[1] In 1936, she was appointed to the Brazilian Consulate in Hamburg, Germany, where she was made the Chief of the Passport Section.
She was in close relations with underground activists in Germany and would even grant visas to Jews that she knew had forged passports.
In 1938 she met fellow diplomat and assistant-Consul João Guimarães Rosa, who would later become her second husband, and one of the most important Brazilian writers.
With his help, she intensified her humanitarian activity, saving a great number of Jews from imprisonment and death.
She died peacefully at the age of 102, in her home in São Paulo, on 28 February 2011, due to natural causes.