Between October 15–17, 1939 the state authorities conducted a crack-down on the resistance activists in Berlin. The group that Ziegler belonged to was broken up. Erich and Elli Ziegler were arrested on October 17, 1939. They endured months in Gestapo captivity before their trial in February 1941. Ziegler was held at the Moabit prison. At their trial Heinz Kapelle was sentenced to death and Erich Ziegler to life imprisonment. Elli Ziegler was sentenced to three years imprisonment, other defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from one to ten years.
