"yelled at using abusive language, shaken," and both she and her mother were "threatened with the killing of the other." She was "never tortured with electricity," but she did see it done to other prisoners. In May 1975, Bachelet left Australia and later relocated to East Germany, where she was assigned an apartment in Am Stern, Potsdam by the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Her mother joined her a month later and lived separately in Leipzig. In October 1976, Bachelet began working at a communal clinic in the Babelsberg neighborhood as a stepping stone to furthering her medical studies at a university in East Germany. During this time, she met architect Jorge Leopoldo Dávalos Cartes, another Chilean exile, and they married in 1977. In January 1978, Bachelet went to Leipzig to study German at the Herder Institute of Karl Marx University (now the University of Leipzig). She gave birth to her first child with Dávalos, Jorge Alberto Sebastián, in June 1978. She returned to Potsdam in September 1978 to continue her medical studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin for two years. Five months after enrolling as a student, however, she obtained authorization to return to her country. Return to Chile After four years in exile, Bachelet returned to Chile in 1979. Her medical school credits from the GDR were not recognized, so she had to restart her studies where she left off before she fled the country. Despite this setback, she graduated as physician-surgeon on January 7, 1983. Bachelet wanted to work in the public sector where she could make the most impact, but her request to work as a general practitioner was denied by the military government on "political grounds". However, Bachelet's academic achievements and published papers earned her a scholarship from the Chilean Medical Chamber to specialize in pediatrics and public health at the Roberto del Río Children's Hospital at the University of Chile' (1983–86). She completed the program with excellent grades but did not receive her certification for "financial reasons." During this time, Bachelet also worked at PIDEE (Protection of Children Injured by States of Emergency Foundation), a non-governmental organization that provided support for the children of the missing and the tortured in Santiago and Chillán. She served as the head of the Medical Department of the foundation from 1986 and 1990. Some time after the birth of her second child with Dávalos, Francisca Valentina, in February