Ya yi aiki a matsayin mai kula da ɗakin karatu da kuma ma'aikata. Ya kuma shirya mahaifiyarsa ta bar Nazi ta mallaki Austria, da kuma taimakawa wasu Yahudawa da yawa su zo Birtaniya. Ya shiga Young Austria, wani matashi mai ƙaura na hagu, amma ya bar a 1943 don nuna rashin amincewa da karuwar Stalinist. A 1944 ya auri Maria Marburg, jim kadan kafin haihuwar dansa Hans. A wannan shekarar aka buga littafin farko na shayari. Ya rabu da Maria a 1946, kuma sun rabu da ita a 1952. A wannan shekarar ya auri Nance Spence wanda yake da 'ya'ya biyu, David Eichner; ya haifi' ya'ya biyu, Klaus Thomas (b. 1958) da Katherine E. Nanwell (b. 1965); ya yi aure a karo na uku a shekarar 1965. Lokacin da yake da yara uku, sai ya sake auren nan.
Shekara ta 1946