Biography
Ruth Wertheimer (born Ruth Zarnicer) is the daughter of Robert and Esther Beila Zarnicer. She was born on June 6, 1931 in Mannheim, Germany, where her father was a businessman and her mother ran a store. Ruth had an older brother Hugo (b. 1927). When she was only a year old, Ruth's father drowned, and her mother had to raise the children on her own. The family remained in Mannheim until October 1940 when they were deported to the Gurs internment camp in France. In December 1941 Ruth was taken out of the camp by OSE workers and placed in the Chabannes children's home. Subsequently, she was hidden in a Jewish household and then with a Christian family. Finally, in 1943 she was placed in a convent, where she was known by the name Renée Latti. Ruth remained there until her liberation in 1944 at the age of 13. Ruth's brother, Hugo, who was taken out of Gurs in April 1942, was also sent to Chabannes, where he remained for a year. In April 1943 he was hidden on a private farm, where he remained until his liberation at the age of 17. After the war, Ruth and Hugo lived in numerous OSE children's homes including La Borie and Poulouzat, before immigrating to the United States in September 1946. They sailed on board the Athos II with a children's transport organized in part by the OSE. Their mother was deported from Gurs to Auschwitz on August 26, 1942, where she perished.
