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35-450: During World War II, it was the destination of the transport of concentration camp inmates to Tyrol . While the lake earned the nickname "Pearl of the Alps" due to its increasing popularity among tourists, tourism had become excessive as of 2020, with 17,000 people visiting the area on a single summer day. As of the summer 2023, vehicle access was restricted because of overtourism . The name of

70-644: A Wehrmacht officer and a company of infantry to provide safe custody for the hostages. In the meantime, contingency plans were being made by the prisoners to attack the SS and SD troopers who were becoming increasingly threatening. Tasked with the rescue of the Prominenten, Wehrmacht Captain Wichard von Alvensleben made a reconnaissance trip to Niederdorf later that evening. Almost immediately he bumped into Obersturmführer Stiller. Von Alvensleben, realising that this officer must have

105-584: A connection with the hostages, engaged him in conversation without revealing his mission. Stiller explained that he had relinquished his authority over the prisoners to one of the British officers but expressed great concern over what might happen when his second in command, an unpredictable SD Obersturmführer, learned of his decision. Von Alvensleben returned to his quarters at Sexten , some 17 km east of Niederdorf to reflect on his next course of action. He had received neither permission nor an order to act against

140-616: A detachment of SS-Totenkopfverbände and Sicherheitsdienst troopers. On 17, 24 and 26 April 1945 small convoys of buses and trucks began transporting the Prominenten from Dachau toward the SS-Sonderlager Innsbruck . On 27 April the prisoners began the final leg of their journey to a large lake-side hotel at Pragser Wildsee in the Italian Tyrol 12.5 km south west of Niederdorf, then still occupied by three German Luftwaffe generals and their staff. Making its way over

175-494: A larger force which was based just 4 km away at Dobbiaco . Two hours later, 150 men from an infantry training battalion arrived and positioned two heavy machine guns in the square opposite the SS headquarters in the Town Hall. Von Alvensleben demanded Stiller and Bader remain inside with their men. However, the young Wehrmacht captain realised he needed additional direction from his superiors at their Bolzano headquarters. By

210-521: A number of saboteurs, spies, traitors, resistance fighters, church leaders and four survivors of the Great Escape . It also included many wives and children of key prisoners. It was intended that these prisoners should be held as hostages in the hopes of trading their lives for some concession from the Allies as the war wore down, or after hostilities ended. The prisoners were gathered together and escorted by

245-588: A stroke of luck SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff , the Supreme Commander of all SS forces in Italy, was standing next to General Röttiger when von Alvensleben's call came through. Taking the phone from Röttiger, Wolff volunteered to von Alvensleben that the SS and SD detachments should stand down on his authority – no matter that he lacked it over either of their officers. Throughout this Stiller and Bader, along with their men, were becoming dangerously belligerent. With

280-634: A third were relatives of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and other leaders of the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler in July 1944. They had been imprisoned under the Sippenhaft (kin detention) law which punished relatives of those accused of crimes against the state. The remainder included renegade Soviet generals, former collaborators from a number of Axis countries, a couple of Mussolini's Police Chiefs, some senior Nazi politicians and German Army officers who had simply fallen out with Hitler. In addition, there were

315-803: A transfer of 139 high-profile prisoners ( Prominenten ) of the Nazi regime in the final weeks of the Second World War in Europe from Dachau concentration camp in Bavaria to South Tyrol . The transport is notable for involving a confrontation between the escorting SS and SD detachments and a force of the German Army ( Heer ) in Niederdorf . Ultimately, the SS/SD were faced with overwhelming firepower and stood down, whereupon

350-559: Is 14 °C. It is a barrage lake, as its creation is due to the barrage of the Prags River due to a landslide detached from the Herrstein. The lake is a tourist destination, which attracts visitors for the blue/emerald green color of its clear waters and for the natural scenery in which it is immersed. In fact, the lake is surrounded on three sides by Dolomite peaks, including the Seekofel. The lake

385-680: Is the starting point of the Alta via no. 1 of the Dolomites called "The classic" which reaches Belluno at the foot of the Schiara Group. In the summer of 2010, on the shores of Pragser Wildsee, the Italian television series " Un passo dal cielo " was shot, broadcast by Rai 1 since 2011, focusing on the life of a team commander of the Forestry Corps of the autonomous province of Bolzano from Innichen . In

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420-627: The Brenner Pass the convoy entered the Italian Tyrol through the Puster Valley and eventually stopped the following morning, just outside the small village of Niederdorf (German) - Villabassa (Italian), South Tyrol , 70 km north-east of Bolzano . In command of the SS-TV detachment was Obersturmführer Edgar Stiller , who was responsible for the transport, accommodation and general custody of

455-603: The Italian resistance leader who had arranged the hostage accommodation at Niederdorf, left the hotel on 1 May to make their way to the US front line in order to persuade US forces to mount a final rescue mission. Day and his companion finally crossed the US Fifth Army ’s lines on 3 May. In the meantime, all German forces in Italy had surrendered with effect from 2 May. However, spasmodic and occasionally fierce fighting between German and US forces continued to take place. Day’s first contact

490-462: The Pragser Wildsee became one of the most visited places in the region Trentino-South Tyrol as it started to attract countless travel bloggers, influencers and professional photographers. The large inflow of tourism brought local administrators to think of ways to reduce the number of visits to preserve the mountain-lake ecosystem. From July to September 2018, already 1.2 million visitors came to

525-584: The Pragser Wildsee, per the Autonomous Region of Bolzano-South Tyrol in 2020. A peak of 17,874 visitors was recorded on one day in August. Since these excessive numbers are "not good for the natural environment in the long term", the region decided to restrict access for tourists per the Heimatverband Südtirol, which made it necessary to establish rules, to route them. In the summer of 2023, for example,

560-508: The SS and SD corralled in the village square by the Wehrmacht force, it remained an extremely tense situation and a firefight between them was still a real possibility. When one of the British contingent among the prisoners drew the SD troopers’ attention to the firepower they were facing, they finally conceded and began laying down their weapons. Eventually most of the SS and SD men were allowed to leave

595-610: The SS; no superior in his chain of command had the authority to issue either, with the exception of his brother SS-Sturmbannfuehrer Ludolf Jakob von Alvensleben , who commanded all SS units in Adria West at the time. At dawn on Monday 30 April, von Alvensleben returned to Niederdorf with two of his men. The party soon encountered a second SS Obersturmführer, the belligerent member of the SD he had been warned of by Stiller, Friedrich Bader. Von Alvensleben immediately engaged him, again without revealing his mission. Initially reluctant to discuss

630-571: The army unit "adopted" the Prominenten and escorted them to their final destination at the Hotel Pragser Wildsee some 12 km off. There, the prisoners were protected from both fanatical German forces and Italian partisans until relieved by a company of the U.S. 5th Army on May 4, 1945. This movement was personally ordered by Adolf Hitler and implemented by Gestapo chief SS Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller . This group of Prominenten comprised men, women and children from seventeen nations. Almost

665-407: The fight, and marauding bands of Italian partisans with scores to settle. As a courtesy, the Wehrmacht escorted the Prominenten to their original destination, the Hotel Pragser Wildsee. The Luftwaffe generals and their staffs had left; some of the hostages had also disappeared, but the majority elected to stay there under the protection of the Wehrmacht. Great Escape Wing Commander Harry Day and

700-578: The foot of the imposing rock face of the Seekofel (Italian Croda del Becco, Ladin Sass dla Porta 2,810 m) and is located within the Fanes - Sennes - Prags nature park . It has an extension of about 31 hectares with a length of 1.2 km and a width of 300-400 metres. It is one of the deepest lakes in the autonomous province of Bolzano , with a maximum depth of 36 meters and an average depth of 17. The maximum water temperature

735-549: The hostages, Bader eventually stated that his orders would only be fulfilled when all the Prominenten were dead. At this point von Alvensleben explained that he was an emissary of the Commander-in-Chief of Army Group C and that Bader should consider his orders fulfilled and his mission over. In fact the Wehrmacht captain had no authority to negotiate or give orders to the SS. In any event Bader refused to accept his instructions. With only two men at his disposal, von Alvensleben

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770-619: The hostages. G Company of the 339th was nominated for the task and arrived during the early hours of 4 May in a convoy of trucks, jeeps, and armoured carriers. There was a tense silence as the Wehrmacht machine gunners and the American infantrymen saw each other in the gloom of the dawn, but when the Wehrmacht sentries realised that the soldiers were American and not German foes, they laid down their weapons and surrendered. The Prominenten were now officially liberated, and their Wehrmacht chaperones relieved of their duty. (by country) Joseph Joos

805-474: The hostages. The commander of the SD detachment, Obersturmführer Ernst Bader, was also a Gestapo officer. His responsibility was to carry out whatever final orders were received from Berlin in connection with the hostages, or to execute them in the event of any resistance or rescue attempts. As a result of the chaotic conditions in Berlin nearly all communication systems were down. Without specific orders Stiller

840-522: The lake is attested in 1296 as Hünz an den Se, in 1330 as Praxersee, in 1400 as See in Prags, in 1620 as Pragsersee and in 1885 as Pragser Wildsee; the appellation of the wild is therefore nineteenth-century, and perhaps to be connected to mountaineering which in that period began to become a mass phenomenon. The Italian name "Lago di Braies" dates back to 1940, while in the first Handbook of 1923 it still appears only as "Pragser Wildsee". The lake lies at

875-579: The local Wehrmacht liaison office in Niederdorf and asked them to contact his old friend, Colonel General Heinrich von Vietinghoff , the commander of Army Group C with headquarters in Bolzano , Italy, on the phone. He wasn't available but von Bonin was able to speak to another friend, General Hans Röttiger , Vietinghoff's Chief of Staff, and explain the highly dangerous situation and the need for assistance. Vietinghoff rang back two hours later to say he would send

910-553: The road into the Pragser Valley was closed during daylight hours 10/07/2023 to 10/09/2023 and the reservation for a parking ticket cost 38 €. The lake has big problems of overtourism. The lake must be approached from its north side via the Prags Valley. It is possible to take a tour around the banks of the lake. This route is flat and wide on the west bank, while on the east bank, it is steep and narrow, with some stairways. During

945-462: The summer of 2012, the second series of the fiction was shot, the third, the fourth, and in 2018 the fifth season. On 28 December 2016, the second episode of the documentary series Speciali Storia - Hostages of the SS was broadcast on Rai Storia , which reconstructed the story of April 1945 of the prisoners of the Pragser Wildsee. Thanks to the popularity of the 2011 Italian TV series Un passo dal cielo ,

980-495: The village in a bus and a truck, and were last seen heading towards the Brenner Pass. Contemporary rumours suggested that the SS and SD men were ambushed by partisans and subsequently captured and strung up from roadside telegraph poles. It has now been established that this was not true. The Prominenten were now free of the SS and SD, but not of danger. They were still at the mercy of German deserters, fanatical Nazis carrying on

1015-520: The wallet of an SD man who had collapsed from drunkenness. A document in it called for the execution of 28 members of the Prominenten, including all the British officers and other military prisoners. Many of the SD and SS guards had been drinking and were becoming steadily more aggressive. On Sunday 29 April, Colonel Bogislaw von Bonin , who had been imprisoned for disobeying Hitler by authorising Army Group A to retreat from Warsaw in January 1945, approached

1050-473: The winter period, these paths (especially the one on the eastern shore) are often closed, due to the danger of avalanches. Since 2012, curling competitions have been held on the frozen surface of the lake during the winter season. This Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Transport of concentration camp inmates to Tyrol The transport of concentration camp inmates to Tyrol refers to

1085-428: Was in an untenable position. He withdrew and quickly radioed his battalion headquarters at Sexten with a request for a battle group to be despatched to Niederdorf immediately. Forty-five minutes later fifteen Wehrmacht NCOs armed with machine pistols arrived and positioned themselves in front of the Town Hall where the SS detachments were headquartered. Realising he needed further reinforcements, von Alvensleben summoned

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1120-504: Was released to France Prominenten (Redirected from Prominenten ) [REDACTED] Members of the Prominenten, under a U.S. guard, outside the Hungerberg Hotel on May 5, 1945, shortly after their release. L to R: John Elphinstone , Max de Hamel , Michael Alexander , unknown, George Lascelles , and John Winant Jr. The German term Prominente (singular masculine Prominenter )

1155-405: Was uncertain what to do and the situation became increasingly tense. Upon arrival at Niederdorf the prisoners took matters into their own hands by leaving the transports and walking into the village. A local official (also an Italian Resistance leader) arranged temporary accommodation for the hostages in village hotels and the Town Hall. During the morning of 28 April one of the hostages searched

1190-672: Was used in World War II to describe high-profile prisoners from various countries that were imprisoned in, for example, the POW camp for officers Colditz ( Oflag IV-C ) or the Nazi concentration camps Sachsenhausen and Dachau for possible use as hostages. These prisoners had among them former statesmen, politicians, political dissidents and priests as well as prisoners of war related, or believed to be related, to allied politicians and royalties. The Colditz POW's were liberated on 14   April 1945 by

1225-458: Was with elements of the US 88th Division, but they were in no position to mount a rescue bid as they were at least 125 miles from the Pragser Wildsee. On the other hand, the 85th Division’s 339th Infantry Regiment had reached their latest objective at San Candido half an hour after midnight on 4 May. Just 21 km from Pragser Wildsee, they received immediate orders to send a "strong combat patrol" to rescue

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