In September 1935 he was arrested by the French police after he had made an appearance at a trades union meeting in order to call for solidarity with the German socialist Alfred Kayser, who had recently been sentenced to death. It was only with difficulty that Benjamin avoided deportation to Spain following this incident. He nevertheless remained in France, and in 1936 started producing the news-sheet "Trait d’Union", which he used to inform French workers about the situation in Germany and the anti-Fascist resistance struggle. As well as this he worked as editor for the (German language) Communist Party news-sheet "Frage und Antwort" ("Questions and answers").
