In 1937, the family moved to Wachwitz Castle in Dresden-Wachwitz, where they lived until 1945. The castle survived the bombing raids in 1945, and Christian Friedrich took in many survivors. Later that year, the family moved via Hof and Regensburg to Bregenz, where the two youngest children had been living since 1940. Their close connections to the French, they were able, for instance, to arrange permission for Richard Strauss to move to Switzerland.