After the Soviets captured Berlin in the early summer of 1945 members of the police department all found themselves dismissed without notice. She subsequently discovered that any accrued employment rights from her eight year of police service that she might have anticipated would in any case have been without effect, since under the Hitler government women police staff - unlike their male counterparts - only received "lifetime" contracts and the accompanying entitlements after reaching the age of 35. She was 34 when the war ended. She did not, in any event, re-apply for a job with the police service, since the only criminal investigation jobs open to women, even at this stage, were relatively low down in the organisational hierarchy, and poorly paid. Instead she worked "as a freelancer", at the same time devoting herself to studying aspects of Psychology. She supported herself initially with "gardening and cleaning work". Later she found tutoring jobs, also earning money with journalistic contributions.