Tragic hero

“This man can blow up the Brenner”

Roderick Hall joined the partisans. They repeatedly blew up parts of the railroad line.

(Bild: Donna Bryan/Archiv Familie Hall,Istituto Storico Bellunese Della Resistenza E Dell‘Eta‘ Contemporanea )

It is the adventurous story of a tragic hero who wanted to change the world and was murdered by the Nazis. In a book, former "Stern" reporter Hans-Joachim Löwer describes the fate of a US agent behind enemy lines.

The name Roderick Hall is not a household name in this country. But the US agent had a noble mission during the Second World War. As a secret agent, Hall parachuted behind enemy lines in northern Italy in 1944. He wanted to fight with partisans against the German occupiers and paralyze the transport links over the Brenner Pass. His goal: to destroy the Wehrmacht's supply lines.

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The spy's story is as adventurous as it is tragic. At the age of just 29, Hall was murdered by Gestapo men in Bolzano. His life in the seven months before his death was full of drama. "He can blow up the Brenner" - this radio message from a major to the headquarters of the US intelligence service makes it clear what Hall was expected to do - or at least hoped for in his growing desperation.

The book

• Hans-Joachim Löwe: "As a saboteur to the Brenner Pass". The partisan adventure of US agent Roderick Hall in 1944/45
• Tyrolia publishing house, 28 euros.

In the book "Als Saboteur zum Brennerpass", author Hans-Joachim Löwer focuses on the fate of the young idealist. Among other things, Löwer was a foreign reporter for "Stern" for three decades. With gripping and meticulous research, he tells the story of the tragic hero and - as he himself writes in the foreword - traces the young American's path from a saboteur with a thirst for action to a helpless victim.