A member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), Hafenrichter fell under the radar of the Nazi Party in the 1930s, when he was arrested multiple times. He moved to Vienna, where he met the Italian director and producer Carmine Gallone. He worked on his film "Al sole" (1936) in Austria, and then followed him back to Italy. He stayed in Rome until 1940, when he fled first to France and then the United Kingdom. Allowed in as a communist refugee from the Nazis, he worked for the Ministry of Information editing propaganda films.