Since Josip died before the war, Ruža married Vazmoslav Paškvalin Petrović from the small settlement of Režanci in the village of Svetvinčenat.

Ruža Petrović was helping Yugoslav Partisans since the very beginning of the occupation of Istria by the Italian Social Republic.

On July 22, 1944, 25 Italian fascists from Svetvinčenat broke into Režanci and searched Petrović's house because they suspected that she, her husband and his two brothers were helping Partisans.

Since they found more clothing and food than they thought her family needed, they arrested her, and forced her to carry all of the extra goods that she had stored in the house to the army garrison in Svetvinčenat, where they eventually brutally tortured her.

After she was released from the hospital, Petrović again rejoined antifascist movement, and, although blind, was helping the Partisan fighters by knitting socks and warm shirts and giving them moral support.