In February 1930 she appeared in the role of the spouse in the world premiere of Arnold Schönberg's Von heute auf morgen, directed by Herbert Graf and conducted by William Steinberg.
Ziegler was dismissed from the city stage for racist reasons in 1933 after the transfer of power to the National Socialists.
Else Ziegler's engagement in Frankfurt was also terminated in 1935 because of her marriage to a non-Aryan, so that she lived in complete seclusion in Prien am Chiemsee and died there in 1943.
Edmund was deported to Gurs in 1940 Wagner-Bürckel-Aktion [de] and killed in 1943 in the Majdanek concentration camp.
Today Ziegler is represented in editions of historical recordings by Lotte Lehmann, Richard Tauber, Elisabeth Rethberg, Sabine Kalter, Emmy Bettendorf and Karin Branzell.