Johanna Wagner (1922-1990)- – A Young Woman in Resistance Against National Socialism

From School Ban to Resistance Fighter: The Story of Johanna "Hanna" Wagner

The 17-year-old Johanna (Hanna) Wagner arrived in Solbad Hall from Berlin in February 1939.She attended the coeducational high school (previously the Franciscan Gymnasium), where she came into contact with Peter Zwetkoff. Due to her anti-Nazi statements, she was banned from school by Prof. Karl Cora (1880–1966), the director of the high school (formerly the Franciscan Gymnasium in Solbad Hall).

Quote: "Her views were reported to the school director, a fervent Nazi..." (Email: Harald Stockhammer, May 26, 2024).

Her father had enrolled her in the Nazi-run Salem Boarding School in Baden-Württemberg, near Lake Constance. However, she refused to attend and stayed in Tyrol. As a result, Johanna returned to her mother in Berlin to fight for her right to financial support, which her father had denied her. The court ruled in her favor, allowing her to return to Tyrol. She eventually graduated from the "Oberschule für Jungen und Mädchen" (formerly Paulinum) in Schwaz. (Email: Sabine Wallinger, May 30, 2024).

Fotos Johanna Wagner. In: privat archives Sabine Wallinger, Schwaz.

In 1943, Johanna Wagner returned to Solbad Hall to begin her medical studies in Innsbruck.There, she met Michael Zwetkoff, and they began studying together, supporting each other. During these meetings, Johanna decided to actively join the Zwetkoff brothers' resistance circle.

She took on the dangerous task of printing and distributing anti-Nazi leaflets from her apartment in Solbad Hall. She also provided food to prisoners of war. The Zwetkoff brothers had already established connections with the resistance group in Piburg (Ötztal), prompting Johanna to transport food and ammunition 77 km by bicycle to Piburg. She obtained the weapons and ammunition from a socialist resistance group—all railway workers, like her, who were employed in arms production (see blog entry: Socialist Resistance Group).

On November 7, 1944, she was arrested by the Gestapo and held in Innsbruck until January 19, 1945. She took full blame for the resistance activities and was supposed to be sent to Vienna to face the Volksgerichtshof (Nazi People’s Court). By feigning mental illness—confirmed by a sympathetic doctor—she escaped the death penalty.

​After the war, Anton Haller, the leader of the Hall resistance movement, officially recognized her contributions, stating:
"She proved herself in the Austrian resistance movement to the highest degree, repeatedly risking her life."
(Tyrol Provincial Archives, ATLR Va.+Vf.-Opferfürsorge 1148).

Johanna Wagner in: Wallinger, Sabine (2022): "The Narrow-Mindedness of National Socialism." In: Der Standard (Album supplement), December 10, 2022, A4–A5.

"Johanna Wagner holds no place in Tyrol's resistance narrative. Neither she nor her closest comrades ever spoke publicly about their underground activities after the war. Resistance against the Nazi regime remained a source of shame—especially when it was not religiously motivated. Even though I was friends with Johanna for years, she mentioned to me only once that she had 'rolled dumplings for starving prisoners of war back then' and was imprisoned by the Gestapo with friends because of it."
​
(Sabine Wallinger, Women in the Resistance: Johanna Wagner – The Woman Who Cycled into the Ötztal with Machine Guns. A Story of Post-War Silence and a Woman Who Risked Her Life, in: Der Standard, December 11, 2022, Supplement A4–A5. Online at: https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000141651709/johanna-wagner-die-mitmaschinenpistolen-ins-oetztal-radelte (accessed May 26, 2024).