Agnes-Primocic-Gasse was named on February 28, 2012 after the politician and resistance fighter Agnes Primocic (* January 30, 1905, † April 14, 2007).

Agnes Primocic, born in Hallein, was a worker, trade unionist, works council member and resistance fighter.

Primocic grew up in a working-class family and started working at the Hallein cigar and tobacco factory at the age of 16. Very soon she got to know the dark side of this profession in the cigar and tobacco factory, in which the women could only cope with the often inhumane working conditions through their solidarity with one another. In the event of perceived injustice, she vehemently stood up for her colleagues and, from the age of 25, fought as a trade unionist and works council member for fair working conditions in the factory.

As a party member of the Austrian Communist Party, Primocic took part in red aid for families who were politically persecuted in need and actively resisted the onset of Austrofascism at a very early stage. During this time, she organized a strike in the tobacco factory as a works council member and was subsequently dismissed. Because of the possession of communist books, a leaflet campaign by her then twelve-year-old son and due to the political activity of her brother, Agnes Primocic was jailed several times before the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany and spent a total of almost a year in prison.

After the German troops marched into Austria, Primocic was interrogated several times by the Gestapo because of their political engagement and was detained three more times until 1945. When her husband and eldest son were drafted in at the beginning of World War II, she had to promise her husband “to remain politically silent”. However, Primocic remained active, supported resistance groups and raised money for the families of those who were politically persecuted. Although she had to take care of her two other children, she helped three concentration camp inmates to flee, including the Upper Austrian resistance fighter Sepp Plieseis.

Years later, she explained her resistance to the National Socialists by saying that she could not have had a clear conscience all her life if she had simply looked away when people in need asked for her help. “You have to start when injustice happens, because after injustice comes violence”.

Shortly before the end of the Second World War, she risked her own life when, with her friend Mali Ziegenleder, she put pressure on the commanders of a satellite camp of the Dachau concentration camp near Hallein with the impending invasion of the American troops, and saved with her courage 17 Prisoners sentenced to death before the ordered execution.

As Hallein city councilor for welfare, she was primarily involved in the development of kindergartens and the social rights of the working population.

The former honorary chairwoman of the Salzburg Concentration Camp Association only received recognition from the official authorities for her resistance during the Nazi era in Austria after more than fifty years.

You can watch a very well done documentary about Agnes Primocic here. (German only unfortunately).