page_title: Transport of concentration camp inmates to Tyrol
section_title: Standoff in Niederdorf
hierarchical_section_title: Transport of concentration camp inmates to Tyrol / Standoff in Niederdorf
caption_attribution_description: vlnr.: &#160;?; Bogislaw von Bonin (* 17. Januar 1908 in Potsdam; † 13. August 1980 in Lehrte), deutscher Wehrmachtsoberst (SS-Sonderhäftling); Ortsbürgermeister; Sigismund Payne Best (* 14. April 1885 in Cheltenham; † 21. September 1978 in Calne), engl. Secret Intelligence Service (SS-Sonderhäftling) vor Hotel Pragser Wildsee (Südtirol)
context_page_description: In the final weeks of the Second World War in Europe, 139 high-profile prisoners of the Nazi regime and two Italian orderlies were sent from various concentration camps to the Dachau Concentration Camp in Bavaria.
  This movement was personally ordered by Adolf Hitler and actioned by Gestapo chief SS Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller. This group of Prominenten comprised men, women and children from seventeen nations. Almost 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 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 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.
context_section_description: The commander of the SS-TV detachment was Obersturmführer Edgar Stiller who was responsible for the transport, accommodation and general custody of the hostages. The commander of the SD detachment, Obersturmführer Friedrich 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 was uncertain what to do and the situation became increasingly tense.
  Nonetheless 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 local hotels and the Town Hall.
  During the morning of 28 April, one of the hostages found a document in an SD man's wallet. The man had collapsed from drunkenness. The document 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 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, 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 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 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 not received permission to act against the SS which could only be sanctioned at the highest level.
  At dawn on Monday 30 April, von Alvensleben returned to Niederdorf with two of his men. The party soon encountered a second SS Obersturmführer. Von Alvensleben immediately engaged him, again without revealing his mission. It quickly became clear that this was the SD officer that Stiller feared. Initially reluctant to discuss the hostages Bader eventually stated that his orders would only be fulfilled when all the Prominenten were dead.
caption: Colonel Bogislaw von Bonin (center) with fellow hostage Sigismund Payne Best (dark suit right) shortly after liberation on 5 May 1945.
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