Prisoners of War of Note Held in Allied Camps in South Tyrol on May 18, 1945
In the final weeks of World War II, the 202nd Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment (CIC Detachment) of the 5th US Army was stationed in South Tyrol, a region with a complex mix of ethnic Germans and Italians. Their primary focus was on disarming German troops and apprehending fascist and Nazi fugitives, particularly Gestapo members, known war criminals, and SS officers.
One of the high-profile individuals captured by the CIC Detachment was Baron Gábor Kemeny, the Hungarian Foreign Minister, who collaborated with the Nazi regime and was partly responsible for the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews to German concentration camps. Baron Kemeny's wife also fled to Merano.
Another notable figure found in Merano was former French film star Corinne Luchaire and her father, Jean Luchaire, who served as Vichy's information and propaganda minister.
South Tyrol served as a refuge for many prominent Nazi officials, concentration camp prisoners, Italian former Nazi collaborators, and their families during the final days of the war. The Americans discovered the Japanese and German embassies in Merano and took the staff into custody, making a sensational arrest just a few days after the war ended.
After their arrest, fugitives were initially housed in makeshift prisons before being transported as POWs to collection camps south of Lake Garda. Baron Dr. Gabov Kemeny, the former Hungarian Foreign Minister, was questioned by a member of the CIC outside a POW camp.
Rudolf Rahn, the "German vice-king" and "plenipotentiary of the Greater German Reich," was arrested in his vacation home, the Praderhof. French General André Besson-Rapp was also interrogated by members of the CIC.
The wife of Hitler's deputy Martin Bormann and her children were staying in Wolkenstein in Gröden. While specific detailed records or reports about the 202nd CIC Detachment's exact targets in South Tyrol are not provided in the search results, such information may require consulting specialized military archives or detailed histories of the Counter Intelligence Corps in that region.
The capture of these high-profile Nazi collaborators and officials added to the list of those apprehended in South Tyrol, as military, civilian authorities, and US occupation intelligence agencies pressed for their swift capture. The apprehension of these fugitives marked a significant step towards bringing Nazi war criminals to justice.
- The history of post-World War II South Tyrol is marked by the presence of key figures in war-and-conflicts, such as Baron Gábor Kemeny, the Hungarian Foreign Minister, Baron Dr. Gabov Kemeny, the former Hungarian Foreign Minister, Rudolf Rahn, the "German vice-king" and "plenipotentiary of the Greferal German Reich," and the wife of Hitler's deputy Martin Bormann, who sought refuge in the region.
- In the realm of policy-and-legislation and politics, the region also saw the capture of high-profile individuals like Jean Luchaire, former Vichy's information and propaganda minister, and French General André Besson-Rapp, who were questioned by the members of the 202nd Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment (CIC Detachment).
- General news and crime-and-justice were inexorably linked in South Tyrol during the final days of World War II, as military, civilian authorities, and US occupation intelligence agencies worked tirelessly to apprehend Nazi collaborators and bring them to justice, making it a significant place in the annals of general-news and crime-and-justice history.
