According to John Koehler, "Kippenberger was alarmed when word reached him that Sergeant Willig had survived the shooting.
Not knowing whether the sergeant could talk and identify the attackers, Kippenberger was taking no chances.
He directed a runner to summon Mielke and Ziemer to his apartment at 74 Bellermannstrasse, only a few minutes walk from where the two lived.
When the assassins arrived, Kippenberger told them the news and ordered them to leave Berlin at once.
The parliamentarian's wife Thea, an unemployed schoolteacher and as staunch a Communist Party member as her husband, shepherded the young murderers to the Belgian border.
Agents of the Communist International (Comintern) in the port city of Antwerp supplied them with money and forged passports.
Aboard a merchant ship, they sailed for Leningrad.
When their ship docked, they were met by another Comintern representative, who escorted them to Moscow."

Beginning in 1932, Mielke attended the Comintern's Military Political school under the alias Paul Bach.
He later graduated from the Lenin School shortly before being recruited into the OGPU.
According to John Koehler, "Kippenberger was alarmed when word reached him that Sergeant Willig had survived the shooting. Not knowing whether the sergeant could talk and identify the attackers, Kippenberger was taking no chances. He directed a runner to summon Mielke and Ziemer to his apartment at 74 Bellermannstrasse, only a few minutes walk from where the two lived. When the assassins arrived, Kippenberger told them the news and ordered them to leave Berlin at once. The parliamentarian's wife Thea, an unemployed schoolteacher and as staunch a Communist Party member as her husband, shepherded the young murderers to the Belgian border. Agents of the Communist International (Comintern) in the port city of Antwerp supplied them with money and forged passports. Aboard a merchant ship, they sailed for Leningrad. When their ship docked, they were met by another Comintern representative, who escorted them to Moscow."
Beginning in 1932, Mielke attended the Comintern's Military Political school under the alias Paul Bach. He later graduated from the Lenin School shortly before being recruited into the OGPU.
Erich Mielke