Maisingler was able to escape to Switzerland, but in 1934, the KPD ordered him to back to Germany to carry out party work in the Ruhr area. He was arrested on the border and sent to Munich to the police prison on Ettstraße. In 1935, using a 72-page document detailing the evidence, he and his friends were tried at the Volksgerichtshof. After three days, Maislinger was sentenced to eight years' hard labor in a Zuchthaus for "preparation for high treason". Rather than being released when this time was up, however, the Gestapo issued an order on September 8, 1942, to send him to Dachau in preventive detention.