[2] Wangenheim had himself made a name as a silent film actor (his most remembered role would be as Thomas Hutter in Nosferatu, F. W. Murnau's 1922 adaptation of Dracula).

Ingeborg went into exile, initially to Belgium and France, then moving on with Gustav von Wangenheim to Moscow where, as she would later write, she arrived in a spirit of "naive enthusiasm".

[2] On the stage her appearances included the starring role, alongside Bruno Schmidtsdorf, in the Moscow produced anti-fascist film, "Kämpfer" ("Fighters"), directed and scripted by her husband Gustav von Wangenheim.

[4][5] She was able to return to Moscow in 1943, working as a contributing editor for the National Committee for a Free Germany (NKFD / Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland) and for the eponymous German language radio broadcaster.

Her daughter's family managed to emigrate to West Germany in 1982,[4] but Ingeborg stayed in the German Democratic Republic till its end, and died in Weimar[4] less than three years after the reunification.

She produced novels covering the creation and development phase of the German Democratic Republic, such as "Am Morgen ist der Tag ein Kind", an account of the uprising of 17 June 1953 from the perspective of The Party.

Two other particularly noteworthy books are her memories of her time in Soviet exile, contained in "Mein Haus Vaterland" und "Auf weitem Feld".

As media celebrities with strong anti-Nazi credentials, and in good standing with the East German authorities, Gustav and Inge von Wangenheim led a privileged existence.