With the establishment of the NDH, and the gradual imposition of measures against Jews, Lea was prohibited from performing in the Croatian National Theater. The witnesses of time say that she would sit on a bench in front of the theater, sadly looking at the building, but could not enter. Prominent persons of the time wrote letters and pleaded with Pavelić and Ustasha leadership to spare Lea as a famous person who greatly contributed to the theater, but these pleas were rejected.
Lea's family converted to Catholicism at the very beginning of the war, hoping that this will help them. However, this was of little value to the NDH authorities. Soon after the establishment of the NDH, Deutsch family was evicted from their apartment in Gundulićeva Street 29, and they moved to Trešnjevka. A German officer moved into their apartment. Although they were spared until the last wave of arrests of Jews, at the beginning of May 1943, mother Ivka, Lea and her younger brother Saša were arrested and imprisoned. Then, they were transported to Auschwitz in cattle wagons. Lea died in the train before the arrival to the camp, and her mother and brother were killed in the gas chambers.