In February 1941 Giovanna Berneri was transferred to Austria and from there to Germany, where she spent approximately five months in detention in a succession of prisons, before being returned to Austria, and from there to Italy. On 25 August 1941 she was condemned to spend a year in prison in Lacedonia (Avellino) for "having engaged in subversive activities abroad which endangered the political conduct of the state" (per "aver svolto all’estero attività sovversiva dimostrandosi elemento pericoloso per gli ordinamenti politici dello Stato").