In Autumn 1942 the resistance cell was uncovered and its members were arrested on 21 October 1942. They faced the special "people's court" on 21 August 1943 and were convicted of performing illegal actions. Hahne's partner, , was sentenced to death and executed on 9 September 1943. Ruthild Hahne received a prison sentence of slightly less than five years. By this time, however, the world war had turned against Germany and the Soviet army had started a long advance from the east that would culminate in the capture of Berlin. In February 1945 Hahne was able to escape from the women's prison in Cottbus where she was being held: she now joined up with the Red army. War ended in May 1945 and in June 1945 Ruthilde Hahne returned to Berlin, penniless but free. She now lost no time in joining the Communist Party of Germany and when, in April 1946, within what would later become East Germany the party was controversially merged to form the new &lt;a href="Socialist%20Unity%20Party%20of%20Germany"&gt;Socialist Unity Party ("Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands" / SED)&lt;/a&gt;, she was among the thousands who lost no time in signing their membership across to what quickly evolved to become the ruling party for a new kind of German dictatorship.