In May 1933 , along with several other fugitive Comminists , he managed to get to the Saarland which was the only part of Germany still under foreign military occupation following the end of the First World War . In July 1933 Bernard Koenin emigrated to the Soviet Union where he would remain till 1945 . Initially he worked as the Organisation Secretary of the International Red Aid organisation . Then , in 1937 , he was caught up in one of Stalin 's purges and detained by the NKVD till 1939 . However , in 1940 he was again trusted , by the Communist Party , to undertake assignments . Between 1941 and 1943 he was working for the " Deutschen Volkssender " ( " '' German People 's Radio '' " ) radio station , transferring in August 1943 to Radio " Freies Deutschland " ( " '' Free Germany '' " ) . He started to work for the Soviet sponsored National Committee for a Free Germany in 1943 , which was also the year in which he joined the Central Committee of the ( exiled German ) Communist Party
Stalin 's purges
Great Purge
Bernard Koenen