The ending of the war brought industrial scale ethnic cleansing to Silesia followed by frontier changes. Berthold found himself relocated to the central portion of Germany, administered now as the Soviet occupation zone. Communist Party membership was no longer outlawed, and early in 1946 he became a youthful member of the re-emerging Communist Party of Germany. He was actively involved in the contentious party merger which led, in April 1946, to the launch of the &lt;a href="Socialist%20Unity%20Party%20of%20Germany"&gt;Socialist Unity Party ("Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands" / SED)&lt;/a&gt;, quickly signing his party membership over to the newly united – albeit effective as such only in the Soviet zone – "party of the left". Comrades attest that it was as a result of the education reforms in the emerging communist German state that he was able, almost immediately, to enroll at the Friedrich Schiller University at Jena where he studied History, German studies and Philosophy between 1946 and 1950, emerging with a degree and a Level I teaching qualification.