The authorities seem to have known (or suspected) that the teachers who had lost their jobs when the in Neukölln had been taken over would (or might) have kept in touch and formed some sort of a resistance organisation. Marie Torhorst was first called in for questioning by the Gestapo in 1937. She was accused of undertaking political work for the (by now illegal) SPD, but she was able to refute the accusation and was released, presumably "for lack of evidence". War broke out in September 1939. Within Germany, government persecution of political opponents and of Jews intensified progressively till the Shoah reached its brutish nadir in 1942. During this time Marie Torhorst concealed one of her former pupils and his mother, also providing the two of them with food. The young man was in particular danger from the government, since he was both Jewish and a Communist. At some point during 1943 someone informed the authorities of the situation. Sources are silent over what happened to the people she had been hiding, but Marie Torhorst herself was detained and taken to the " labour camp" by , near Braunschweig. Given the personal network that she would have acquired during her teaching career, and given her strong political and social opinions, it is likely that Torhorst will have responded to many opportunities to help victims and potential victims of government persecution between 1933 and 1945, and commentators bemoan the lack of relevant research undertaken on the details of resistance activism in Berlin and other German cities. However, many of the actions involved will have depended on maximum secrecy to have been effective, and it therefore seems likely that most of the details will remain unknown.