In November 1938, a few days after the "Kristallnacht" pogroms across the border, Wittkowski was arrested in Zürich and expelled from the country for her "illegal political activities". She lived - now illegally - in Basel for another six months, after which, in April 1939, she succeeded in escaping to England, where her literary collaborator Jürgen Kuczynski had been based since 1936. Sources are largely silent over her activities in England during the war years. Unlike many political refugees from Nazi Germany, there is no record of her having been interned as an enemy alien by the English when war broke out, which may well reflect her work with Kuczynski who had excellent connections with elements of the British establishment. It is on record that until 1943 she worked for the Comintern with Harry Pollitt, a leading member of the Communist Party. She appears to have been considered a leader among the exiled German communists in England.