In December 1944 during World War II, Spender was staying at the Hotel Gruenwalder in Innsbruck, Austria as part of his reconnaissance work with the Royal Army Service Corps. On 17 December, Spender encountered Heinrich Himmler, the notorious head of the Nazi SS who had arrived at the hotel unannounced armed with a team of soldiers. Himmler was seated at a table when Spender walking past, was asked to approach him and speak in German. Because of his mothers German-Jewish ancestry and his time spent in Germany, Spender luckily was conversant in the language and quietly left the hotel unnoticed. Otherwise it would have meant certain death for him because of his background.