She was born in Czernowitz, Bukowina, then part of Romania, as Rosalie Beatrice Scherzer. Aged twenty she left her native country together with her husband Ignaz Ausländer. She became a US citizen but lost her US citizenship when she returned to Europe. She fled national socialism, and was arrested in 1941 in Russia. In 1946 she moved to the USA again.
She returned to Germany in 1965. She lived in Düsseldorf and was a friend of Paul Celan. She was a poet, author and translator.