in january 1933 the nazi party took power and lost no time in transforming germany into a one-party dictatorship. after the reichstag fire in february 1933 communists found themselves identified as enemies of the state. schmidt continued with his party activism which was now illegal. he was arrested in 1934 and served his three year sentence in the brandenburg-görden super jail and as an inmate at the lichtenburg concentration camp. released in 1937 he escaped to prague, emigrating from there to london where he arrived in or before 1938. in london he will have been identified as an enemy alien and incarcerated for a time, but he was also able to join the local branch of the exiled german communist party, becoming leader of the little group in 1941. two years later, in 1943, using the pseudonym "jack morrell", he became editor-in-chief of the "freie tribüne", a london based newspaper published by and for the exiled german communists who had fetched up in britain. he continued to serve in this capacity till war ended in the early summer of 1945.