The year 1848 occupies a mythical place in European history. Innsbruck was not one of the hotspots like Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Milan or Berlin, but even in the “Holy Land” of Tyrol the revolutionary year left its mark. In contrast to the rural surroundings, an enlightened educated bourgeoisie had developed in Innsbruck. Enlightened people no longer wanted to be subjects of a monarch or territorial prince, but citizens with rights and duties in relation to a modern state. Students and members of the liberal professions demanded political participation, freedom of the press and civil rights. Workers demanded better wages and working conditions. Particularly radical liberals and nationalists even questioned the absolute authority of the Church. In March 1848 this socially and politically highly explosive mixture erupted in uprisings and street fighting in many cities. In Innsbruck, some students and professors celebrated the newly granted freedom of the press with a torchlight procession. On the whole, however, the revolution proceeded quietly in the rather leisurely Tyrol. To speak of a spontaneous outburst of emotion or even a revolution would already be an exaggeration: the date of the procession was postponed from 20 to 21 March because of bad weather. There were hardly any anti-Habsburg riots or violent incidents; a stray stone thrown into a Jesuit window was one of the highlights of the Alpine version of the Revolution of 1848. The students even supported the city magistrate in maintaining public order, thereby demonstrating their gratitude to the monarch for the newly granted freedoms and their loyalty.

The initial enthusiasm for change among the bourgeois elites was soon replaced in Innsbruck by a surge of German-national patriotism. On April 6, 1848, the governor of Tyrol led a ceremonial procession in which the German flag was displayed. A German tricolour was also hoisted on the city tower. While students, workers, liberal-national citizens, republicans, supporters of a constitutional monarchy, and Catholic conservatives could not agree on social issues such as press freedom, they shared a common hostility toward the Italian independence movement, which had spread across northern Italy from Piedmont and Milan. Innsbruck students and riflemen, with the support of the imperial army leadership, marched into the Trentino to suppress unrest and uprisings at an early stage. Notable members of this corps included the already elderly Father Haspinger, who had fought alongside Andreas Hofer in 1809, and Adolf Pichler. Johann Nepomuk Mahl-Schedl, a wealthy owner of Büchsenhausen Castle, even equipped his own company and marched over the Brenner Pass to secure the border. However, the war did not remain confined to the southern borders. Innsbruck itself, as the political and economic center of the multinational crown land of Tyrol and home to many Italian speakers, became an arena of the conflict between nationalities. Combined with ample alcohol consumption, anti-Italian sentiment posed a greater threat to public order than the demand for civil liberties. A dispute between a German-speaking craftsman and an Italian-speaking Ladin escalated to such an extent that it nearly triggered a pogrom against the numerous businesses and inns of Italian-speaking Tyroleans.

The relative calm of Innsbruck suited the imperial court in Vienna, which was under pressure. As unrest in the capital continued after March, Emperor Ferdinand fled to Tyrol in May. According to contemporary press reports, he was enthusiastically welcomed by the population.

"“What is the name of the land to which such an honour falls, what is the people that enjoys such trust in these fateful times? Does the peace and security here rest solely on legend from ancient times, or is there also in the present a foundation on which one can build, which the wind cannot blow away and the storm cannot shake? This Alpine land is called Tyrol, do you like it? Yes, the Tyrolean people alone prove, in the midst of a shaken Europe, reverence and loyalty, courage and strength for their hereditary ruling house, while all around rebellion, contradiction, defiance and demands, often even revolt and upheaval rage; Tyrol alone stands firmly without wavering in custom and obedience, in religion, truth and law, while elsewhere insolence and falsehood, madness and passions prevail …”"

In June, a young Franz Joseph—still not yet emperor—also stopped at the Hofburg on his return from the battlefields of northern Italy instead of traveling directly to Vienna. Innsbruck once again became a royal residence, albeit only for one summer. While blood was shed in Vienna, Milan, and Budapest, the imperial family enjoyed rural Tyrolean life. Ferdinand, Franz Karl, his wife Sophie, and Franz Joseph received guests from foreign courts and were driven by carriage to excursion destinations such as Weiherburg, Stefansbrücke, Kranebitten, and even up to Heiligwasser, and went on hikes. This calm did not last long. Ferdinand, considered no longer fit to rule, handed over power under gentle pressure to Franz Joseph I. In July 1848, the first parliamentary session was held in Vienna, and a constitution came into force. However, the monarchy’s willingness to reform soon waned. The new parliament—the Reichsrat—could not pass binding laws, the emperor never attended it, and he did not understand why a monarchy ordained by God needed such a council.

Nevertheless, liberalization continued, especially in cities. Innsbruck was granted the status of a city with its own statute. Municipal law introduced a form of citizenship tied to property or tax payments, granting certain rights. Local voting rights were extended to adult male citizens. Innsbruck politics came to be dominated by a greater German liberal faction of merchants, traders, industrialists, and innkeepers. On June 2, 1848, the first issue of the liberal, pro-German Innsbrucker Zeitung was published. Conservative readers preferred the Volksblatt für Tirol und Vorarlberg, while moderates read the Bothen für Tirol und Vorarlberg. Press freedom, however, was soon restricted again. Censorship was partially reintroduced, and newspapers were not allowed to write against the provincial government, monarchy, or Church.

"Anyone who, by means of printed matter, incites, instigates or attempts to incite others to take action which would bring about the violent separation of a part from the unified state... of the Austrian Empire... or the general Austrian Imperial Diet or the provincial assemblies of the individual crown lands.... Imperial Diet or the Diet of the individual Crown Lands... violently disrupts... shall be punished with severe imprisonment of two to ten years."

After Innsbruck had officially replaced Meran as the provincial capital in 1849 and had thus finally become the political centre of Tyrol, parties began to form. With the establishment of the Catholic-conservative faction and the liberals, a pair of opposing ideas emerged that would shape politics not only until the First World War. Associations of all kinds as political organisations in advance of parties, and newspapers, formed the lines along which society split in all questions of life from the cradle to the grave. From 1868 onwards, the liberal, greater German-oriented party provided the mayor of the city of Innsbruck. The influence of the Church declined in Innsbruck in contrast to the surrounding municipalities. Individualism, capitalism, nationalism and consumption stepped into the breach. New worlds of work, department stores, theatres, cafés and dance halls did not displace religion entirely even in the city, but the weighting shifted as a result of the civil freedoms won in 1848.

The probably most important legal change of 1848 was the land relief patent. In Innsbruck the clergy, especially Wilten Abbey, owned a large part of the agricultural land. The Church and the nobility were exempt from taxes. In 1848/49 feudal lordship and the relationship of subjection were abolished in Austria. Ground rents, tithes and compulsory labour were thus removed. The landowners received one third of the value of their land from the state within the framework of the reform, one third was regarded as tax relief, and one third of the compensation had to be borne by the peasants themselves. They could pay this amount in instalments over twenty years. The after-effects can still be felt today. The descendants of the peasants who were successful at the time enjoy, through inherited land ownership resulting from the 1848 reforms, the fruits of prosperity and also political influence through land sales for housing, leases and compensation payments by public authorities for infrastructure projects. The landowning nobility of the past had to come to terms with the humiliation of taking up bourgeois occupations. The transition from privilege by birth to privileged status within society through financial means, networks and education often succeeded. Many Innsbruck dynasties of academics have their origins in the decades after 1848.

Life also changed for the broader population. The previously unknown phenomenon of leisure time emerged and, together with disposable income available to a greater number of people, fostered hobbies. Civil organisations and associations—from reading circles to choral societies, fire brigades and sports clubs—were founded. The revolutionary year also manifested itself in the cityscape. Parks such as the English Garden at Ambras Castle or the Hofgarten were no longer reserved exclusively for the aristocracy but served citizens as local recreational areas. In St. Nikolaus the Waltherpark was created as a small oasis of calm. One floor above, the first swimming and bathing facility in Tyrol opened at Büchsenhausen Castle; soon afterwards another bath followed in Dreiheiligen. Excursion inns around Innsbruck flourished. Alongside high-end restaurants and hotels, a scene of taverns emerged in which workers and employees could also afford pleasant evenings with theatre, music and dancing.

In den 1920er und 30er wuchs und gedieh die NSDAP auch in Tirol. Die erste Ortsgruppe Innsbrucks wurde bereits 1923 gegründet. Mit „Der Nationalsozialist - Combat Gazette for Tyrol and Vorarlberg“ erschien ein eigenes Wochenblatt. 1933 erlebte die NSDAP mit dem Rückenwind aus Deutschland auch in Innsbruck einen kometenhaften Aufstieg. Die Modernität der Partei mit ihrem demonstrativ-revolutionären Antiklerikalismus und die Aufstiegsmöglichkeiten, die sie bot, sprach vor allem junge Menschen an. Das Neue, das Aufräumen mit alten Hierarchien und Strukturen wie der katholischen Kirche, der Umbruch und der noch nie dagewesene Stil zogen sie an. Besonders unter den großdeutsch gesinnten Burschen der Studentenverbindungen und vielfach auch unter Professoren war der Nationalsozialismus beliebt. Wer bereits oben war, sehnte sich nach den Zeiten vor dem allgemeinen Wahlrecht zurück, als Sozialdemokraten noch nichts zu melden hatten. Die demokratische Republik war konservativen Eliten ein Gräuel. Wer nach oben wollte, den Sozialdemokraten aber nichts abgewinnen konnte, konnte der sperrigen Demokratie ebenfalls nur wenig abgewinnen. Die allgemeine Unzufriedenheit und Politikverdrossenheit der Bürger kombiniert mit theatralisch inszenierten Fackelzügen durch die Stadt samt hakenkreuzförmiger Bergfeuer auf der Nordkette und einem regen Vereinsleben verhalfen der NSDAP schnell zu Popularität. Über 1800 Innsbrucker waren Mitglied der SA, die ihr Quartier in der Bürgerstraße 10 hatte. Konnten die Nationalsozialisten bei ihrem ersten Antreten bei einer Gemeinderatswahl 1921 nur 2,8% der Stimmen erringen, waren es bei den Wahlen 1933 bereits 41%. Nicht nur die Wahl Hitlers zum Reichskanzler in Deutschland, auch Kampagnen und Manifestationen in Innsbruck verhalfen der ab 1934 in Österreich verbotenen Partei zu diesem Ergebnis. Neun Mandatare, darunter der spätere Innsbrucker Bürgermeister Egon Denz und der Gauleiter Tirols Franz Hofer, zogen in den Gemeinderat ein.

When Austria was annexed by Germany in March 1938 (Anschluss), scenes resembling a civil war unfolded in Innsbruck. In the period leading up to the invasion, repeated marches and rallies by National Socialists had already taken place after the ban on the party had been lifted. Even before Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg concluded his final address to the Austrian people on 11 March 1938 with the words “God protect Austria” prior to handing over power to the National Socialists, Nazi supporters had already gathered in Innsbruck’s city centre to celebrate the impending arrival of German troops. The police were partly sympathetic to the organized demonstrations and partly powerless in the face of the unrest. Government buildings and Maria-Theresien-Straße were sealed off and secured with machine-gun positions, but decisive action by the authorities was out of the question. Cries of “One People, One Reich, One Führer” echoed through the city. The threat posed by the German military and the mobilization of SA units eliminated the last remaining doubts. Increasing numbers of enthusiastic citizens joined the demonstrations. The swastika flag was raised both at the Tyrolean government building (Landhaus), which at that time was still located on Maria-Theresien-Straße, and at the provisional Nazi headquarters in the Alt-Innsprugg inn. On 12 March, a large portion of Innsbruck’s population greeted the German military forces with great enthusiasm. To ensure a hospitable reception for the National Socialists, Mayor Egon Denz ordered that every worker be paid an entire week’s wages. On 5 April, Adolf Hitler personally visited Innsbruck to receive the adulation of the crowds. Archival photographs show euphoric masses awaiting the leader whom many believed would bring salvation. On the Nordkette mountain range above the city, bonfires in the shape of swastikas were lit. The plebiscite held on 10 April produced a result of more than 99 percent in favour of Austria’s annexation to Germany. After the economic hardship of the interwar period, the Great Depression, and the governments of Dollfuss and Schuschnigg, many people were exhausted and longed for change. At that moment, the specific nature of that change was often less important than change itself. “Showing those at the top” was one of Hitler’s central promises. The Wehrmacht and the growing arms industry offered young people prospects for employment and advancement, including many who felt little personal attachment to National Socialist ideology. The nostalgically cherished dream of a Greater Germany had a long tradition in Tyrol. The promise of bringing the German-speaking South Tyroleans “home into the Reich” and thus correcting what many regarded as the injustice of the Brenner border was also received favourably. Furthermore, outbreaks of political violence were unfortunately not unusual in Austria during the interwar years. Unlike today, democracy was not yet a system to which people had become accustomed. The period between the collapse of the monarchy in 1918 and the dissolution of parliament under Dollfuss in 1933 had been short and was marked by political extremism. What does not truly exist in the minds of a population as an established reality need not be abolished.

Tyrol and Vorarlberg were merged into a single Reichsgau (administrative district of the German Reich), with Innsbruck serving as its capital. Although National Socialism was viewed with skepticism by a considerable portion of the population, there was hardly any organized, let alone armed, resistance. The Catholic resistance group OE5 and the political left in Tyrol were simply too weak. Isolated acts of unorganized, subversive behavior did occur, particularly in the rural communities around Innsbruck, but they remained exceptions. The regime’s apparatus of power dominated everyday life too comprehensively. Many jobs and other privileges depended on at least an outward display of loyalty to the party. While most people were spared imprisonment, the fear of arrest was ever-present. The regime under Gauleiter Franz Hofer and Gestapo chief Werner Hilliges proved highly effective in suppressing opposition. The clergy were regarded as the regime’s primary adversaries, and the Catholic Church was therefore targeted on every level. Catholic schools were repurposed, youth organizations and associations were banned, monasteries were closed, religious instruction was abolished, and a church tax was introduced. Particularly outspoken priests, such as Otto Neururer, were sent to concentration camps. Local politicians, including the future mayors of Innsbruck, Franz Greiter and Anton Melzer, also faced persecution. Melzer, who had lost an arm fighting for “God, Emperor, and Fatherland” during the First World War, was forced either to flee or was imprisoned. Attempting even a broad overview of the violence and crimes committed against the Jewish population, the clergy, political suspects, civilians, and prisoners of war would far exceed the scope of this account. At Innsbruck University Hospital, people with disabilities and others whom the regime deemed undesirable, including homosexuals, were subjected to forced sterilization. In 1941, the Reichenau Labour Camp was established in the Rossau district near Innsbruck’s municipal works yard. Approximately 120 people died in this barracks camp as a result of disease, harsh living conditions, workplace accidents, or executions. The forced labourers, most of them Jewish, Russian, or Italian, were employed in the Messerschmitt factories in Kematen and on numerous construction projects, including the building of the South Tyrolean Settlements (Südtiroler Siedlungen) and the excavation of tunnels intended to protect the population from air raids in southern Innsbruck. Memorial sites commemorating the National Socialist era are relatively few and far between. The most prominent monument is probably the Tyrolean Government Building (Tiroler Landhaus) with its Liberation Memorial (Befreiungsdenkmal). At the Old University (Alte Universität) on Herrengasse, a bronze plaque recalls that the Gestapo once had its headquarters there. Suspects were interrogated under torture, severely abused, and in some cases beaten to death with bare fists. The square in front of the university and a small memorial column at the southern entrance of the hospital were likewise designed to commemorate what was arguably the darkest chapter in Austria’s history. In the Rossau district, a memorial site has been established at the location of the former Reichenau Labour Camp.

The appearance of a city is subject to constant change. Certain eras left particularly visible changes in Innsbruck's cityscape. The political, economic, and social upheavals from the 15th century onward, as well as in the second half of the 19th century, are also reflected in buildings and monuments. However, the most drastic event with the greatest impact on the cityscape was likely the air raids on the city during World War II, when the "home front" became an actual theater of war. For centuries, its location at the foot of the Brenner Pass had been a blessing for the city; now, it became its undoing. Innsbruck was an important supply station for reinforcements for the Italian front. On the night of December 15–16, 1943, the first Allied air raid struck the ill-prepared city. 269 people fell victim to the bombs, 500 were injured, and more than 1,500 were left homeless. Over 300 buildings, primarily in Wilten and the inner city, were destroyed and damaged. On Monday, December 18, the front page of the Innsbrucker Nachrichten—the predecessor to the Tiroler Tageszeitung—featured all kinds of propagandistic reports about the successful and heroic defensive struggle of the German Wehrmacht on all fronts against the alliance of the "Anglo-Americans" and "the Russian," but made no mention of the bombing raid on Innsbruck.

"Bombing Terror over Innsbruck"

December 16 will remain recorded in the history of Innsbruck as the day on which the air terror of the Anglo-Americans struck the Gau capital with all the severity of this mean and brutal method of warfare, which can no longer be called conduct of war. In several waves, enemy bomber formations approached the city and directed their attacks with numerous high-explosive and incendiary bombs against residential areas. Severe damage to residential buildings, hospitals, and other community facilities was the sad result—exceeding all previous damage—of this criminal assault, which brought severe suffering to numerous families in our city, a heavy burden on their way of life, the bitter fate of the destruction of cherished property, the destruction of hearth and home, and homelessness. Boundless hatred and the burning desire to retaliate against this inhuman atrocity with relentless severity are the sole sentiments moving all minds, alongside dealing with personal and community hardships. We all look upon our soldiers with complete trust and await with confidence the day on which the Führer will give the command to deploy their concentrated power with new weapons against the enemy in the West, who through his terror of murder and arson against the defenseless has once again proven that he differs in no way from the Asiatic beasts in the East—unless it be through greater cowardice. The city's air-raid protection facilities have proven their worth, as has the air-raid discipline of the population. Up to this hour, 26 fallen have been reported, a number that in all likelihood should not increase significantly. Relief measures began immediately and effectively under the leadership of the Party and with the active cooperation of the Wehrmacht.

This imaginatively crafted report barely made it onto page 3. The city's poor preparation for the foreseeable bombardment was likely something they preferred not to display too prominently, given the immense scale of the damage to the city and the tragic personal losses among the population. That the mortal remains of the victims of the December 15, 1943 air raid were laid out in state on what is today's Landhausplatz, directly in front of the newly constructed *Gauhaus*—the symbol of National Socialist power—carries a sad irony of fate. In January 1944, construction began on air-raid shelters and other protective measures. A large portion of the work was carried out by prisoners from the Reichenau concentration camp.

In total, Innsbruck was attacked twenty-two times between 1943 and 1945. In the process, nearly 3,833—almost 50%—of the buildings in the city were damaged, and 504 people died. In the final months of the war, any sense of normalcy had ceased to exist. The population lived in constant fear. Schools were closed as early as the morning hours. A regular daily routine was out of the question. Fortunately, the city was only subject to targeted attacks. German cities like Hamburg or Dresden were completely flattened by Allied firestorms within a matter of hours, leaving tens of thousands dead. Nevertheless, the toll was devastating. Many buildings, such as the Jesuit Church, Wilten Abbey, the Servite Church, and the public indoor pool on Amraserstraße, were hit. The attack on December 16, 1944—one year after the first strike—devastated the Cathedral and the Town Hall. Historical buildings and monuments in Innsbruck received special care and protection. The *Golden Roof* was protected with a specialized structure, as was Maximilian's sarcophagus in the Court Church (*Hofkirche*). The statues of the Court Church, the "*Schwarze Mander*" (Black Men), were relocated to Kundl. The painting of the Virgin of Succor by Lucas Cranach from the Innsbruck Cathedral was transferred to the Ötztal during the war.

Many years after the war, the city was still characterized by the rubble and damage of the air raids; today, very little remains to remind us of these events that were traumatic for so many Innsbruck residents. The air-raid shelter south of Innsbruck along the Brennerstraße and the markings on houses indicating air-raid cellars—with their black squares, white circles, and arrows—can still be seen today. Two of the anti-aircraft gun positions, now merely overgrown masonry ruins, can be visited on the *Lanser Köpfl* above Innsbruck. In Pradl, where along with Wilten most of the buildings were damaged, bronze plaques on the affected houses point to their post-war reconstruction. On the old Innsbruck Town Hall, a wall painting commemorates the direct bomb hit in December 1944.

With the advent of National Socialism, many political offices and positions within the public administration were reassigned. The cult of the Führer and the ideology of the National Socialist Party were structurally embedded at every level of society. Innsbruck’s mayor, Franz Fischer, was replaced by Egon Denz after the Nazi takeover. Likewise, Edmund Christoph replaced Governor (Landeshauptmann) Josef Schumacher (1894–1971) virtually overnight, before Franz Hofer (1902–1975) assumed the position of Gauleiter in May 1938 and, from 1940 onward, that of Reich Governor (Reichsstatthalter). The young and ambitious Hofer can serve as a representative example of the many individuals who advanced their careers under National Socialism. Born into a hotelier family in Bad Hofgastein in the Salzburg region, he attended school in Innsbruck and later operated a radio shop. He joined the Austrian NSDAP as early as 1931. When the National Socialist Party was banned in Austria, Hofer, then serving as Gauleiter, was imprisoned in 1933 but was freed by members of the SA. During his escape, he was shot and wounded, yet managed to flee to Italy. He subsequently moved to Germany, became a German citizen, and quickly rose through the ranks of the Nazi Party. Shortly after Austria’s annexation by Germany, the loyal party member was appointed Gauleiter of Tyrol and Vorarlberg by Hitler on 24 May 1938. In 1940, he was also named Reich Governor of Tyrol-Vorarlberg. Hofer’s plans were ambitious, and Tyrol proved fertile ground for National Socialism. Relative to its population, no other Austrian Gau had a higher proportion of Nazi Party members. By 1939, Hofer had nearly achieved his goal of creating the first completely Jew-free Gau. One year later, only a single Jew remained officially registered in Tyrol. Hofer also enriched himself considerably through the confiscation and “Aryanization” of Jewish property. Among the assets he acquired were the Villa Schindler, formerly owned by the operator of the Café Schindler at Rennweg 10, and the Lachhof estate in Kleinvolderberg near Innsbruck, which he transformed into a kind of command centre outside the city. An ardent anti-Catholic, Hofer also acted aggressively against church organizations. The Wiltener Sängerknaben (Wilten Boys’ Choir) were as much a thorn in his side as the numerous Marian images visible throughout Innsbruck. Socialist and Communist organizations played only a minor role in Tyrolean society; in the eyes of the regime, stubborn Catholics posed a far greater challenge. All religious orders were dissolved, and Catholic youth groups and associations were absorbed into the National Socialist system. Between 1938 and 1945, 119 of Tyrol’s 570 priests were detained at least once. Eleven were executed or died as a result of imprisonment. When Italy came fully under German control in 1943, Hofer’s next career advancement followed. He was appointed Supreme Commissioner of the Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills (Operationszone Alpenvorland), an administrative region consisting of Tyrol-Vorarlberg and several provinces in northern Italy. Hofer was also the originator of the concept of the so-called “Alpine Fortress” (Alpenfestung), envisioned as the final stronghold of the German people against the advancing enemy forces. On 12 April 1945, less than a month before the end of the war, he personally presented this proposal to Adolf Hitler. Hitler subsequently appointed him Reich Defence Commissioner of the Alpine Fortress.

When all hope was lost and the final dreams of an Alpine resistance stronghold collapsed, Hofer proved to be remarkably adaptable to changing circumstances. Following negotiations with the advancing Allied forces, Innsbruck was surrendered without resistance as an open city on 3 May 1945, thereby sparing it from the devastating battles that marked the final days of the war in many other places. Only a few days earlier, however, Hofer had still presented himself, at least outwardly, as a committed National Socialist. This is evident from a radio address he delivered on 30 April 1945:

"However, should the enemy, despite heroic fighting, be at the gates of Innsbruck, a defence of the Gau capital under the given circumstances would by no means save the worst, but rather destroy the last.... But we want to claw our way into our mountains all the more tenaciously..."

Hofer was arrested a few days later. In October 1948, he managed to escape from the internment camp at Dachau and flee to Germany, where he went into hiding in Mülheim an der Ruhr under a false name. It has never been conclusively proven, but it is entirely possible that American and British intelligence services assisted their former adversary in escaping. Such assistance may have been motivated by a desire to protect their own methods and networks that had been used against National Socialism in Tyrol and were now being deployed against the Soviet Union. Had Hofer stood trial, these activities might well have become public knowledge. In 1949, a court in Munich sentenced him in absentia to ten years in prison. In July 1953, this judgment was upheld in Munich, although the sentence was reduced to three years. Since the time he had already spent in custody was credited toward the sentence, Hofer remained a free man. In Austria, meanwhile, a court sentenced him to death in 1949. However, this sentence was never enforced, and no criminal prosecution followed. Among Hofer’s supporters were Johannes Baptist Geisler, Bishop of Brixen, and Alfons Weißgatterer, Governor of Tyrol. In legal proceedings held in Innsbruck in 1950, his assets were confiscated by the Republic of Austria. From 1954 onward, Hofer lived openly under his real name in Germany. He managed the company Ruhr Armatur GmbH, a supplier of sanitary equipment. Although legal proceedings were initiated concerning his involvement in Aktion T4 in Tyrol, the Nazi programme of the “destruction of life unworthy of life,” the case was ultimately dismissed in 1963. In a sense, Tyrol remained loyal to its former Gauleiter even after his emigration and until his death. Hofer had always been an admirer of Tyrolean traditions. As Gauleiter, he promoted folk music, traditional costumes, and the Tyrolean riflemen’s associations (Schützen). While these organizations were officially dissolved in 1938, under Hofer they were reorganized into the Standschützenverband. The conductor of the Wilten-Innsbruck Town Band, Sepp Tanzer, whom Hofer appointed head of the Department of Folk Music within the Reich Music Chamber, composed the Standschützen March in his honour. When Hofer was buried in Mühlhausen thirty years after the end of the war, a delegation of Tyrolean riflemen attended the funeral to pay their final respects. The Tyrolean Government Building (Tiroler Landhaus), which remains the seat of the Tyrol provincial government to this day, was constructed during Hofer’s rule and stands as a lasting architectural reminder of the Gauleiter of Tyrol.