In January 1933 the Nazis took power and converted Germany into a one-party dictatorship. In the space of a couple of months political activity (except in support of the Nazi party) became illegal. On 28 February 1933, as the Reichstag burned, and the Soviet authorities, to the very great disappointment of Communist activists in Germany, still had nothing to say about the Nazi take-over in Germany, Maria Reese emigrated via Denmark to Sweden. At the end of March she was detained by the Swedish authorities and deported to the Soviet Union. She remained briefly in Leningrad and then moved on to Moscow which was rapidly becoming a centre for Communist political refugees escaping from Nazi Germany.