Innsbruck was located in the Reichsgau Tirol, 99 kilometers (61.5 miles) to the south of Munich and 138 kilometers (85.7 miles) west-southwest of Salzburg. For the short period of two days, during the evacuation of the Dachau concentration camp, some prominent prisoners were held here. A number of prisoners also came from other German concentration camps. The first mention of the Innsbruck SS-Sonderlager (Special Camp) is found for April 24, 1945; the last, for the next day, April 25, 1945 (Albert Knoll gives the dates April 26 to 27 instead). Inmates were taken by trucks (other sources: buses) to the camp, which was on the grounds of the former Arbeitserziehungslager (work education camp) Reichenau at the southern edge of Innsbruck. The group consisted of 137 prisoners and their family members, 106 men and 31 women and children from 16 European nations. Apparently, the plan was to keep these prominent personalities as hostages and to take them from Innsbruck to an inaccessible hidi...