The ministry would allow him to sit his final exams "if necessary", but no local government in Rhineland-Palatinate would receive any recommendation to employ him in one of their schools. Somehow he letter that Helene Rothländer had addressed to Robert Geimer found its way to the desk of , the editor-in-chief of "Die Freiheit", a political magazine produced in Mainz by and for members the centre-left Social Democratic Party. The report that appeared in "Die Freiheit" was unrestrained. Robert Geimer was being invited to leave his home state of Rhineland-Palatinate after serving in the military and undergoing eight years as a prisoner of war in the Soviet camps. Rothländer's letter having been brought to the attention of the press, a media storm followed. Her immediate boss, the state's Minister for Education , attending a conference at Hanover, found himself ambushed by reporters. He attempted rather awkwardly to defend his ""Regierungsdirektorin"", while insisting that he had not yet seen the offending letter. But in the end he was driven to defend himself with the explanation that his ministry sent out three or four hundred letters each day, there were bound to be some that were not quite as they should be: such things might happen in "the best of families". Invited at least to distance himself from the sentiments in Rothländer's letter, he refused to do so before having had the chance to discuss the matter with her. But of course, Geimer would be able to teach in Rhineland-Palatinate. "We are not so petty in our interpretation of the constitution. But you must understand that blame cannot attach to a woman who serves her home state with idealism". While the matter rumbled on, Robert Geimer took his letter across the Rhine to Wiesbaden where he was welcomed by the SPD in the neighbouring state of Hesse, who gave him every encouragement that if he found his career blocked in Rhineland Palatinate, he should send his papers to Hesse where he should expect a sympathetic response. In Koblenz insisted with increasing vehemence and consistency that Helene Rothländer's letter contained a number of judgments and comments which were both incorrect and far beyond her authority. Available sources are silent on the subsequent teaching career of Robert Geimer, but just one year before her retirement Helene Rothländer had become a national figure. Helene Rothländer died in Koblenz on 1 July 1976.