 When the German army invaded the Soviet Union von Wangenheim was evacuated, first to Kazan in the Russian east and later to Tashkent.During the period of the evacuation her younger son, Edi, died in Chistopol aged 8 months in 1941.She was able to return to Moscow in 1943, working as a contributing editor for the National Committee for a Free Germany (NKFD / "Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland") and for the eponymous German language radio broadcaster.