After refusing to appear in Nazi propaganda movies, she was prohibited to work as an actress in Germany and emigrated to Switzerland (1937).
Although returning to Germany in 1949, where she didn't succeed in staring a theater career, she later lived again in Switzerland and Paris, working as a psychiatric nursing assistant. In 1966, she finally returned to East Germany.
Her father worked as a locksmith.
Her favorite movie was Anna and Elizabeth (1933).