 Gottschalk insisted on accompanying Meta and Michael to Theresienstadt, but Goebbels ordered Gottschalk inducted into the German Army, the Wehrmacht.On 6 November 1941, minutes before the expected arrival of the "Gestapo" at their house in Berlin-Grunewald, Gottschalk and his wife committed suicide by gas poisoning after sedating their son, who died with them.They are buried at the Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery.