Pencil sketch of a Nazi by Dr K Prabhakar Rao

FRANZ HOFER. NAZI

 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.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, leading to Hofer's being called to Hitler's Berlin bunker only on 12 April 1945 to present his proposal. Hitler – 18 days before his own suicide and still convinced that his Endsieg was possible – approved Hofer's plan and appointed him Reich Defence Commissar of the Alpenfestung.On May 3, 1945 Hofer surrendered to American troops. This surrender was achieved by OSS agent Frederick Mayer. It was not long, however, 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 1948, he managed to flee to Germany, where he continued his former trade as a salesman in Mülheim, in the end under his true name.
In Austria in June 1949, Hofer was sentenced to death in absentia. In July 1953, a Munich appeal court upheld a sentence of 3 years and 5 months in labour prison.[why?] When interviewed by the press during this time, Hofer made it known that his National Socialist convictions were unbroken.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.