly after the assassination attempt on 20 July 1944. They were held in the concentration camps in Buchenwald, Dachau, Flossenbürg, Mauthausen and Sachsenhausen. Contrary to post-war propaganda, the prisoners or internees with celebrity status received preferential treatment. So-called Eastern workers (Ostarbeiter) took care of the household and accompanied their wives on shopping trips into town. Children were able to continue attending school and Gymnasium. The son of former Austrian Chancellor Dr. jur. Kurt von Schuschnigg, also known as Kurt (born 1926), joined the Kriegsmarine and was nevertheless allowed to visit his family in the concentration camp during his leave. Official celebrities received better food and individual consideration in the concentration camp; some even had their own furniture and an extensive library, as well as wine. In the end, 104 special prisoners, as well as 37 family prisoners, were gathered at the Dachau concentration camp for transfer by the SS via Innsbruck towards South Tyrol and the southern part of the "Alpine fortress" in the Dolomites. The war was lost, the commanders of the region knew that, and the special prisoners were to serve as bargaining chips in the negotiations with the Americans.

On 15 April 1945, the last transport of special prisoners left Flossenbürg Concentration Camp. Its destination was also Dachau Concentration Camp. Once again, high-profile figures were being sent south. Among them were the Germans Dr. Josef Müller, Prince Philipp of Hesse, and Dr. Fabian von Schlabrendorff, as well as the British Lieutenant Colonel "Jack" Churchill, Captain Peter Churchill, Staff Sergeant Thomas J. Cushing, Wing Commander Harry M.A. Day, Squadron Leader Major Sydney H. Dowse, and Flight Lieutenant Bertram C. James, as well as aircraft mechanic Andrew Walsh and Wadim Greenewich, who was a member of the Passport Control Department – Foreign Office in London. The group of British pilots also included the Poles Jan Izycki and Stanislaw Jensen, both of whom were captured as RAF pilots. The Danish group, which was included in the transport to Dachau, consisted of the naval engineer Hans Frederik Hansen, the farmer Adolf T. Larsen, the head of the Danish intelligence service, Captain Hans Lunding, the Danish Vice Consul at the Consulate General in Danzig, Jörgen Lönborg Friis Mogensen, and the two merchant marine captains, Max J. Mikkelsen and Knud E. Pedersen. Also on the transport to Dachau are the Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Army, General Alexandros Papagos, and his General Staff, consisting of Constantin Bakopoulos, Panajotis Dédés, Georges Kosmas, and Jean D. Pitsikas, all with the rank of Lieutenant General. The senior officers are accompanied by Corporal Nikolaos Grivas and Private Vassilis Dimitrion. Other special prisoners brought to Dachau included the French Armand Mottet and Ray N. van Wymeersch, Captain of the "French Air Force of General de Gaulle," the Yugoslavian Lieutenant Colonel Hinko Dragic, the Latvian Gustavs Celmins, the Norwegian Captain Arne Daehli, the Major in the General Staff Jan Stanek from Czechoslovakia, and four Red Army officers: General Ivan Georgievich Bessonov, Major General Pyotr Privalov, Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Brodnikov, and First Lieutenant Nikolai Ruchenko. On the same day, 15 April 1945, Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós von Kallay and Miklós von Horthy Jr. and Mario Badoglio also reportedly left the Mauthausen concentration camp. This proves that everything concerning the gathering of prisoners is proceeding according to a precise plan. And the following day, the family prisoners will also be transported from Schönberg, after the remaining special prisoners left on 15 April. "Sunday – sun," reports Marie-Gabriele von Stauffenberg. "The people of my family have been transported away." On 16 April, the family prisoners will form the last of all collective transports to Dachau, whose prisoners are destined for the Alpine Fortress.

In the evening of 27 April 1945, the dramatic odyssey that had begun in Dachau and would lead over the Brenner Pass to the South Tyrolean Dolomites and finally to Naples and Capri continued from the Reichenau camp by bus and truck. The destination was the Alpenhotel "Pragser Wildsee" in the Pustertal Valley in South Tyrol. The prisoner transport was led by SS-Obersturmführer Edgar Stiller and guarded by around fifty SS men. Around thirty of them were SS guards from Dachau, the rest belonged to an SD commando under SS-Untersturmführer Friedrich Bader (one source states, he was a SS-Obersturmführer).

On the morning of 28 April 1945, the convoy arrived in Niederdorf in the Puster Valley, 130 kilometers from Innsbruck, and stopped about one kilometer from the town entrance. Nine kilometers from here, on Lake Braies at an altitude of 1,496 meters, was a large luxury hotel, normally closed at this time of year. To Stiller's surprise, however, the three Wehrmacht generals Hans Schlemmer, Hans Jordan, and Alfred Bülowius had moved into the hotel during the night of 26 April and had occupied it with their staffs ever since. The prisoners spent the time waiting by their buses, with no one to say what would happen next. Finally, they set out on foot for Niederdorf without being stopped by their guards. The ethnic German South Tyrolean population there showed them sympathy and support. Stiller telephoned engineer Anton "Toni" Ducia (1905-1988), who had been assigned to Bozen by the Innsbruck Chamber of Commerce to coordinate military and civilian quarters requests in South Tyrol as quartermaster to the Supreme Commissioner Franz Hofer (1902–1975), the Reich Governor and Gauleiter of Tyrol-Vorarlberg. Ducia contacted the mayor of Niederdorf by telephone and arranged makeshift accommodations for the prisoners. They were then quartered partly in inns and the rectory, and partly on hastily piled straw in the municipal office. During the night, one of the prisoners, British Lieutenant Colonel "Jack" Churchill, secretly set out south to make contact with the Allied troops in Italy. He succeeded in doing so after several days of walking, but by this time, his actions had no impact on the events at Pragser Wildsee (Lake Braies).

For weeks, SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff, the highest representative of the SS in Italy, had been conducting secret surrender negotiations behind Adolf Hitler's back through Allen Welsh Dulles, the American OSS resident in Bern, as part of the legendary "Operation Sunrise." On 29 April 1945, nine days before the end of the war, a representative of Wolff and a representative of Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff, the Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht in Italy, signed the unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Caserta near Naples, which took effect at noon on 2 May 1945. On this 29 April, Oberst i. G. (Colonel in General Staff) Bogislaw Oskar Adolf Fürchtegott von Bonin (1908–1980) was able to secretly reach General der Panzertruppe Hans Röttiger (from the High Command of Army Group C), von Vietinghoff's Chief of Staff, by telephone. In January 1945, von Bonin, against Hitler's express orders, had ordered the evacuation of Warsaw and surrendered the city to the Red Army without a fight. For this reason, he was arrested by the Gestapo at the headquarters of the High Command in Zossen on 17 January 1945, his 37th birthday.

As agreed with SS-Obersturmführer Stiller by telephone the previous day, Anton Ducia and his colleague, geographer Dr. Herbert Thalhammer (1911–1968), arrived in Niederdorf in the morning. A briefing was held with the Wehrmacht commandant, Lieutenant Colonel von Rehm, and the SS officers Stiller and Bader. After a discussion with Bogislaw von Bonin and the British intelligence agent Sigismund Payne Best, who spoke excellent German and had become a spokesperson for the prisoners, Ducia drove to Lake Braies for a meeting with General Schlemmer. Schlemmer agreed to evacuate the needed hotel but demanded a telephone or written order from Generaloberst von Vietinghoff. After a church service in the Niederdorf parish church in the late morning, a meeting of all prisoners, including SS-Obersturmführer Edgar Stiller, Ducia, and Thalhammer, took place at 2 p.m. in the Hotel "Bachmann". There, Stiller declared his intention in the name of the SS to hand over control to a recently formed prisoner committee led by Sigismund Payne Best and the Wehrmacht, which had been alerted by von Bonin.

After the meeting at the Hotel "Bachmann", Ducia traveled to Bozen for a meeting with Generaloberst von Vietinghoff and his Chief of Staff, General Röttiger, who had already been informed by Bonin that morning. It was decided to relocate the generals from the hotel on Lake Braies to the "Klammschlössl", located eight kilometers east of Niederdorf, between Toblach and Sesto. Furthermore, the Wehrmacht would assume responsibility for the prisoners' protection. That evening, General Röttiger telephoned Captain Wichard von Alvensleben from Bozen. Alvensleben was seventeen kilometers east of Niederdorf at the Hotel "Drei Zinnen" in Moos, a district of Sesto, where he was preparing to relocate his headquarters from Bozen to the Sesto area. Röttiger instructed him to come to the prisoners' aid. Shortly before midnight, von Alvensleben arrived in Niederdorf alone with his driver to discreetly assess the situation. Stiller informed the Wehrmacht officer, who apparently happened to be passing by, about the prisoners and that SS-Untersturmführer Bader was dissatisfied with the handing over of the prisoners because he had different orders.

Liberation day

On the morning of 30 April 1945, von Alvensleben returned to Niederdorf for the second time and this time spoke with Bader. He explained that he had been relieved of his duties and was to place himself at his disposal. He telephoned his company in Sexten to request an assault troop. Barely an hour later, fifteen non-commissioned officers armed with submachine guns arrived and surrounded the town hall, where the SS had set up camp. Von Alvensleben visited the prisoners in their temporary quarters and explained that they had nothing to fear. He asked Best to inform the foreign prisoners accordingly. Two hours later, a 150-man Wehrmacht company arrived from Toblach, three kilometers east of Niederdorf, which von Alvensleben had also requested, and surrounded the market square. Von Alvensleben then telephoned General Röttiger in Bolzen to inform him of the situation. Since SS-Obergruppenführer Wolff happened to be with Röttiger, he was able to speak with him and ask for permission to send the SS troops to Bolzen. Wolff, who already knew about the prisoners, agreed and ordered withdrawal by telephone.

The fact that the withdrawal of SS-Untersturmführer Bader's SD commando took place without a fight was, according to von Alvensleben, "the sole and unequivocal merit of Karl Wolff." Meanwhile, the Hotel "Pragser Wildsee" had been evacuated on the orders of Generaloberst von Vietinghoff. The three generals and their staffs had moved to the "Klammschlössl" between Toblach and Sexten. That same late afternoon, the people who had been liberated by the Wehrmacht and finally regained their freedom, some of them after long years of captivity, were brought, in heavy snowfall, nine kilometers away to the Hotel "Pragser Wildsee", a grand hotel on the most beautiful mountain lake in the South Tyrolean Dolomites at an altitude of 1,496 meters.

SS-Obersturmführer Stiller, who accompanied the prisoners to the hotel with 30 of his men, returned to Niederdorf as Wolff had ordered. Wehrmacht soldiers secured the hotel grounds with five machine guns. The Wehrmacht now had to protect the prisoners: the murderous Italian partisans, who were trying to take control of the country after the German surrender, intended to transport the prominent prisoners to their headquarters in Cortina d'Ampezzo, forty kilometers south. On the evening of 30 April 1945, it was announced over the radio that Adolf Hitler was dead. The exact circumstances of his suicide, which he committed that afternoon in the Reich Chancellery, were not revealed until later.

May 1945

The liberated prisoners had meanwhile taken their rooms and, with the help of the helpful hotel manager, Emma Heiss-Hellensteiner, were organizing the essentials. Several May Day devotions were held on 1 May 1945, in the hotel's private chapel, built in 1904. Eighty grenadiers from Toblach were responsible for protecting the former prisoners. They were under the command of Captain Gebhard von Alvensleben, a cousin of Wichard von Alvensleben, who happened to be passing through and was now deployed here. This protection was directed not least against Italian partisans who, after the German surrender, were attempting to gain control of Italy, and especially South Tyrol. The seven Italian special prisoners had not been brought to the hotel but had remained in Niederdorf, where they had joined the partisans. The partisans intended to transport the celebrities to their headquarters in Cortina, 40 kilometers south. On 3 May, the Russian Vasily Vasilyevich Kokorin also joined the partisans and later died of gangrene due to frostbite he had sustained in the mountains.

The surrender of the German troops in Italy officially took effect on 2 May 1945, six days before the overall German surrender. During the surrender negotiations, SS-Obergruppenführer Wolff had already alerted the Supreme Commander of the Allied invasion of Italy, British Field Marshal Harold Alexander, to the SS prisoners by radio, but this was unknown to those affected in the hotel. Anton Ducia, who had been supporting the prisoners as Tyrolean quartermaster since 28 April 1945, then traveled south with British Lieutenant Colonel Harry "Wings" Day and was able to establish contact with the Allies in Italy. Two days later, American soldiers appeared at Lake Braies.

Two days after the partial German surrender, an advance party of American soldiers arrived early in the morning at Lake Braies. They had crossed the mountains from Cortina, led by Lieutenants Melvin A. Ashe and Charles Anderson, and accompanied by bloodthirsty Italian partisans. Shortly after, the rest of S Company, 2nd Battalion, 339th Infantry Regiment, 85th Division, Fifth U.S. Army, under the command of Captain John Atwell, followed. Their first action was to disarm the German soldiers, who were to be taken prisoner of war. The Italian partisans were also ordered to leave the hotel area immediately.

On 5 May 1945, numerous journalists and press photographers arrived in the wake of the US Army. Soon, headlines about the sensational events in South Tyrol spread around the world. On that day, the fairy tale of the liberation of the special and family prisoners by American troops was born, a story that continues to this day. In fact, the prisoners had already regained their freedom on 30 April 1945, when their SS guards surrendered under pressure from the Wehrmacht under Captain von Alvensleben. Quite the opposite: for some of the former prisoners, the arrival of the Americans led to renewed imprisonment, this time by the Allies. Several prisoners recorded the events in Niederdorf in their diaries, testified about them in a court case against Stiller in 1951, or wrote about them in their memoirs. To mark the 60th anniversary, Hans-Günter Richardi has thoroughly examined the fate of the SS prisoners and the events in Niederdorf.

US General Leonard T. Gerow appeared at Lake Braies on 7 May 1945 and informed the surprised prisoners that they were to be transported to Naples on 8 and 10 May 1945. All connections to the north had been cut off, so the only route open was south. On 8 May 1945, the Second World War ended with the surrender of the German Wehrmacht. On that Tuesday and the following Thursday, the Americans transported the former special and family prisoners in two groups from Lake Braies to Verona, 250 kilometers away. From there, they were flown by military aircraft 700 kilometers to Naples, where they landed at what was then the Capodichino military airfield. In Naples, they were separated by nationality. The Germans (including the Austrians), Czechoslovaks, Hungarians, and the Swede Carl S. Edquist were taken to the island of Capri, and most of them were quartered in the now-defunct Hotel Eden Paradiso in Anacapri. The "liberation by the Americans" ended there with renewed internment, albeit under similarly pleasant conditions as at Lake Braies. The former prisoners of the other nationalities were returned to military service or allowed to return home.

On 13 May 1945, Germans who appeared to be "tainted" by their role in the Third Reich, such as General Alexander von Falkenhausen, Generaloberst Franz Halder, Colonel Bogislaw von Bonin, Prince Philipp of Hesse, Hjalmar Schacht, General Georg Thomas, and Fritz Thyssen, were brought back from Capri to Naples and again imprisoned, this time as POWs under the Allied flag, some for several years. Hjalmar Schacht was even indicted by the Allies at Nuremberg as a major war criminal, but was acquitted in the fall of 1946. The other Germans—men, women, and children—had to continue to endure Capri, unknown why or for how long, and without news of their relatives back home.

June–July 1945

On the morning of 13 June 1945, some of the Germans were taken by speedboat to Naples. The subsequent flight, however, did not take them to Frankfurt am Main as expected, but to Paris. After landing, they were transported by three trucks, amid harsh American rhetoric and then, amid physical violence from French passersby (they were beaten and spit upon), on foot to a warehouse, where they were housed in a troop barracks until further notice. After three days, they continued on to Frankfurt am Main, where the former German special and family prisoners were interned in various hotels.

On 26 June 1945 – Pastor Martin Niemöller had meanwhile gone on hunger strike for three days in protest – the Americans in Frankfurt organized transports to Hamburg and Munich, with which, for example, Ilse Lotte von Hofacker and her two children could begin their final journey home. Other Germans had to wait even longer. For example, Hermann Pünder and Count von Plettenberg-Lenhausen were not brought to their home in Westphalia until 27 July 1945, by jeep from the American Interrogation Center in Wiesbaden.

List of prisoners

Dr. Kurt von Schuschnigg with his wife and daughter Sissy after arriving in New York City on 10 September 1947

Reenactment for a German film production in 2015

German Reich

• Bonin, Bogislaw Oskar Adolf Fürchtegott von: Colonel, General Staff officer who refused to obey a Führer order, imprisoned since January 1945 (honorary prisoner)
• Cerrini, Friedrich "Fritz" von (1895–1985): Freiherr, private secretary to Friedrich Leopold, Prince of Prussia, imprisoned since May 1944
• Engelke, Friedrich: SS-Obersturmbannführer at the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office (WVHA) in Paris, imprisoned "due to a denunciation of black market transactions and suspicion of embezzlement of 250,000 Reichsmarks" since October 1944
  • Born on 8 September 1900, Engelke worked as a wool wholesaler in Hanover after the war and amassed a considerable fortune. On 13 July 1951, Engelke was sentenced in absentia by a French military tribunal to ten years in prison for plunder and theft. However, he was not extradited because documents had been lost. He died on 27 March 1981. His marriage remained childless. His wife Margot, seventeen years his junior, died in 2001 and left her fortune to the city of Hanover with the stipulation that she establish a foundation. The "Margot Engelke Foundation" website reveals that the couple was highly socially committed and donated the market fountain in front of the Neustadt Court and City Church, as well as a precious church clock.
• Falkenhausen, Alexander Alfred Ernst Konrad Friedrich von: Chief of the Military Administration in occupied Belgium, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Flügge, Wilhelm von (1887–1953): Abwehr agent in Istanbul, imprisoned since April 1944
• Franz Joseph Oskar Ernst Patrick Friedrich Leopold Prinz von Preußen (1895–1959): Landowner, son of Friedrich Leopold of Prussia and nephew of the last German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, imprisoned "in Bad Gastein because he heard enemy radio stations" since 25 May 1944
• Halder, Franz: Former Chief of the Army General Staff, imprisoned since July 1944
• Halder, Gertrud: Wife of Franz Halder, imprisoned after 20 July 1944 – not entirely unjustly listed among the family prisoners by Best
• Hamm, Johann Anton: Chaplain from Breining near Aachen, discharged from the Wehrmacht as a divisional chaplain for undermining military morale
• Heberlein, Erich: Counselor at the Embassy in Madrid, imprisoned since June 1944
• Heberlein, Margot: Wife of Erich Heberlein, imprisoned since June 1944
• Hoepner, Horst: Merchant, brother of Generaloberst Erich Hoepner, also involved in the conspiracy, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Kunkel, Karl: Chaplain in Königsberg, suspected of contacts with opponents of the government abroad, imprisoned since July 1944
• Liedig, Franz Maria: Kriegsmarine officer, naval attaché, Abwehr agent, imprisoned since September 1944
• Müller, Josef: Dr. jur., lawyer, politician, first lieutenant (Abwehr), imprisoned since 1943
• Neuhäusler, Johannes: Cathedral canon in Munich, imprisoned since February 1941, see literature
• Niemöller, Martin: Theologian, imprisoned since 1937 (longest-serving prisoner of all those freed in Niederdorf)
• Nowakowski, Heidel "Heidi": According to squadron leader Falconer, she was a "chubby blonde Polish prostitute from Düsseldorf" and in a relationship with the French pilot van Wymeersch. The two had left the Pragser Wildsee Hotel before being transported to Naples by the Americans. Isa Vermehren describes her as follows: "The second Englishman in the cell was officer Falconer, along with a young pilot who seemed to be in a very close relationship with an indefinable and equally unpleasant young lady, about whom no one knew her real name, her actual nationality, or what language she actually spoke properly—in short, she was considered a spy, although it remained questionable whether she had only worked for the Gestapo or had been clever enough to at least pursue this noble profession in both directions simultaneously. The young gentleman was no more pleasant than his embarrassing girlfriend."
• Petersdorff, Horst Bernhard Kurt von (1892–1962): Officer, veteran of WWI, Freikorps leader, SA officer and Lieutenant Colonel of the Wehrmacht, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Philipp Wilhelm Prince of Hesse: Husband of Mafalda of Savoy, a daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, who was killed in August 1944 in the Buchenwald concentration camp during a USAAF bombing raid, imprisoned since August 1943
• Praxmarer, Konrad (1895–1959): Dr. phil. et rer. pol., writer, briefly head of the study library in Linz, Wehrmacht interpreter, literature in the German National Library
• Pünder, Hermann Josef Maria Ernst: Administrative lawyer, ministerial official and politician, State Secretary and Head of the Reich Chancellery, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Schacht, Horace Greeley Hjalmar: Former President of the Reichsbank and Reich Minister of Economics, imprisoned since July 1944
• Schlabrendorff, Fabian Ludwig Georg Adolf Kurt von (1907–1980): Dr. jur., jurist, reserve officer, adjutant of Colonel Henning von Tresckow, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Schmitz, Richard: Jurist, Mayor of Vienna, imprisoned since April 1938
• Schuschnigg, Kurt Alois Josef Johann Edler von: Former Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, imprisoned since May 1938
  • Wife: Vera Aloysia Emma Theresia Maria Josefine von Schuschnigg, divorced Gräfin Fugger von Babenhausen, née Czernin von Chudenitz (1904–1959)
  • Daughter: Maria Dolores Elisabeth "Sissy" von Schuschnigg (1941–1989); conceived during imprisonment
• Thomas, Georg: Wehrmacht General, imprisoned since 11 October 1944
• Thyssen, Friedrich "Fritz": Major industrialist, imprisoned since the end of 1940
• Thyssen, Amélie: Wife of Fritz Thyssen, imprisoned since the end of 1940
• Visintainer, Wilhelm: (called "Coal Thief") from Wuppertal-Elberfeld, cook and former Circus clown, served as a caretaker in the Dachau concentration camp during the transport of relief services
• Wauer, Paul: Hairdresser and Jehovah's Witness from Breslau, served as a caretaker in the Dachau concentration camp during the transport of relief services

Family / clan prisoners

• Gisevius, Annelise: Teacher, sister of Gustav-Adolf Timotheus Hans Bernd Gisevius (politician, Gestapo officer and traitor), imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Goerdeler, Anneliese: Wife of Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (jurist, politician and traitor), imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Goerdeler, Benigna: Daughter of Anneliese and Carl Goerdeler, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Goerdeler, Gustav (1875–1955): Dr. med., chief physician, brother of Carl Goerdeler, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Goerdeler, Irma: Wife of Ulrich Goerdeler and daughter-in-law of Anneliese and Carl Goerdeler, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Goerdeler, Jutta: Cousin of Benigna Goerdeler, a daughter of Carl Goerdeler, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Goerdeler, Marianne: Daughter of Anneliese and Carl Goerdeler, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Goerdeler, Ulrich (1913–2000): Lawyer, son of Anneliese and Carl Goerdeler, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Gudzent, Käte: Wife of Lieutenant Georg Gudzent (1909–1981), POW, member of the traitorous National Committee for a Free Germany, founding member of the League of German Officers (BDO)
• Hammerstein-Equord, Hildur Freiin von: Sister of Kunrat Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord and Ludwig Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Hammerstein-Equord, Maria Luise Freifrau von: Widow of Generaloberst Kurt Gebhard Adolf Philipp Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord, mother of Kunrat von Hammerstein-Equord and Ludwig von Hammerstein-Equord, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Hofacker, Anna-Luise von: Daughter of Ilse-Lotte, née Pastor, and Cäsar von Hofacker (jurist and reserve officer of the Luftwaffe), imprisoned after 20 July 1944; the book by her daughter Valerie Riedesel, married Freifrau zu Eisenbach, is based on her diaries
• Hofacker, Eberhard von (1928–2001): Son of Ilse-Lotte and Cäsar von Hofacker, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Hofacker, Ilse-Lotte von (1898–1974): Wife of Cäsar von Hofacker, great-niece of Friedrich Engels, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Kaiser, Elisabeth: Daughter of Therese, née Mohr, and Jakob Kaiser (politician and traitor), imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Kaiser, Therese (1889–1952): Wife of Jakob Kaiser, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Kuhn, Arthur Julius: Mechanical engineer and patent attorney, father of Major i. G. Wilhelm Georg Joachim Kuhn (friend of Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, POW in Russia), presumably imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Lindemann, Lini: Wife of General Fritz Lindemann, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Mohr, Josef: Brother of Therese Kaiser, wife of Jakob Kaiser, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Mohr, Käthe: Wife of Josef Mohr, a brother of Therese Kaiser, wife of Jakob Kaiser, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Pirzio-Biroli, Fey (1918–2010): Daughter of Christian August Ulrich von Hassell (local politician, diplomat and traitor), imprisoned after 20 July 1944
  • Fey, née von Hassell, deviates in a post-war report significantly from the generally accepted account of events in Niederdorf in her description of the events: General von Vietinghoff happened to be in Niederdorf when the prisoners arrived, and Colonel Bogislaw von Bonin whispered in his ear that urgent help was needed. Shortly thereafter, the SS were disarmed within minutes at the Hotel Bachmann by a Wehrmacht major named Werner (von) Alvensleben, an acquaintance of her family.
• Plettenberg-Lenhausen, Gisela Gräfin von: Sister of Elisabeth Vermehren, wife of Erich Barward Julius Vermehren (jurist, Abwehr agent, deserter and traitor), imprisoned after 20 July 1944 (first family prisoners)
• Plettenberg-Lenhausen, Walther Graf von: Father of Elisabeth Vermehren, wife of Erich Vermehren, imprisoned since April 1944 (first family prisoners)
• Schröder, Hans-Dietrich: Son of Ingeborg and Johannes Schröder, imprisoned since August 1944
• Schröder, Harring: Son of Ingeborg and Johannes Schröder, imprisoned since August 1944
• Schröder, Ingeborg: Wife of the Protestant pastor Johannes Schröder, POW and member of the traitorous National Committee for a Free Germany, imprisoned since August 1944 with their children aged 4, 7, and 10
• Schröder, Sybille-Maria: Daughter of Ingeborg and Johannes Schröder, imprisoned since August 1944
• Stauffenberg, Alexander Schenk Graf von: Brother of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, imprisoned since July 1944
• Stauffenberg, Alexandra Schenk Gräfin von: Daughter of Markwart Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a cousin of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Stauffenberg, Elisabeth Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg: Wife of Klemens Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a cousin of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, imprisoned since August 1944
• Stauffenberg, Klemens Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg: Son of Markwart Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a cousin of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Stauffenberg, Maria Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg: Wife of Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a brother of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, imprisoned since July 1944
• Stauffenberg, Marie Agnes "Ines" Schenk Gräfin von: Daughter of Markwart Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a cousin of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Stauffenberg, Marie-Gabriele Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg: Daughter of Elisabeth Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg and Klemens Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a cousin of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Stauffenberg, Markwart Schenk Graf von: Cousin of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Stauffenberg, Otto Philipp Schenk Graf von: Son of Elisabeth Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg and Klemens Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a cousin of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, imprisoned after 20 July 1944
• Vermehren, Isa Beate (1918–2009): Sister of Erich Vermehren, imprisoned since April 1944 (first family prisoners)

Foreigners

Arne Simensøn Dæhli, Flossenbürg, 30 March 1945

Czechoslovakia:

• Burda, Josef: Merchant and conspirator
• Karvaš, Imrich: Slovak economist, Governor of the Slovak National Bank, imprisoned since September 1944
• Rozsévač-Rys, Josef: Anti-German, inflammatory journalist, imprisoned since the end of 1942
• Stanek, Jan: Major in the General Staff

Denmark:

• Hansen, Hans Frederik: Naval engineer, British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent "Frederiksen"
• Larsen, Adolf Theodor: Farmer, SOE agent "Andy"
• Lunding, Hans Mathiesen: Eventing rider, Captain, Head of the Danish Intelligence Service, imprisoned since August 1943
• Mikkelsen, Max Johannes: Captain of the Merchant Navy, SOE agent
• Mogensen, Jørgen Lønborg Friis: Former Vice Consul at the Consulate General in Danzig, imprisoned since 1944
• Pedersen, Knud Erik: Captain of the Merchant Navy, SOE agent

France:

• Blum, André Léon: Former Prime Minister, imprisoned since April 1943
• Blum, Jeanne "Janot": Third wife of Léon Blum, whom she married in 1943 in the Buchenwald concentration camp
• Bourbon-Parma, Franz Xaver Prinz von: Brother of Empress Zita, who had joined the French resistance, imprisoned since July 1944
• Joos, Joseph (1876–1965): Politician (Center Party) and journalist, native of Winzenheim (Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen), without German citizenship since 1938 (revoked by the German government) and therefore registered as a French prisoner, imprisoned since August 1940 after the Western Campaign
  • He returned to Germany in 1949 but was not granted German citizenship again. Until 1960, he lived in Fulda, where he worked for the Catholic men's ministry and was a consultant to the Catholic Church in Germany. In 1960, he moved to Switzerland due to illness.
• Piguet, Gabriel Emmanuel Joseph: Roman-Catholic Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand, imprisoned since May 1944
• Wymeersch, Raymond Léon Narcisse van (1920–2000): Free French Air Forces, Flight Lieutenant (Captain) in the British Royal Air Force (No. 174 Squadron RAF), shot down and parachuted out during the attack on Dieppe on 19 August 1942, taken prisoner of war, survivor of the "Great Escape" (24 March 1944), joined the Italian partisans (Garibaldi Brigades) for the last days of the war

Greece:

• Bakopoulos, Constantin: Lieutenant General in the General Staff, commander of the Metaxas Line, imprisoned since July 1943
• Dédés, Panajotis: Lieutenant General in the General Staff, imprisoned since July 1943
• Dimitrion, Vassilis: Soldier, imprisoned since July 1943
• Grivas, Nikolaos: Corporal, imprisoned since July 1943
• Kosmas, Georges: Lieutenant General in the General Staff, imprisoned since July 1943
• Papagos, Alexandros: General, Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Army, imprisoned since July 1943
• Pitsikas, Joan: Lieutenant General in the General Staff, Mayor of Athens, imprisoned since July 1943

Hungary:

• Ginzery, Aleksander von: Colonel of the Artillery
• Hatz, Josef: Major
• Hatz, Samuel: Retired school principal, father of Josef Hatz
• Hlatky, Andreas von: Secretary of State in the Prime Minister's Office
• Horthy, Miklós von (Jr.): Politician, son of Miklós Horthy, imprisoned since October 1944 (Operation Panzerfaust)
• Igmándy-Hegyessy, Géza von: Retired Lieutenant General, Member of the House of Lords
• Kállay, Nikolas von: Prime Minister, imprisoned since November 1944
• Király, Julius: Colonel of the Gendarmerie, Head of Section in the Ministry of the Interior
• Ónody, Desiderius von: Civil servant, secretary to Horthy Jr.
• Schell, Péter Baron: Minister of the Interior, imprisoned since October 1944

Ireland:

• Cushing, Thomas J.: Staff Sergeant, imprisoned since 1940
• McGrath, John: Captain in WWI, Major of the reserves in WWII, falsely claimed he was a Lieutenant Colonel, imprisoned since June 1940
  • As a reserve officer, he was captured by the Germans in northern France in 1940. At Friesack Camp, a special prisoner of war camp for Irishmen, he was caught as a "Senior British Officer" attempting to pass on secret information about the camp and about fellow Irishmen being trained as agents by the Abwehr to the Irish embassy in Rome. As a result, he was sent to Sachsenhausen in November 1942.
• O'Brien, Patrick: Private, imprisoned since 1940
• Spence, John: Gunner, imprisoned since 1940
• Walsh, Andrew: Corporal, imprisoned since 1940

Italy:

• Amechi: Civil Servant, Orderly
  • Bertram James reports on his stay in Sachsenhausen: "Two distinguished Italian soldiers, who had been orderlies to the Italian naval, military, and air force attaché, looked after us. The attaché had been removed from the camp after the Italian surrender. Bartoli, a former pasta cook from Rome, performed true miracles daily with the German rations and the limited Red Cross parcels. He was assisted by Amici, a cousin of the actor Don Amici." The actor's real name was Don Ameche, which makes the identity of Amici (James) and Amechi (Best) abundantly clear. The identity of Bartoli (James) and Burtoli (Best) is also beyond doubt. James mentions the two Italians again upon arrival in Niederdorf. There, Bartoli and Amici, along with Ferraro (correctly: Ferrero) and Garibaldi, secretly met with the partisans. It's possible that the two (unlike Ferrero and Garibaldi) went into hiding with the partisans immediately upon their arrival in Niederdorf. In his memoirs, published posthumously in 2018, Falconer also mentions a "remarkably handsome young Italian soldier named Amici" in connection with the deportation to Naples on April 8, 1945, and describes him as the younger brother of the "American film star Don Ameche." There can therefore be no doubt that Amechi and Burtoli were present in Niederdorf, even if, as Richardi rightly points out, the surviving prisoner lists usually list their first names, but not those of Amechi and Burtoli. James and Falconer also only list these Italians by their last names.
• Apollonio, Eugenio: Vice-Capo della Polizia (Deputy Chief of Police) under Mussolini in the Italian Social Republic (RSI) in Salò, imprisoned since February 1944 for treason
• Badoglio, Mario: Son of Pietro Badoglio, imprisoned since summer 1943
• Burtoli: Civil Servant, Orderly
• Ferrero, Davide: Colonello (Colonel)
• Garibaldi, Sante: Generale (General), grandson of Giuseppe Garibaldi, imprisoned since June 1943
• Tamburini, Tullio: Capo della Polizia (Chief of Police) under Mussolini in the Italian Social Republic (RSI) in Salò, imprisoned since February 1944 for treason

Latvia:

• Celmiņš, Gustavs (1899–1968): Politician, leader of the fascist organizations Fire Cross and Thunder Cross, imprisoned since March 1944
  • In 1938, he became the leader of Pērkonkrusts' "foreign contacts office". Pērkonkrusts members working within the SD apparatus in Latvia would feed Celmiņš, thinking, he was one of them, information, some of which he would include in his underground, anti-German publication Brīvā Latvija. This eventually led to Celmiņš and his associates being arrested by the Gestapo on 14 March 1944. In 1959, he became a professor of Russian studies at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas. He was under surveillance by the FBI on suspicion of communist activities. Other sources accused him of being a secret National Socialist.

Netherlands:

• Dijk, Jannes Johannes Cornelis van (1871–1954): Former Minister of Defense, imprisoned since April 1943 for treasonous activities

Norway:

• Dæhli, Arne Simensøn (1897–1973): Captain at Sea (Colonel) in the Norwegian Navy, Chief Inspector of the Norwegian Whaling Service, sentenced to death for espionage, sentence suspended, imprisoned since 26 March 1941, since 30 March 1945 in KL Flossenbürg

Poland:

• Izycki, Jan: Brigadier General of the Polish Air Force, later Vice Air Marshal, captured as a bomber pilot in the British Royal Air Force
• Jensen, Stanislaw: Captured as a bomber pilot in the British Royal Air Force
• Zamoyski, Aleksander "Leszek" (1898–1961): Retired cavalry captain (as of 1926), veteren of WWI, landowner, imprisoned since May 1941 for conspiracy against the German Reich

Soviet Union:

• Bessonov, Ivan Georgievich: NKVD General, imprisoned since July 1941
• Brodnikov, Viktor Viktorovich: Lieutenant Colonel
• Ceredilin, Fyodor: Soldier
• Kokorin, Vasily Vasilyevich: Lieutenant in the Soviet Air Force, nephew (one source states cousin) of Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov, imprisoned since April 1942
• Privalov, Pyotr: Major General, commander of the 192nd Mountain Division, captured, imprisoned since December 1942
• Ruchenko, Nikolai: First Lieutenant who parachuted behind German lines and was arrested

Sweden:

• Edquist, Carl Göran (1915–1995): Volunteer of the Waffen-SS, SS-Obersturmführer, double agent
  • Edquist became involved in various national organizations at an early age and in 1931 he was arrested after trying to kidnap the Swedish communist leader Hugo Sillén at gunpoint. He was registered at the Waffen-SS recruitment office in Oslo. He came to serve in the SD and was exposed as a double agent, although he claimed to have been framed by Allied agents. Edquist is included in a list of prisoners in the Dachau concentration camp from 17 April 1945. After the war, Edquist changed his name to Borgenstierna, was occupied as a "director" and in the 1980s wrote the book "Land du förskigrade" (The Land You Scattered), which was strongly critical of society and how it was governed. The book became a hot topic when it was found at the home of Christer Pettersson, who was suspected of the murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme.

Switzerland:

• Mottet, Armand (1885–1983): Workshop manager (Franco-Belgian Railway Equipment Society) in Raismes, France, member of the terrorist French Résistance, imprisoned since 2 December 1943 and sentenced to death
  • In February 1944, he was transferred to Berlin and eventually imprisoned in the Flossenbürg camp. Following diplomatic intervention by Switzerland, his sentence was commuted to fifteen years of forced labor. After the war, Mottet received French citizenship and the Legion of Honor from France. The French authorities also recognized his total disability and granted him various benefits. In the 1950s, he became mayor of the French municipality of Messon.

United Kingdom:

• Best, Sigismund Payne (1885–1978): Agent of the British Secret Service (Organization Z) in The Hague (code name "Wolf"), imprisoned since the Venlo Incident in November 1939
  • The Venlo Incident was the exposure of British-Dutch cooperation through the capture of two British intelligence officers by a German SS special commando unit of the "Sicherheitsdienst". This occurred in the Dutch-German no-man's-land between Venlo and Herongen on 9 November 1939 during the "Phoney War" a few months after the outbreak of World War II. The scene of the incident was the "Café Backus aan de Grens," located on the Dutch side in the area between the barriers.
• Churchill, John "Jack" Malcolm Thorpe Fleming: Lieutenant Colonel, allegedly a distant relative of Winston Churchill, captured in Yugoslavia, imprisoned since June 1944
• Churchill, Peter Morland (1909–1972): Captain, Special Operations Executive (SOE), captured in Saint-Jorioz, imprisoned since May 1943
• Day, Harry Harry Melville Arbuthnot "Wings": Wing Commander (Lieutenant Colonel of the Royal Air Force), shot down during a reconnaissance flight near Birkenfeld on 13 October 1939, survivor of the Great Escape, imprisoned since October 1939
• Dowse, Sydney Hastings: Flight Lieutenant (Captain of the Royal Air Force), shot down during a reconnaissance flight near Shot down in Brest on 15 August 1941, survivor of the Great Escape (24 March 1944), imprisoned since August 1941
• Falconer, Hugh Mallory: Squadron leader (Major in the Royal Air Force), Special Operations Executive (SOE), captured in Tunis, imprisoned since January 1943
• Greenewich, Wadim: Employee of the British Secret Service (Passport Control Office) in Sofia, Bulgaria, imprisoned since 1940
• James, Bertram Arthur "Jimmy": Pilot Officer (Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force), shot down in a Wellington bomber over the Netherlands on 5 June 1940, survivor of the Great Escape, imprisoned since June 1940
• Stevens, Richard Henry: Major in the British Secret Service (Passport Control Office) in The Hague, imprisoned since the Venlo Incident in November 1939

Yugoslavia:

• Dragic, Hinko: Lieutenant Colonel
• Popovic, Novak D.: Postmaster General
• Tomalevsky, Dimitrije: journalist

SS-Obersturmführer Edgar Stiller

POW SS-Obersturmführer Edgar Stiller (identification card at War Criminal Prison No. 1, the former Landsberg Prison)

Edgar Robert Stiller (b. 25 January 1904 in Hermannseifen, Bezirk Trautenau, Austria-Hungary) was a farmer and policeman in Mödling who joined the Austrian National Socialist Party (NSDAP) on 1 May 1933 (membership number 1,622,724). After the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, Stiller worked in the administrative service of the City of Vienna. In the same year, he became a member of the Allgemeine SS with SS number 298,149. In 1940, he was drafted into the Waffen-SS and, after training in Vienna, was assigned to a Panzer-Jäger regiment in Oranienburg, Province of Brandenburg. At the end of 1940, he was discharged from the Waffen-SS due to serious illness. From January 1941, Stiller was deployed to the Dachau camp, initially as an ordinary SS man, serving for a few days on guard duty and then as an assistant clerk who held the title of "welfare worker". Many inmates confirmed, that inmates reported to him and then were permitted to see the camp commandant and present their grievances. In the summer of 1942, he passed the inspector's examination in Vienna. It was not until 1943 that he was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer, in keeping with his Austrian rank. He was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer in April 1945, presumably to strengthen his authority during the operation.

Stiller was taken prisoner of war in Salzburg in May 1945, sent to various internment camps, and finally to Dachau. There, in March 1947, as part of the Dachau Trials, an American court sentenced him to seven years in prison, beginning with his incarceration on May 9, 1945. He served his sentence in Landsberg Prison. This was subsequently reduced to five years, and he was released in 1950. He subsequently worked as private secretary to the Princess of Isenburg and subsequently as a train dispatcher at Rohde & Schwarz in Munich. He was arrested again in August 1951. Investigating judge Dr. jur. Nikolaus Naaff investigated the death of Georg Elser at the Munich Regional Court, who was shot dead in Dachau concentration camp in April 1945. Stiller was accused of being an accessory to murder. On September 14, 1951, the arrest warrant was lifted, and Stiller was released. As the court found during the investigation, Stiller was completely innocent.

On 31 August 1951, judge Dr. Naaff wrote to Captain Sigismund Payne Best and asked him to answer numerous questions about the case. Here is an excerpt from the reply letter dated 7 September 1951:

Sir, I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 31st August. May I start by saying how extremely sorry I am to hear that this unfortunate man, Edgar Stiller, after serving a five years sentence at Landsberg, has again been arrested and now faces prosecution [...] I am particularly grieved that this fresh charge against him should have arisen from my chance possession of the letter and envelope which form its basis. I wish therefore to say that I have no personal animus against Edgar Stiller who, in my experience always behaved quite decently and who certainly showed no slightest sign of cruelty in his behaviour. He was just an unimportant subaltern snatched up in the Nazi machine under circumstances when his life and liberty depended on unquestioning obedience to orders. Even if Stiller knew of Georg Elser's end and even if he gave orders for his execution and was present when these were carried out, it was not he who committed murder but the man who signed the order and whose liberty is concealed by illegibility. I have from the very first been bitterly opposed to the whole policy of War Crimes trials which served to convince no one of the guilt of the defendants and merely engendered feelings of bitterness which will probably increase rather than decrease as time goes on. It is easy to assume now that a general popular revolt leading to the disobedience to orders which resulted in the acts which have been stigmatised as War Crimes was theoretically possible, but anyone who has any real understanding of the conditions in Germany under Nazi rule must know that the very idea is an absurdity. Nothing that Stiller could have done would have saved Elser's life; it is indeed most doubtful if even the camp commandant could have done so. At Dachau at the time, the Gestapo machine was still running its course and, there was still an automatic adherence to the bonds of discipline. When, however the group of prisoners of which I was one reached the South Tirol, and Stiller felt himself out of reach of his immediate superiors he did display his wish to save our lives and when the agreement was reached that he should hand over his command to me he kept his word and did everything that he could to help. It is therefore my sincere hope that, since it will certainly be impossible to prove Stiller's active participation in the murder of Georg Elser he may be given the benefit of the doubt and be allowed to return to life as a free man. My answers to your questions are attached and I shall of course always be ready to give you any additional information. I am Sir, Your obedient Servant

Quotes

• "Dearest wife, the deportation to the south begins. We do not know our destination. Remain brave for our children, and may God protect you!" – Pastor Niemöller in a letter as the convoy travels from Dachau to the Alps at the end of April.

• “It was a liberation for everyone, and I believe that no one realized that for many this was to be the threshold of a new and painfully long imprisonment.” — Sigismund Payne Best, British secret agent and one of the special prisoners

Further reading

• Prof. Dr. Eduard Reut-Nicolussi: Report on the Events at the Pragser Wildsee at the Beginning of May 1945, Landesstelle für Südtirol, Innsbruck 1946