in 1906 nugel became certified as a teacher, and began working as a private instructor for the werdeck family near cottbus. after finishing her studies at the luisenstädtische oberschule (high school) in 1907, she started university studies in berlin. she moved to munich in 1909, and moved again to halle in the same year. she took a position as a teacher at a girls' school in cottbus, but taught there only for two years, until her marriage to louis hahn in 1914. the first of their four children was born in 1915. she moved with her husband to altena and then emden, her husband's home town, where he worked at his family's newspaper business. she taught intermittently at two schools there from 1914 to 1918, during world war i, but from then until 1927 she taught only privately, also publishing works promoting civil rights and better education for women.