During World War I she became a nursing assistant. She earned a doctorate in philosophy and began to teach at the University of Freiburg. After reading the works of Saint Teresa of Avila, she converted to Catholicism and eventually professed vows as a discalced Carmelite, along with her sister, Rosa. During the Nazi terror they were moved for their safety to the Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands, but were arrested in August 1942 and deported to Auschwitz, where they perished in the gas chambers on 9 August 1942. She was canonized by Saint John Paul II on 11 October 1988 and is one of the principal patrons of Europe.