By the time she was released, the Soviet Union and Germany were at war, although until June 1941 the two governments considered themselves, at least officially, to be on the same side. On her release, Roberta Gropper took work as a proofreader with the "Red Flag" newspaper in the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. However, shortly after this the German army invaded the Soviet Union. The Volga Autonomous Republic was "formally extinguished" in September 1941, which was also the month in which Gropper, like thousands of members of the German-speaking ethnic minority in the territory, was "formally banned". For the next six years she survived in Siberia, supporting herself with domestic work and dress making.