World War II – October 2019

OCTOBER 2019 21

You stayed in Switzerland until the war’s end, living

in an orphanage and working as a housemaid.

Girls in those days had to learn how to be housewives. We knew that

once the war was over, we could not stay in Switzerland; we would have

to go out on our own and be able to make a living. I could not go to the

high school in the village. However, I had a boyfriend then, whom I still

visit every year. At the orphanage during World War II you could not

have lights in your rooms, but the stairwell outside was lit, so I took

his books and I studied from them at night.

When the war ended, the orphanage read out loud

lists of survivors. Your family wasn’t on them. How

did you find closure?

The Nazis kept detailed records about the dead. In them I found my

grandparents and my father’s names. Next to my mother’s name was

the German word “verschollen” [disappeared]. A horrible word,

because it means nobody knows what happened to her.

The two main themes in your life are sex and the

Holocaust. Is there a connection between the two?

Absolutely none. The only thing I could tell you is that in the Jewish

tradition in which I was raised, sex was never a sin but an obligation

between married people. Because of this, I

could talk openly about it.

Openness helps, as does humor—

which you have in spades.

It says in the Jewish tradition that a lesson

taught with humor is a lesson remembered.

I can use humor when I talk about sex. Not

when I talk about the Holocaust.

You’ve known tragedy. Where do you

get your signature joie de vivre?

My zest for life comes from having been

raised in a loving household with two parents

and grandparents.

So it comes from having had
a happy childhood.
Right. That’s a good lesson for anybody who
LEF reads this article. +

T:^ J

.^ C.
LE
MO

N^ P

HO
TO
GR
APH

Y;^ O

TH
ERS

:^ CO

UR
TES

Y^ O

F^ D

R.^ R

UTH

WE

ST
HEI

ME
R

“I can use humor when

I talk about sex—not

about the Holocaust.”

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, at home in New York

(left)—and as a child (above) and with her

parents (opposite). She departed Germany

in 1939, at 10, and never saw them again.