diff --git a/internal/utils/persistence/src/main/java/org/eclipse/ditto/internal/utils/persistence/mongo/streaming/MongoReadJournal.java b/internal/utils/persistence/src/main/java/org/eclipse/ditto/internal/utils/persistence/mongo/streaming/MongoReadJournal.java
index bf5cd38d8d..35aa8ee5f5 100644
--- a/internal/utils/persistence/src/main/java/org/eclipse/ditto/internal/utils/persistence/mongo/streaming/MongoReadJournal.java
+++ b/internal/utils/persistence/src/main/java/org/eclipse/ditto/internal/utils/persistence/mongo/streaming/MongoReadJournal.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 import org.bson.BsonArray;
 import org.bson.BsonDocument;
 import org.bson.BsonInt32;
+import org.bson.BsonNull;
 import org.bson.BsonString;
 import org.bson.Document;
 import org.bson.conversions.Bson;
@@ -896,8 +897,18 @@ private static Source<SnapshotBatch, NotUsed> listNewestActiveSnapshotsByBatch(
         // sort stage 2 -- order after group stage is not defined
         pipeline.add(Aggregates.sort(Sorts.ascending(S_ID)));
 
+        // Separate $group Stage to Calculate maxPid as this is not possible after filtering out DELETED snapshots
+        final String maxPid = "m";
+        final String items = "i";
+        pipeline.add(Aggregates.group(
+                new Document("_id", new BsonNull()),
+                Accumulators.max(maxPid, "$"+ S_ID),
+                Accumulators.push(items,"$$ROOT")));
+
         // redact stage - "$$PRUNE"s documents with "__lifecycle" = DELETED if includeDeleted=false
         // if includeDeleted=true keeps them using "$$DESCEND"
+        // redacts operates recursively, so it evaluates all documents in items array which
+        // allows us to preserve maxPid even when all elements in the array are PRUNE-ed
         pipeline.add(new Document().append("$redact", new Document()
                 .append("$cond", new Document()
                         .append("if",
@@ -906,14 +917,6 @@ private static Source<SnapshotBatch, NotUsed> listNewestActiveSnapshotsByBatch(
                         .append("else", includeDeleted ? "$$DESCEND" : "$$PRUNE")
                 )));
 
-        // group stage 2: group by max encountered pid, "push" all elements calculated in previous "redact"
-        final String maxPid = "m";
-        final String items = "i";
-        pipeline.add(Aggregates.group(null,
-                Accumulators.max(maxPid, "$" + S_ID),
-                Accumulators.push(items, "$$ROOT")
-        ));
-
         return Source.fromPublisher(snapshotStore.aggregate(pipeline)
                         .batchSize(batchSize) // use batchSize also for the cursor batchSize (16 by default bc of backpressure!)
                 )