When in 1950 the slandering campaign started against Noel Field – he was accused of having built an anti-Communist spy network while pretending to be a Communist sympathizer – Kreikemeyer was arrested and never seen again. At least one propaganda article against the alleged spy was published in an East German newspaper and a show trial against him was prepared, but never took place. Mrs Kreikemeyer wrote dozens of letters to the GDR authorities inquiring about her husband's fate. For seven years the authorities pretended that Willi Kreikemeyer was alive and well, waiting for his trial. Fearing her own arrest, Mrs Kreikemeyer escaped to her home country France in 1954. She continued writing her letters. In 1957 she was told that Willi Kreikemeyer had died a few days after his imprisonment.