Pragser Wildsee Chapel

The Chapel was built in 1904 and dedicated to Mary the Sorrowful. This chapel is connected to a dramatic event that took place at the end of the Second World War. Hitler arranged for 136 prominent prisoners to be transferred from the Dachau concentration camp in Germany to the secret and impregnable fortress of the Lago di Braies Hotel in Italy, in order to execute them on Pragser Wildsee. Among them were Prince Philipp of Hesse, the Stauffenberg family, General Franz Halder, Prince Leopold of Prussia, the former Austrian Chancellor Dr. Kurt von Schuschnigg, the President of the Reichstag, Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, the former Prime Minister Leon Blum, the Munich Auxiliary Bishop Johannes Neuhäusler, the nephew of the British Prime Minister Churchill, Fritz Thyssen, and many others All these personalities found shelter in the chapel. They were liberated on May 1st 1945 and 4 days later flown to Sicily by American troops, from where they returned to their home countries.