Still living in Vienna, Friedmann joined the
Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) and worked for the Moscow-led European underground. She was imprisoned for several weeks in 1933 for her Communist Party affiliation; in this year, the KPÖ became an underground organisation. Friedmann had a wide network of Communist connections across Europe, including to Soviet intelligence. She was also in a romantic relationship with
Gábor Péter (Benjámin Eisenberger), who was then married to another woman. In February 1934, the government of
Engelbert Dollfuss began a further crackdown on known leftists. Working with
Kim Philby, Friedmann smuggled activists out of Vienna through the sewer system. In 1934, the Socialist movement collapsed, and the couple left Vienna for London in April to live with Philby's mother. Friedmann and Philby split up in the 1930s – some sources claim that Philby had to distance himself from known communists to penetrate the British establishment. However, they remained in contact for years afterwards and divorced only in 1946. In 1946, after the war, Friedmann and the German-Jewish refugee
Georg Honigmann lived in
East Berlin, where Honigmann became editor of the
Berliner Zeitung. == Death and legacy ==