Following the West German currency reform (from which the Soviet occupation zone, including the eastern part of Berlin, was excluded) and the ensuing eleven month Soviet blockade of Berlin, there was an intensification of political and administrative divisions between the eastern part of Berlin and the parts under US, British or French administration, which would come to be known soon after 1949 as "West Berlin". The Tempelhof quarter of Berlin in which the Szepanskys had ended up living was in the U.S. (western) sector of the city. They were nevertheless both members of the recently launched Socialist Unity Party, a successor party to the Communist Party which was already securely rooted in the Soviet zone, but had completely failed to gain traction with more than a handful of voters in Berlin's western sectors. After 1949, the Szepanskys found themselves viewed with intensifying suspicion at work. That year or shortly afterwards they were both dismissed from the West Berlin schools service. In the case of Gerda Szepansky, at least one source refers to her dismissal having resulted from "aktiver Betätigung im Sinne der SED", a convoluted but widely requoted expression referencing her involvement with the East German Socialist Unity Party.