She fought as a communist partisan during World War II in Yugoslavia.

[1] In December of 1941, Kardelj was captured, and she was imprisoned until the capitulation of Italy in 1943.

[2] She ultimately achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Yugoslav People's Army.

She died under mysterious circumstances,[3] and it has been speculated that her death may have been related to a critique she published a few weeks earlier criticizing the regime.

She was married to Deputy Prime Minister of Yugoslavia Edvard Kardelj, and her cousin was President of the Slovenian People's Assembly Ivan Maček.