In 1923 she married Gottlieb Reese (1880–1949), a Social Democrat activist and a former parliamentarian in the Prussian regional legislature ("Landtag"). Their son Dagobert was born around this time. Extension of the French military occupation separated their home district from the rest of Germany. Maria Reese was briefly arrested. In October 1923 she followed her husband, who had already been expelled, to Hanover where they settled, and where she supported herself as a writer.