Josefine Brunner

Brunner was born on 26 February 1909 in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria to a working class family. After leaving school, she worked as a domestic servant.^[1] She lived with socialist Alois Brunner [de] from 1935, before they were married in 1938.^[1]

In 1932, Brunner became a member of the Socialist Party of Austria (SPÖ).^[1] She was a member of Waldemar von Knoeringen's [de] resistance network against the Nazi Party, which was based in the town of Wörgl, before they annexed Austria.^[2][3] She completed special training in use of espionage techniques, including couriering.^[1] During the Anschluss (the German occupation of Austria), she couriered communication between illegal revolutionary socialist groups in Augsburg, Munich, Salzburg, Tyrol and Vienna,^[1][4][5] operating under the code name Erika.^[6]

Brunner and her husband were arrested in 1942 and were sentenced to death on 28 May 1943.^[1] She submitted a petition for clemency to Roland Freisler, President of the People's Court, after the verdict, but this was denied. On 9 September 1943, both Brunner and her husband were executed by decapitation at Stadelheim Prison in Munich, Nazi Germany,^[1][7] without being allowed to see each other before their deaths.^[8]

In 1988, a commemorative plaque was erected at the train station square in Wörgl in honour of Brunner and her husband.^[9]

In 2015, Brunner and her husband were included on a plaque in the Wörgl town cemetery commemorating victims of Nazism.^[10]