The inmates at the Malchow camp were released during the chaotic days of liberation during April 1945. War ended formally during the first week of May. It is not clear whether Erna Raus was among the 375 inmates evicted from the Malchow sub-camp by means of the so-called death march, during the course of which many died. Either way, she was able to make her way home to Vienna, at least 800 km (500 miles) to the south-east, across what was left of Germany. Like hundreds of thousands of others in a similar situation, she accomplished the journey almost entirely by walking. In Vienna, after three and a half years, she was reunited with her daughter. Karl Musik was also able to make his way home to Vienna, and on 8 June 1945 the two of them were married in the . Erna Raus finally became Erna Musik. The couple's son was born in 1947 and a second daughter in 1957.