16 Facts About Franz Hofer

Franz Hofer was Gauleiter in Tyrol and Vorarlberg and, during the Third Reich, the most powerful figure in the region.

Franz Hofer was the Reichskommissar in charge of the Tirol-Vorarlberg defences.

Franz Hofer's region embraced much of the suspected National Redoubt.

Franz Hofer fled the prison amid gunfire, which wounded him in the knee.

Franz Hofer 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, Franz Hofer became leader of the "Leaders' and Members' Political Gathering Place for Austrians in Germany", with a job in Berlin.

Franz Hofer thus united under his control the highest party and governmental offices in his jurisdiction.

Gauleiter Franz Hofer was an accomplished marksman who often competed in regional and national shooting matches.

In 1944 Franz Hofer won a shooting competition in the city of Bolzano, qualifying him for the national competition which was held in Innsbruck that year.

In November 1944, Franz Hofer suggested in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler that an "Alpenfestung" ought to be built up in the heart of the Alps as Nazi Germany's last bastion.

Franz Hofer had a personal audience with Hitler in late January 1945.

Franz Hofer was called to Hitler's Berlin bunker again on April 12,1945 to discuss further his proposal.

On May 3,1945 Franz Hofer surrendered Innsbruck to American troops.

In June 1949, Franz Hofer was tried in absentia and convicted of high treason by the People's Court in Innsbruck and was sentenced to death.

When interviewed by the press during this time, Franz Hofer was unrepentant and declared an ongoing and fervent belief in Nazism.

Franz Hofer spent his later years in Mulheim 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.