The end of the war in the Tegernsee valley - a thriller to the end

2020-05-01T08:11:25.992Z

April 1945: The Tegernsee valley is about to be destroyed - a group tries to prevent the US attack and to persuade the SS to give up. The end of the war in the valley.

April 1945 *: With the end of the Second World War, the situation in the Tegernsee valley came to a head. SS, American units, refugees, injured people, concentration camp prisoners come together here - and form an explosive mixture. Suddenly there is a point, the Tegernsee valley is on the verge of being destroyed. We look back on the last, decisive war days at Lake Tegernsee. With pictures, eyewitness reports - and previously unpublished documents.

Rottach under fire: one of the few recordings of that time. We have collected everything here.

Since the Nazis came to power, many Nazi greats have been living in the Tegernsee valley - Hitler's popular holiday destination. In St. Quirin, Reich press spokesman and SS Obergruppenführer Max Amann had a stately villa built. And he's not alone with that.

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The estate of SS chief Heinrich Himmler is still in Gmund to this day.

That's where he lived: the Himmler Villa in St. Quirin.

His daughter Gudrun - he calls her Püppi - goes to school with other Tal children in Reichersbeuern. Classmate Ali Limmer from Rottach-Egern remembers an eerie encounter with the Nazi:

According to rumors, Himmler - here with his daughter Gudrun - had big plans for the Tegernsee valley at the time.

Heinrich Himmler with daughter Püppi.

Contemporary witness Anderl Stadler from Gmund found out about it on the front in Russia.

But it doesn't get that far. Instead of Himmler's hunting area, the Tegernsee valley has become a refuge for refugees in the last years of the war. The region is considered a hospital town in April '45. All hotels have long been hospitals. The crossing in Rottach-Egern (photo) serves as a reserve hospital, one takes care of neurological cases there.

Back then it was also a hospital: Today's luxury hotel Überfahrt on the edge of the Bay of Egern.

Half of Bad Wiessee consists of maternity wards; Munich University Hospital is housed in Tegernsee Castle. Every house around Lake Tegernsee bursts at the seams.

A few days before the end of the war it is estimated that around 34,000 civilians live in the valley. In Bad Wiessee alone there should have been around 12,000 - more than double the current population. In addition, there is a constant stream of refugees from deserted Wehrmacht soldiers, homeless people and concentration camp prisoners.

At the end of April 1945, thousands of concentration camp prisoners from Dachau and the satellite camps were driven 70 kilometers by snow and cold in the direction of the Alpine valleys, the last retreats of the SS. You reach Waakirchen between May 1st and 2nd. A memorial at the exit of Waakirchner today commemorates the so-called death march.

Memorial on the outskirts of Waakirchen.

The then Waakirchner pastor Georg Hunklinger speaks of 2,700 prisoners who reach the small town from Dachau.

Georg Hunklinger, 1945 he was a parish priest in Waakirchen.

“Medicine and food are lacking. A terrible misery! Nine men die, five we find in the last camp in Schopfloch, one on August 1st in the bushes. All fifteen are in the new cemetery Massengrab II. Names are not known, only the numbers of most of them. ”

The death march passes through Waakirchen.

Not only the local pastor, but also many valley residents remember their encounters with the concentration camp prisoners. Franz Schwarzenböck and Hermine Kaiser from Bad Wiessee, Ludwig Lang from Gmund and Christl Gehrke from Bad Wiessee report:

The pastor's report sounds sober. The agonies are made clearer by the words of a survivor: The Lithuanian Jew Zwi Katz was 14 at the time. Excerpts from his report are published in the Tegernseer Tal magazine:

"I'm probably going my last way now. Someone in front of me falls face down into the snow. The guards pass by, nobody cares about him. "

Katz imitates the fall and escapes. In the Schopfloch forest just before Waakirchen, he is picked up by a Red Cross car with many other concentration camp prisoners; they find refuge in a barn in Waakirchen (the photo shows the Feichtner estate).

Death march stops in Waakirchen, here at the Feichtner estate.

But the fear remains. Then the Americans come. Katz delivers the news to his fellow inmates in the barn - they are still children. As evidence, he triumphantly holds up a box of Camel cigarettes that he had received from a GI.

"There was a strange silence for a while, then it broke out. Someone shouted 'camel cigarettes' - and a loud jubilant cry of joy shook the barn. ”

While some are being rescued in Waakirchen, the battle for the Tegernsee valley is still pending.

The order to deploy the SS Panzer Division Götz von Berlichingen.

In parallel with the entry of American troops into Waakirchen, the SS Panzer Division Götz von Berlichingen with commandant Georg Bochmann withdraws into the valley. It belongs to one of the last troops loyal to the regime.

Members of the SS Panzer Division Götz von Berlichingen.

The goal of the young men: they want to defend the Alpine fortress on the front line.

At this point in time, most of the valley residents would have liked to surrender immediately to the approaching Americans. But the fear was great. Because the SS division had its orders.

Whoever surrenders will be shot. That was the order - even in the last days of the war.

They gradually occupied the individual valley communities.

Pastor Johann Gansler (left) and Pastor Otto Heichele from Gmund.

Pastor Otto Heichele reports from Gmund:

“Suddenly the SS was there. The Tegernsee should be defended. There was a higher staff in the Himmler estate. ”

Pastor Johann Gansler reports from Bad Wiessee:

“It started in the night. I myself was woken up around 5 a.m. and was supposed to open the rectory to set up the artillery command post. When I refused to do so, they used my wooden couch. The SS now fortified the Kirchbichl. I was beside myself and confronted an SS officer: I could now understand why the Americans threw our churches and hospitals together when they were used as cover and camouflage. They would have put me on the wall soon. ”

As the SS fortifies the communities in the Tegernsee valley, the Americans continue to advance. On May 2nd they reach the northern bank of the Mangfall in Gmund. The SS has already blown up the bridge there, now it has entrenched itself in several positions on the opposite side of the river and is bombarding the US troops with bazookas. Gregor Dorfmeister from Gmund remembers:

In the night from May 2nd to 3rd, the Americans and the German Armored Division fought an artillery battle. It's raining shells all over the valley. In the picture you can see a hit house in Weißach.

These pictures are known today from Syria: A Weissach property - completely bombed out.

Pastor Johann Gansler from Wiessee:

“The grenades soon flew into our beautiful village. About 20 houses got hits. ”

Pastor Josef Kronast in Egern remembers:

“The nights were particularly scary. A house went up in flames as a result of a grenade. A woman's right leg and arm were chipped off by shrapnel. She passed away after a few months. ”

On the morning of May 3, people in the Tegernsee valley are waiting for the upcoming attack by American low-flying aircraft. Its destructive power would be far greater than the night battles.

In Rottach-Egern, the Swiss Vice Consul Paul Frei tries to prevent worse things. Frei (Mitte) later became an honorary citizen of the community for his peace efforts and received a bust in the town hall.

The Swiss Vice Consul Paul Frei (center).

In a letter to his wife on May 4, Frei reports:

“My dear Frauli, the councilors of Rottach, Tegernsee and Wiessee reached me last Monday with a request that I let the Americans know that they were ready to surrender without a fight. I accepted the order. ”

(Editor's note: Frei calls the SS chief Borchmann in his letter. In fact, his name is Bochmann.)

And so Frei declares his willingness to drive into the lion's den, to SS-Oberführer Bochmann.

And indeed: The retreat negotiations with the Götz von Berlichingen division are successful, as the agreement to which blood is shed a short time later proves to this day:

Rottach-Egern, afternoon, 5 a.m. Consul Frei creates the impossible: he persuades the SS to withdraw.

Because the Americans first have to get their hands on this document. Twitter was difficult at the time. And for that there are three courageous couriers - who will pay dearly for their courage:

Courageous couriers: (from left) Franz Heiss, Karl Freidrich Scheid and Paul Winter.

The Wehrmacht officer Franz Heiss, medical officer Karl Friedrich Scheid and Paul Winter as interpreters (from left) agree to deliver the agreement to the Americans. Maria Heiss, then Scheid's secretary in the crossing hospital and fiancee of Franz Heiss, remembers.

The men walk the last stretch from Wiessee to the Americans in Gmund. Suddenly shots are fired at Franzosenhölzl in Bad Wiessee. It is still unclear where they come from. Many suspect the SS position at the end of the town, others assume that German army units have been scattered. The leg is hit hot, and Scheid and Winter suffer life-threatening injuries.

While Scheid and Heiss make it to the Americans and hand over the document, there is no trace from winter to today. Scheid later succumbs to his injuries. Frei writes to his wife:

"An inner voice told me not to go."

Today a memorial on Franzosenhölzl commemorates the three men.

Shortly after Scheid, Winter and Heiss, a second negotiation campaign starts from Tegernsee. Major Hannibal von Lüttichau is treated for a head injury in the Tegernseer Schloss reserve hospital.

On the afternoon of May 3rd, he observed:

"An American artillery pilot explored the position of heavy infantry weapons (in Tegernsee, editor's note)."

Liège decided to take action and set out for the Americans in the early hours of May 4th. In a video interview with local researcher Markus Wrba, never published before, the major, who died in 2002, reports on those hours.

Independent of each other, Hannibal von Lüttichau, Scheid, Winter and Heiss managed to deliver the news of the SS's withdrawal to the Americans just in time. The US Army had already requested the squadrons to bomb the valley.

SS boss Bochmann adheres to the agreement and withdraws behind the Weißach with his division. In Kreuth there are final battles. The division Götz von Berlichingen capitulates on May 6th near Glashütte. Here is an excerpt from the surrender order, the last order for the SS division:

Surrender Order.

Already on the morning of May 4th, the US Army moved peacefully into the communities on Lake Tegernsee.

A mother with her child on a tank in Kreuth-Scharling.

Thanks to the courageous efforts of Frei, Liège, Scheid, Winter, Heiss and courageous inhabitants of the valley, the valley is saved from being destroyed in the last second. The war is finally over.

People breathe a sigh of relief, the abandoned SS guns become a playground. But the aftermath of the war can still be felt years later. The then twelve-year-old Christl Gehrke from Bad Wiessee recalls how she met her father in 1947 after captivity - weighing just 45 kilos:

The End

We thank all supporters who made this story possible:

Photos:

Tegernseer Tal Verlag, Markus Wrba, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum / Eric Saul, Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Ullstein Photo, Thomas Plettenberg, Veronika Stangl

Editing and texts:

Klaus-Maria Mehr and Veronika Stangl

Technical implementation:

Vincent Shafiey

Video:

Markus Wrba, Alexander Alzetta, Andreas Auer, Markus Herder, Conni Winkler, Maximilian Regul

Contemporary witness reports:

Michael Wandt

Other sources:

Tegernsee Valley - Magazine for Culture, Landscape, History, Folklore, Issue 141; Peter Pfister: The end of the Second World War in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising

Historical advice:

Michael Heim and Markus Wrba

sta / kmm

* The article was published in 2015 to mark the 70th anniversary of the war and was republished for current reasons.

Source: merkur

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