Whenever I Stay In A Big, Fancy Hotel is a photograph by Eric Adams which was uploaded on May 30th, 2019.
Whenever I Stay In A Big, Fancy Hotel
Whenever I stay in a big, fancy hotel, I wonder if anyone interesting ever occupied my room over the years. For instance, I stayed here for a night... more
by Eric Adams
Title
Whenever I Stay In A Big, Fancy Hotel
Artist
Eric Adams
Medium
Photograph - Instagram Photo
Description
Whenever I stay in a big, fancy hotel, I wonder if anyone interesting ever occupied my room over the years. For instance, I stayed here for a night last week—the @hotelpragserwildseeofficial, in the Dolomites of northern Italy, by the beautiful lake Lago Di Braies. As I sniffed around I realized that this hotel—HISTORY LESSON ALERT!—was the site of an extraordinary late-WWII saga. Hitler had ordered the transfer of VIP prisoners of the Reich—high-ranking officers, resistance fighters, saboteurs, spies, leaders of invaded countries, even four survivors of the Great Escape—to Dachau and then south to this hotel. Here, they’d be held as hostages to be bartered during surrender negotiations. But Hitler had also commanded the Nazi SS Death’s Head Unit in charge of them to execute all the prisoners if they were discovered by encroaching U.S. forces. What happened next, as learned at various sites and in a new book I’m reading on the subject, involves escape, cunning maneuvering, deception, and a standoff and near firefight between the increasingly violent SS and the German army soldiers who found out about the execution orders and took the prisoners into protective custody. After reinforcements were called in, the SS fled and the prisoners eventually made it to this hotel, still under extreme threat from fanatical Nazis in the area. From there, British Royal Air Force officer Harry Day—who organized the Great Escape—went to the US front line to persuade the Americans to stage a final rescue. They did so, arriving at the hotel with a convoy of trucks as the German Army soldiers protecting the prisoners laid down their weapons. After processing all this, I now know two thing: 1) This needs to be a movie; and 2) Whoever stayed in my room back then deserved it WAY more than I did.
Uploaded
May 30th, 2019
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