Ruth Judith Goslar née Klee

Ruth Judith Goslar (née Klee) was born on October 23rd, 1901 in Bonn. Her parents were Alfred and Therese Klee-Stargadt. Her father was a lawyer and active in the Zionist movement. Faith was part of Ruth’s life from the beginning on. Her parents were very religious and decided her to have a devout education. As an adolescent, Ruth visited secondary school and later decided to become a teacher. In the age of 25 she married Hans Goslar who himself was very religious and a dedicated Zionist and decided to give up her job to attend to the household completely. Two years later Ruth gave birth to her first daughter, Hannah Elisabeth. In 1935, Ruth emigrated to the UK with her family. But because her husband did not find any proper work, they returned to Germany. Shortly after that, they fled to the Netherlands, as it became more and more difficult for Jews in Germany to live a normal and carefree life.

The couple established a consulting centre for impoverished Jewish refugees in Amsterdam. Ruth was head of the office which was in the apartment of the family at Merwedeplein 31 to save additional rent. As Hans Goslar demanded only a minimum consultation fee from his clients in most cases, the financial situation of the family was not the best. Thus, the new life in Amsterdam was difficult at the beginning. Additionally, Ruth missed her home and her mother tongue German. Furthemore she had to bring up her daughters Hannah and Rachel Gabriele, who was born in October 1940, in a foreign country. Due to this the friendship with the Frank family was very important to the Goslar family. Ruth had come to know Edith Frank in a grocery shop; Edith was accompanied by her daughter Anne and Ruth by her daughter Hannah. The two women noticed that they both spoke German and started a conversation. Soon they discovered that they were neighbours in Merwedeplein. So a long and intense friendship started. Their children seemed to Ruth and Edith “like sisters”. Anne Frank spent a lot of time with the Goslar family as she and Hannah soon had become close friends. Ruth used to joke: “God knows everything, Anne knows everything better”.

Two years after giving birth to Rachel, Ruth died in childbirth on October 28th, 1942. Her third child did not survive, either.

Ruth was a loving mother, wife and friend. She cared for her daughters constantly and was only able to go home assuredly because of the knowledge that Hannah was feeling content in Kindergarten due to Anne. She cared for her fellow humans, and especially the well-being of the family Frank was important to her.