Ruth Maier

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Stolperstein in memory of Ruth Maier, at 3 Dalsbergstien Street in Oslo ; the inscription reads (translated): "Here lived Ruth Maier, born in 1920, deported in 1942, Auschwitz , murdered December 1st, 1942"

Ruth Maier (born November 10, 1920 in Vienna ; † December 1, 1942 in Auschwitz concentration camp ) was an Austrian Jewish emigrant who lived in Norway and was known for her diaries . She is also called " Anne Frank of Norway".

Life

Ruth Maier was born in an assimilated Jewish family in Vienna to Ludwig Maier (1882–1933) and his wife Irma (1895–1964). Her sister Judith was an important caregiver. She wrote her many letters from Norway to England, where Judith had emigrated with her mother and grandmother.

Maier's diaries range from 1933 to 1942. In 1939 she fled to Norway. There she worked as a craftsman and model. She did not emigrate to England, even though she had a visa to do her A-levels in Norway. With the occupation of Norway by the German Wehrmacht in 1940, it was henceforth in danger. When she later tried to flee, the English visa had expired and was not extended. The USA did not grant her a visa, despite the intervention of several acquaintances. In November 1942, it was during a raid in their dormitory by police from the Quisling - regime arrested and sent in December to Auschwitz , where she was immediately murdered together with other women and children. She was 22 years old at the time of her death.

In her last letter to her close friend Gunvor Hofmo she wrote: “I believe that it is good as it turned out. Why shouldn't we suffer when there is so much suffering? Don't worry about me I might not want to swap places with you. ”Gunvor Hofmo kept her friend's diaries for over 50 years until her death in 1995. In 2007 they were published by Jan Erik Vold in Norway and in 2008 they were published in the original German version.

Commemoration

Ruth Maier's traces can be discovered in Vienna and Oslo. Her name is written on her parents' grave stone at the Döblingen cemetery ; in Oslo stands the sculpture Surprised by Gustav Vigeland , for which Ruth was the model. According to research by Jan Erik Vold, Ruth Maier's name is also on the memorial for Jewish war victims in the East Cemetery and on the commemorative plaque for those killed in action at the Oslo School of Arts and Crafts. On August 30, 2010, a stumbling block for Ruth Maier was laid in front of the former Englehjemmet pension for young women and girls in Oslo's Dalsbergstien 3 .

literature

  • Ruth Maier; Jan Erik Vold (Ed.): “Life could be good.” Diaries 1933 to 1942. Translated from the Norwegian by Sabine Richter. BTB, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-442-74155-7 .

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Maier, Ruth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian Jewish writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH December 1, 1942
Place of death Auschwitz concentration camp