Wattenberg quickly became one of the regular contributors to a journal called "Das Weltall" ("The Universe") of which Archenhold was the editor in chief.

[1] In 1946 the Treptow Observatory was renamed to honour Friedrich Archenhold, and on 1 June 1948 Diedrich Wattenberg was appointed Director of the Archenhold Observatory in succession to Hans Kienle,[2] who a couple of years later moved to Heidelberg following the foundation, in 1949, of West and East Germany as separate stand-alone states.

The observatory was in Potsdam which since 1945 had been part of the designated Soviet occupation zone and from 1949 till 1989 would be included in the German Democratic Republic.

Also in 1949 he founded the "Astronomical News Service" ("Astronomischen Nachrichtendienst") in response to what he saw as a shortage of newspapers and books on his topic.

Arguably of even great importance were the little books and "brochures" which he had been publishing since 1947, giving a wide public access to developments in the field of astronomical research, at a time when many people were living as refugees and organised entertainment was in short supply.