Germany initiated World War II by invading Poland from the west on September 1, 1939, and the Soviet Union invaded from the east sixteen days later. Żychlińsky and friends hired a cab and, for an extraordinary payment of 400 złoty, had the driver drive them east to the Bug River. There she had a boat take her across the river into the zone of Soviet-occupied Poland, near Białystok. Most of the poet's family remained in the German-occupied zone. Her mother, three siblings, and other family members ultimately perished in the gas chambers of the Chełmno extermination camp. She lived in Lvov (L’viv) for a time. She then moved to Kolomyya, where she lived with the Kanter family. In January, 1941 she married Isaac Kanter. Isaac Kanter was a well-read psychiatrist who also wrote; he knew Żychlińsky from Warsaw. The German invasion of the Soviet Union commenced in June, 1941. Żychlińsky and her husband fled eastward again, ultimately landing near Kazan. Isaac Kanter served as a doctor in the Soviet army during the war. On February 15, 1943, their son, Marek, was born.