Lena Adler grew up in a small farming village in southern Germany near the Austrian border. Her childhood was quiet and ordinary — long days helping her family in the fields, walking forest trails with her older brother, and dreaming about someday leaving the countryside to see more of Europe.

Everything changed as Germany fell deeper under rule. Like many young people of her generation, Lena grew up surrounded by propaganda, strict expectations, and the pressure to serve the state. By the time the war had intensified, refusing service was nearly impossible. Wanting to protect her family and avoid suspicion, she eventually joined the Wehrmacht as the war spread across Europe.

Her early service placed her in support and defensive roles during the later stages of the war. She was stationed in parts of occupied France for a time, helping guard supply routes and defensive positions as the Allied invasion began to push German forces back. As the front collapsed after D-Day, Lena witnessed chaotic retreats and the brutal methods the SS used to maintain control.

Later she was transferred through defensive positions in southern Germany and Austria, where the war had clearly turned against Germany. During this period she saw firsthand how SS units treated both civilians and their own soldiers who hesitated to follow orders.

Those experiences planted doubt that eventually became defiance.

By the final months of the war, Lena had lost any belief in the regime she had once been forced to serve. When the opportunity came to stand against the SS alongside other defectors and Allied soldiers, she chose to fight for the people beside her rather than the flag she once wore.

That decision ultimately brought her to Castle Itter, where one of the war’s most unusual battles would take place — a last stand where former enemies would defend the same walls together.