She was listed for prosecution as a defendant at the trial which followed the (still controversial) "Bad Ischl Milk Demonstrations", but took temporary refuge in the Soviet occupation zone and thereby avoided US military justice).
[1][2] Maria Wagner was born at Wolfsegg am Hausruck (Vöcklabruck), a very small market town built around agriculture and lignite mining, in the hill country of Upper Austria, between Salzburg and Linz.
It was therefore at Ischl, in the Salzkammergut region, that Maria Wagner completed her schooling, after which she spent two years at a technical academy where she studied tailoring and dressmaking.
[3] Over the next couple of years she worked in various jobs, primarily as a nurse and/or care assistant with the Catholic "Liebeswerk" children's welfare organisation in Linz and in Steyr.
Although the fighters were relatively safe from surprise attacks by government agencies in their mountain redoubts, the provision of food, which was severely rationed across the country, and of heating/cooking fuel was a constant challenge.
The partisans received an unexpected boost in October 1943 with the arrival in the area of Josef "Sepp" Plieseis, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War who had been identified as a hero by the communists and as a "red Spaniard" by the authorities.
Secrecy was vital, and although their contribution was widely celebrated among former partisan fighters after the war ended, many of the details of how the two women helped Sepp Plieseis escape from the camp remain unknown.
The displaced persons in questions were for the most part Polish refugees who had found themselves homeless when the eastern third of Poland was transferred to the Soviet Union (with the agreement - or, according to some sources, the powerless acquiescence - of the American and British governments).
The initial "Milk Demonstrations" were clumsily handled by the American military personnel who were responsible for the administration of this part of Austria between 1945 and 1955, and the numbers of angry Austrians on the streets increased.
The matter took an ugly turn after a mass meeting outside the town hall in Bad Ischl at which the local administrator promised that the fresh milk ration would be restored until a more permanent solution could be found.
At the end of the evening the demonstrators were forcibly persuaded to disperse, and the only damage or injury, reported involved one broken window, but there were vigorous complaints, notably from the Jewish community in Linz, and a search for scapegoats.
Maria Ganhör's record as a widely celebrated (communist) resistance activist led to her being an obvious suspect, and she was listed for arrest and trial.