Shortly after Austria was annexed into an enlarged Germany her husband Karl Feldhammer, who since 1934 had become a Communist party official, was arrested and placed before the district court at Ischl . He was released after fourteen days. He now began to seek out other opponents of National Socialism in Austria to create a resistance group. Through the Bad Ischl shoe maker Hans Rettenbacher they were put into contact with Resi Pesendorfer, later one of the most important women in the Austrian resistance movement.