In 1933, after the National Socialists came to power in Germany, Heartfield moved to Czechoslovakia, where he continued his photomontage work for the "AIZ" (which was published in exile); in 1938, the Nazis were preparing to invade Czechoslovakia, so he moved to England, and lived in Hampstead, London. After World War II he settled in East Germany, after 1954 he lived in East Berlin and worked closely with theatre directors such as Benno Besson and Wolfgang Langhoff at Berliner Ensemble and Deutsches Theater.