Born December 15, 1924   |   Sobolew (Sobolev), Poland

Died August 11, 2011   |   Calgary, Canada

Vivacious and beautiful, Ruth was quite the personality… all heart, all love. 

Ruth was the youngest of six siblings born to a religiously observant Jewish family in Sobolev, near Warsaw. She looked up to her five brothers and was deeply attached to her mother Roma. It is believed that Ruth may have changed her date of birth so as to pretend that a friend of the same age was her sister. In the early years of the war, her parents arranged a marriage for her, believing that her chances of surviving would thus be improved. The marriage, however, was short-lived. Ruth was transported to Auschwitz in 1943. Tattooed upon arrival, she remained at the death camp for approximately 10 months.

Ruth was the sole survivor in her family. Following liberation, she was sent by the Red Cross to Stockholm, Sweden, where she lived for three years with the Zacharios family. Following a brief sojourn in London, England, Ruth settled in Montreal in 1949 with the intention of entering into another arranged marriage; quickly realizing that she and her intended were incompatible, Ruth cancelled the nuptials. She studied bookkeeping and worked at Steinberg’s groceries. Ruth married Holocaust survivor George Rosengarten on June 19, 1949, and they welcomed one son, Albert, in 1951. Ruth did not speak much about her Holocaust experiences. She instead focused on the future, working side-by-side with George in their family business and finding a reservoir of strength in her deep and enduring love for him and their son. When George passed away in 1995, Ruth moved to Calgary to be closer to Albert, her daughter-in-law Barb and their four children.