A longer period of "protective detention" followed in 1933/34, for "producing antifascist publications" (wegen "Herstellung antifaschistischer Publikationen").

[2] Directly after the war she returned to Hamburg and her theatre work, heading up and acting in the satirical-political cabaret "Laternenanzünder" (loosely, "Lamp lighters").

At that time the theatre had three sections, and she presided over a major expansion of the facilities to satisfy the "theatre-hunger" of the populations in the surrounding villages.

After 1958 Ilse Rodenberg played a central role in winning political and public backing for a dedicated children's theatre in Berlin.

Between 1950 and 1954 Ilse Rodenberg served as a member of the national executive ("Bundesvorstand") of the Democratic Women's League ("Demokratischer Frauenbund Deutschlands" / DFD), one of several government backed mass organisations commonly included in Leninist government power structures, and designed to broaden the domestic political support base of the ruling party.

After the general election of 1954 the allocation of seats to the NDPD's Berlin members was increased from five to seven, and records identify her as Ilse Rodenberg.

It was only after March 1990, when East Germany conducted its first and last free and fair general election, that the number of seats won by the NDPD slumped from fifty-two to two, and Ilse Rodenberg's name ceased to appear on the list of Volkskammer members.

She also served, between 1967 and 1982, as chair of the NDPD Party Control Commission, filling a post that had become vacant through the death of Jonny Löhr.

[2] In 1964 Ilse Rodenberg became a member of the Committee of Antifascist Fighters ("Komitee der Antifaschistischen Widerstandskämpfer", an organisation closely algned with the ruling Socialist Unity Party, which had emerged from the postwar Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime ("Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes") and which was dedicated to preserving anti-fascist traditions.

[2] She also involved herself from 1965 with the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People (ASSITEJ), serving three terms as its honorary president between 1978 and 1987.