Ruth Wertheim

Bertel Ruth Wertheim was born on March 28, 1927 in Gießen and grew up in Londorf. The Wertheim family, consisting of Ruth, her sister Inge and her parents Leopold and Emma, lived at Kirchstraße 12. 

Leopold Wertheim was a war veteran and fought for Germany in the First World War. Leopold's nickname, "E-Arm", meaning "One-Arm", had its origin in his injury in the Battle of the Marne, where he fought for Germany at the front. His right arm, which was wounded, was amputated in French captivity.  After he returned to Germany as an exchange prisoner via Switzerland, he lived in Londorf. He became a cattle dealer and met his future wife Emma Stern.  He also volunteered at the local singers association "Frohsinn". When Leopold sang there, his daughter Inge always liked to watch him and sang the songs together with a friend. 

Ruth had a wonderful and carefree childhood. She liked to play with her big sister Inge, dry flowers or spend her time in front of her doll's kitchen.

Like every child, Ruth was particularly looking forward to her school days, which began at the Londorf elementary school in 1933. 

Over time, NS propaganda also integrated into the Giessen district, including Londorf, and Jews became more and more disliked. In a letter, Ruth talked about her second year of school: 

"I was excluded from all special activities, ridiculed and insulted by the other children in the schoolyard, and since I was the only Jewish child in school, I had no friends or playmates. [...] When the situation at school became to bad, ended in physical violence and I came home bleeding and bruised, my parents thought it was time to continue my education elsewhere." 

(Excerpt from a letter to M. Kingreen, 1993)

Now Emma and Leopold were looking for a place where Ruth could go to school. In the following years, Ruth moved to boarding schools and district schools, where she made new friends and spent the best years of her childhood, but some institutions were to remain in her memory as a nightmare. 

In 1941, no open Jewish school could be found and Ruth had no choice but to stay at home without any lessons. Pretty soon the family got the message to pack their things as the deportations began.

The Wertheim family was deported together with the rest of the Jews living in Londorf on September 12, 1942. One bag per person with clothes, bedding, dishes and a food supply for 3 days was allowed to be taken along. Before Leopold left, he had to hand in his declaration of assets, the house key and other valuables. 

On September 14, a cattle wagon drove through the Giessen district and brought the Jews living there to Giessen, who were then transported by train to a collection camp in Darmstadt. 

The Wertheim family was then deported from Darmstadt to the Theresienstadt concentration camp on September 27, where they lived in an attic and had to fight against death and the cold. Her grandfather David survived in Theresienstadt for only a few weeks, his cause of death is unknown. 

Ruth thought that she could wait for the end of the war in Theresienstadt. On October 6, 1944, however, the further deportation to Auschwitz was imminent. After a long and exhausting train ride, 2 groups were formed directly at the train station to Auschwitz. Ruth did not realize that a group was gathering the elderly and incapacitated prisoners for the showers. While Ruth is sent to the group of those who are able to work, Leopold and Emma are sent to the other group. The next few weeks became Ruth's horror. While grieving for her family, she had to survive on her own while being given hard physical labor in inhumane temperatures. 

In November 1944, Ruth was deported to an SS labor camp in Merzdorf, where she made parachutes for the German Wehrmacht in forced labor. Like the years before, Ruth has to do hard work with little food and no warm clothes. In Merzdorf, Ruth could already hear the front. It was clear that the war would soon come to an end.

Ruth Wertheim was 18 years old when she was liberated by the Russian troops in the SS labor camp in Merzdorf on May 5, 1945. Of the more than 60 Jews deported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz, Ruth Wertheim and her friend Gisela Eckstein were the only survivors.

One thing Ruth hoped for most. "I knew I would never see my parents again, that much I knew, but I had the hope that my sister would have survived." (Excerpt from a letter to M. Kingreen, 1993)

After Ruth was treated for a short time in a soldiers' hospital, she set off and traveled, on foot, 650 kilometers through half of Germany back to Londorf. Londorf was no longer the same. The Jewish community no longer existed and none of the Jewish families lived in Londorf. Ruth soon had to learn that she was the only one of her family and the Jews deported from Londorf who survived the war. She no longer felt at home in Londorf. Ruth's only option was to contact her aunt and uncle, who went to the United States in the 1930s. So she wrote letters to Detroit, United States.

Sending a letter from the destroyed Germany to the family in the United States was a real challenge. All mail traffic was broken and the money for a spontaneous trip to the United States was not there. Fortunately, Londorf was in the American occupation zone and Ruth was able to have her letters brought to her aunt Thekla and her uncle Max by American soldiers.

"Aunt Thekla, do you still remember, shortly before your departure you once told me "If you come to America Rutchen, you will be a great lady & I will not recognize you anymore."

(3rd Letter to Her Family in the United States, Apr. 1946)

Ruth had been liberated for a year and 2 months when she reached New York Harbor on the Second Liberty Ship on July 15, 1946. There Ruth now had the freedom and opportunities to build and "live" a life for herself. 

On July 15, 1946, Ruth arrived in New York on the "Second Liberty Ship", where she was picked up by Manfred Dreifuss and brought to Max and Thekla Adler. Immigration to the United States gave Ruth a sense of security for the first time in 4 years. Now she could finally be safe, had a roof over her head and the freedom to build a life for herself. 

In February 1949, she married the lawyer Mitchell Bacow and had daughter Elaine two years later son Lawrence. 

I have been in contact with Elaine Simonson and Lawrence Bacow since the beginning of my research. Both are extraordinarily empathetic and wonderful people. Qualities that they certainly owe to their mother.

But how did Ruth deal with her traumatic past? How did she keep her connection to Germany? This and numerous stories, people and places that I have not yet mentioned here will be told in my book. This is basic information about Ruth. In my final publication, I will show what extraordinary turns her story will take.