Andreas Hofer on the Pfandler Alm
When, on 23 November 1809, the news arrived that a contingent of French troops was approaching over the Jaufen Pass, Andreas Hofer left the Sandhof and sought refuge with his family and the scribe Kajetan Sweth on the Prantacher mountain above St. Martin: first at the Keldererhof, then, three days later, at the Pfandler Hof.
On 11 December, Hofer sent his family to a hiding place on the Schneeberg and went with his scribe up to the Pfandler Alm, where they hid in a hay barn.
On the night before Christmas his wife Anna and son Johann came to see Hofer and Sweth. At first Hofer held stubbornly to his wish to fight on. From his hiding place he sent letters to Emperor Franz and Archduke John.
He refused to listen to the advice of his friends, who wished to change his mind and get him to flee to Austria. Franz Raffl, a farmer from Prantach near St. Martin, betrayed his hiding place to the French for 1,500 florins.
Despite being warned, Hofer did not leave the hut, but instead accepted his fate.
At four o’clock on the morning of 28 January 1810, Italian and French soldiers captured Hofer on the Pfandler Alm with his scribe as well as his wife and son. Anna and his son were set free in Bozen, while Andreas Hofer and Kajetan Sweth were taken to Mantua. There Hofer was shot on 20 February 1810.
