Peace broke out , formally , in May 1945 . His home region of Thuringia had been liberated by US forces but the winning powers had already agreed between themselves occupation zones that placed Thuringia in the Soviet occupation zone , and within a month the Americans had withdrawn , to be replaced by Soviet Military Administration across the entire central third of what had been Germany . At this time Benkowitz 's father was arrested by the Soviet Secret Police : he disappeared and his fate remains unknown . Benkowitz obtained work initially as a sales representative for a food business , and later as an officer with the town administration in Weimar . From the end of 1946 he was working for the Military Administration in Thuringia
agreed
Yalta Conference
Gerhard Benkowitz