during the twelve nazi years sattler made no secret of his dislike for the régime, retaining his belief in catholic conservatism and sustaining loose links with more active christian opponents of nazism. but he never himself participated in opposition activism (which would have been illegal), he was never identified as jewish and he was clearly not a communist. unlike his more outspoken uncle he never found it necessary permanently to escape from germany. at the same time, sources hint that he received few architectural commissions at his berlin office, and spent the later 1930s keeping out of the way at his grendach property near taching am see. in 1940 he was conscripted into the army: that summer he participated in the invasion of france.