There were numerous exiled German communists in Moscow , and they all used to report on one another to the Soviet authorities during the surge in political purges that accompanied growing political tensions domestically and internationally at this time . Such information demonstrated loyalty and was often blended with impressions or combined with denunciations . Hotropp himself provided a written report on Herwarth Walden , a fellow teacher at the Foreign Languages Institute who was later arrested . There was a perception that reports of this nature did not in themselves cause the authorities to arrest suspects , but they were certainly used by the NKVD where they provided evidential support for arrests that took place . Albert Hotopp 's own turn came on 31 May 1941 when he was arrested . On 1 August 1942 he was condemned to death . Available records are silent as to what happened next , but it is likely that he died shortly afterwards , probably in a Soviet labour camp . His wife Gertrud and their daughters were sent to continue their lives in Kazakhstan . His widow finally made her way back to East Germany in 1955 , after which she survived another thirty years . Albert Hotopp was formally rehabilitated by the Soviets in 1960
surge in political purges
Great Purge
Albert Hotopp