War ended in May 1945, and with it the Nazi régime. Berlin was divided into military occupation zones. Von Zitzewitz returned to her destroyed studio in Berlin-Charlottenburg (Reichstraßestraße 97) which she had left shortly before the war ended. Charlottenburg had ended up at the heart of what became West Berlin. The priority was on survival. She painted portraits using the light from a kerosene lamp and exchanged them for food. And as the rubble began to be cleared and the rebuilding got under way she re-established her place in the arts scene, once more painting leading figures from the literary and arts scenes. She was now able to stage exhibitions across West Germany, notably in Munich, Hamburg and Bremen. There were exhibitions in Berlin-Charlottenburg in 1950 and 1958, followed in 1961 by a posthumous commemorative exhibition in the context of that year's . Another notable posthumous exhibition, arranged by the at Kiel Castle (Rantzau building) in 1980/81, celebrated the centenary of her birth.