As her father and politician Žerjav was preventively arrested and imprisoned in World War I in the Ljubljana Castle and in Graz by the Austro-Hungarian authorities for his "notorious pro-Serbian attitudes", she lived some time at her grandparents.
After the early death of both her parents from tuberculosis she was educated at Munich and Paris.
Nada Abarth Zerjav spent her early childhood in Graz and Ljubljana. Later she lived in Ljubljana. She was wounded during the war (attack on A Praprotnik in Ljubljana, February 20, 1942).
Nada Abarth-Žerjav and Carlo Abarth met in 1944 at Lake Garda (Italy).
She initiated the contact to Tazio Nuvolari which became important during the first years of the existence of the Squadra Abarth. She spoke seven languages which enabled her to engage in public-relations in foreign countries as well.
Even after the divorce in 1979 she remained on friendly terms with Carlo Abarth and after his death she continued to admire him greatly. The couple had no children.
After the breakup of Yugoslavia 1991 Nadina Abarth-Zerjav, who had had the Italian citizenship since 1949, applied for the Slovenian citizenship also and finally received it in 1997 in honour of her families history.
Nada Abarth lived in Turin for over 50 years and was well known there. She left Turin in November 1999 for reasons of ill health and moved to nephew’s family in Ljubljana where she died on September 17, 2000. She was buried four days later in her families gravesite, a protected monument in the Žale cemetery in Ljubljana.
