Andreas Hofer

Andreas Hofer (22 November 1767 – 20 February 1810) was a Tyrolean innkeeper and drover, who in 1809 became the leader of the Tyrolean Rebellion against the Napoleonic and Bavarian invasion during the War of the Fifth Coalition. He was subsequently captured and executed. Hofer is still today venerated as a folk hero, freedom fighter and Austrian patriot. His great-grandson Andreas Hofer was a member of the very important resistance group against Nazi Germany around the priest Heinrich Maier. Life Andreas Hofer was born 1767 in St. Leonhard in Passeier, in the Habsburg crown land of Tyrol. His father was an innkeeper of the Sandhof inn and Andreas followed in his footsteps when he inherited the establishment. He also traded wine and horses in adjacent Northern Italy and learned the Italian language. He married Anna Ladurner. In 1791 he was elected to the Tyrolean Landtag assembly. In German he was known as a Wirt (innkeeper) and thus ever after Sandwirt.