Franz Hofer

Franz Hofer (November 27, 1902 in Bad Hofgastein – February 18, 1975 in Mülheim an der Ruhr) was, in the time of the Third Reich, the Nazi Gauleiter of the Tyrol and Vorarlberg. As the Nazi party chief for the Tirol/Vorarlberg province he was the most powerful figure in the region. As the area's supreme Nazi, Hofer dealt directly with Hitler or with the Führer's deputy, Martin Bormann. Hofer was not only the party chief but the Reichskommissar in charge of the Tirol-Vorarlberg defences. His region embraced much of the suspected National Redoubt. Indeed, Hofer might well be considered the father of the Redoubt.[1]

For the Austrian footballer, see Franz Hofer (footballer). For the German film director, see Franz Hofer (director).
Franz Hofer
Franz Hofer
Gauleiter of Gau Tyrol
In office
27 November 1932 – 28 July 1934
Preceded byRudolf Riedel
Succeeded byFriedrich Plattner
Gauleiter of Reichsgau Tirol-Vorarlberg
In office
25 May 1938 – 6 May 1945
Preceded byPosition created
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Landeshauptmann of Tyrol
In office
25 May 1938 – 1 April 1940
Preceded byEdmund Christoph
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Reichsstatthalter of Reichsgau Tirol-Vorarlberg
In office
1 April 1940 – 6 May 1945
Preceded byPosition created
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Supreme Commissioner of Operation Zone of the Alpine Foothills
In office
19 September 1943 – 6 May 1945
Preceded byPosition created
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
BornNovember 27, 1902
Bad Hofgastein
DiedFebruary 18, 1975(1975-02-18) (aged 72)
Mülheim an der Ruhr
NationalityGerman
Known forNazi party leader
Franz Hofer (centre) at the Greater German Ski Championship Competition - February 1939. On the right; Wilhelm Frick (executed for war crimes at Nuremberg in 1946).

Born to a Bad Hofgastein hotelkeeper, Hofer went to the Volksschule-Realschule in Innsbruck and in 1922 began a career as a freelance salesman. In September 1931, he joined the Nazi Party. He very quickly rose in the Party, becoming Kreisleiter (County Leader) in Innsbruck on 1 April 1932, and on 1 July Deputy Gauleiter of the Tyrol. Only four months later, on 27 November 1932 – Hofer's thirtieth birthday – he was promoted to Gauleiter of the Tyrol.[2]

For his activities in the Nazi Party, which was banned in Austria, Hofer was arrested in June 1933 and sentenced for treason by a Tyrolean court to 30 months in prison. On 30 August 1933, 4 armed SA men broke into Hofer's prison cell by force and freed him. He fled the prison amid gunfire, which wounded him in the knee. He made it to Italy, and only a few weeks later gave a speech at the Nuremberg Party Congress from his stretcher. In early 1937, having recovered from his gunshot wounds, Hofer became leader of the "Leaders' and Members' Political Gathering Place for Austrians in Germany", with a job in Berlin.

After the Anschluss of March 1938, he was elected to the Reichstag on 10 April. Then on 25 May, he was appointed the Gauleiter of the Tyrol and Vorarlberg. At the same time, he was made Landeshauptmann of Tyrol (though not of Vorarlberg). On 9 November 1939 he was promoted to the rank of NSKK-Obergruppenführer. On 1 September 1940 he was appointed the Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) of the Reichsgau of Tyrol-Vorarlberg. He thus united under his control the highest party and governmental offices in his jurisdiction. On 16 November 1942, he was appointed the Reich Defense Commissioner for his Reichsgau.[3]

After the Italian Armistice with the Allies Hofer was chosen on 10 September 1943 to be the Supreme Commissioner (Oberster Kommissar) of the newly established Operation Zone of the Alpine Foothills, consisting of the neighbouring Italian provinces of Belluno, South Tyrol and Trentino joined to his own Reichsgau of Tyrol-Vorarlberg.

Gauleiter Hofer was an accomplished marksman who often competed in regional and national shooting matches. In 1944 Hofer won a shooting competition in the city of Bolzano, qualifying him for the national competition which was held in Innsbruck that year. Using a specially crafted 22 cal Mauser rifle (serial #300354) Hofer finished 7th.

In November 1944, Hofer suggested in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler that an "Alpenfestung" ("Alpine Fortress") ought to be built up in the heart of the Alps as Nazi Germany's last bastion. Apparently Hitler's secretary Martin Bormann only brought this document to the Führer's attention early the next year. Hofer had a personal audience with Hitler in late January 1945.[4] 'Hofer reminded the German leader that the Allies dreaded the thought of continued fighting from an Alpenfestung. Considering the fact that the Ardennes Offensive had failed, Hitler was receptive to such an idea. The German leader authorized preparations to fortify the Alps.'[5]Hofer and his team actually started work on this in mid-February.[6]Hofer was called to Hitler's Berlin bunker again on 12 April 1945 to discuss further his proposal. Hitler – 18 days before his own suicide and still convinced that his Endsieg was possible – again approved Hofer's ongoing plan and appointed him Reich Defence Commissioner of the Alpenfestung.

On 3 May 1945 Hofer surrendered Innsbruck to American troops. This surrender was achieved by OSS agent Frederick Mayer.[7] It was not long before Hofer's freedom was curtailed. On 6 May 1945, he was arrested by the United States Army in Hall in Tirol and held in an internment camp. In October 1948, he managed to flee to Germany, where he continued his former trade as a salesman in Mülheim, first under an assumed name and then under his true name.

In June 1949, Hofer was tried in absentia and convicted of high treason by the People's Court in Innsbruck and was sentenced to death. Meanwhile in Germany, he was classified as a "major offender", tried by the High Court of Justice in Munich and sentenced to ten years in a labor camp in June 1949. In August 1952, he was re-tried in Munich and sentenced to 3 years and 5 months in labor prison, with credit for time already served. This sentence was upheld on appeal in July 1953. When interviewed by the press during this time, Hofer was unrepentant and declared an ongoing and fervent belief in National Socialism.[8]

In 1964, a lawsuit brought by Hofer's children for the return of ownership of the Lachhof bei Hall where their father had lived while he was the Gauleiter, was dismissed by an Austrian court.

Hofer spent his later years in Mülheim an der Ruhr with his wife and seven children, continued his former trade as a salesman and died a natural death on February 18, 1975, under his real name.[9]

References
  1. Persico, Joseph E. (1979). Piercing the Reich : the penetration of Nazi Germany by American secret agents during World War II. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0670554901.
  2. Miller, Michael D. & Schulz, Andreas: Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945, Volume I (Herbert Albrecht - H. Wilhelm Hüttmann), R. James Bender Publishing, 2012, p. 495, ISBN 1-932970-21-5.
  3. Miller and Schulz, 2012, pp.497; 500.
  4. https://www.allworldwars.com/Ultra-and-The-Myth-of-the-National-Redoubt-by-Marvin-Meek.html. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  5. https://www.allworldwars.com/Ultra-and-The-Myth-of-the-National-Redoubt-by-Marvin-Meek.html. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  6. https://www.allworldwars.com/Ultra-and-The-Myth-of-the-National-Redoubt-by-Marvin-Meek.html. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  7. Tom Moon (June 20, 2000, 2010). This Grim and Savage Game: OSS and the Beginning of U.S. Covert Operations. Da Capo Press. pp. 270–277. ISBN 978-0-306-80956-9. mayer. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. Miller and Schulz, 2012, p.509.
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-05-22. Retrieved 2015-04-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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