"Remembering the Anti-Nazi Resistance and Victims of the Nazi Regime in Hall in Tirol"
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​​​Anton Dosch – A Nazi Resistance Fighter from the Very Beginning

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Anton Dosch (1914 - 1979)– A Young Man in the Fight Against Nazism

5/22/2025

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Picture
Foto Prof. Anton Dosch (1970). In: Privatarchiv Monika Niederwolfsgruber Innsbruck.

Early Life and Education

Anton Dosch was a resistance fighter against the National Socialist regime and one of the very first individuals in Solbad Hall to take active steps against it. He was born on July 5, 1914, in Hall in Tyrol as the only son of postal official Josef Dosch. While attending grammar school, he used every free moment to receive both practical and theoretical painting lessons in the studio of Professor Franz Xaver Fuchs. He graduated in June 1935 from the Franciscan Gymnasium in Hall and then began studying law at the Leopold-Franzens University in Innsbruck.

Exclusion and Early Resistance

With the rise of National Socialism, Anton Dosch was expelled from university for being deemed politically unreliable. As early as March 1938, he joined the resistance circle around Anton Haller. Unlike the majority, who blindly followed Nazi promises, the 24-year-old recognized early on the insidious and dangerous nature of Nazi ideology and how it was slowly infiltrating society in order to establish a brutal dictatorship. He opposed Nazi rule with a steadfast belief in Austria and its eventual restoration.

Persecution and Military Service ​

Anton Dosch and his parents were harassed by the Gestapo through repeated house searches. The officers made it clear that these intrusions would stop if he voluntarily enlisted in the Wehrmacht. After being conscripted in 1939, the harassment ceased. In 1943, he suffered a lung rupture during military service and was discharged as unfit for further duty. He returned to Solbad Hall and rejoined the resistance group around Anton Haller. He immediately resumed his efforts, successfully recruiting prisoners of war from the Eichat camp to participate in the resistance.

Preventing the Destruction of Solbad Hall

Anton Dosch played a crucial role in the peaceful handover of Solbad Hall to American forces. During the night of May 2 to 3, 1945, a 200-man SS anti-aircraft unit was stationed near the Weißenbachgraben, about one kilometer from Solbad Hall. Their aim was to shell the town and cause maximum destruction. Together with prisoners of war from the Eichat camp and members of the Hall resistance movement, Dosch took up arms to force the withdrawal of the SS unit. The SS troops packed what they could into small vehicles and disappeared at dawn on May 3, 1945, heading toward the Lower Inn Valley.

A Town Saved

Thanks to the courageous efforts of Anton Dosch, the prisoners of war, and the men of the Hall resistance movement, the town of Solbad Hall was spared from destruction. As a result, the peaceful surrender of Solbad Hall to the approaching American forces took place without bloodshed.
(See blog post: Nibelungia Hall in Tirol)
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    Author
    Elisabeth Walder
    BA MA MA
    ​

    female historian-female ethnologist 

    Archives

    Private Archive Monika Niederwolfsgruber, Innsbruck
    Report by Dr. Franz Niederwolfsgruber on Anton Dosch Report by Prof. Anton Dosch on Nazi resistance Article: Whoever strives with all his might – In memory of Prof. Anton Dosch. In: City Newspaper, No. 38 (1999), October 21, 1999, p. 6.

    Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW 1385) Maislinger, Andreas: 6. Organized Resistance, f) The Group around Anton Haller. In: Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (ed.): Resistance and Persecution in Tyrol 1934–1945. A Documentation (Vol. 2). Vienna/Munich 1984, pp. 448–451.

    City Archive Hall in Tirol
    StAH, City and Municipal Council Minutes from May 13, 1945, p. 23. In: City Archive Hall in Tirol.

    Newspaper
    Whoever strives with all his might – In memory of Prof. Anton Dosch. In: City Newspaper Hall in Tirol, No. 38 (1999), October 21, 1999, p. 6.

    Publications
    Mackowitz, Rudolf: The Struggle for Tyrol. Decisive Acts for the Liberation of Innsbruck in Spring 1945. Innsbruck 1945, p. 7.

    Luza, Radomir: The Resistance in North and East Tyrol 1938–1945. In: Reinalter, Helmut / Pelinka, Anton / Maislinger, Andreas (eds.): Handbook of Modern Tyrolean History. Contemporary History – Political History (Vol. 2). Innsbruck 1993.


    Lipp, Richard (ed.): The History of the Tyrolean Franciscan Province (Vol. III). The Years 1938–1945. Gießheim 1999.

    ​Larcher, Agnes (ed.): Studies on the Resistance Movement in Hall between 1938–1945. Collaborative project by students of the 3rd year of the Federal Commercial Academy Hall in Tirol as part of the initiative “Students Research Contemporary History.” Hall in Tirol 1978.

    Private Archive
    E. Walder, Hall in Tirol

    May 2025

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    ​Contemporary History 

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