From time to time, life will feed you an amazing fact that will rock your worldview and change the way in which you look at a person. Many knew Ruth Westheimer – better known as Dr. Ruth – as a short, little old lady who spoke about sex. Many were captivated by her wisdom, while others were dumbfounded by someone who could be their grandmother speaking about what they consider a “taboo” topic.
Whatever you thought about Dr. Ruth, it’s likely you never wondered if she was a trained sniper who fought in combat – but that’s exactly what she was before becoming world famous.
Dr. Ruth’s parents were victims of the Holocaust
Born Karola Ruth Siegal on June 4, 1928, she had the horrible misfortune of watching her father taken and sent to Dachau a week after Kristallnacht. While this wasn’t an uncommon experience for Jewish families living in 1930s Germany, Ruth was fortunate enough to be sent out of the country by her mother and grandmother in early 1939. They’d wanted to keep her safe from the ever-growing tensions in the country.
Sadly, Ruth would never see a member of her family again.
As World War II raged across Europe, Ruth, taken to Switzerland via the Kindertransport, found herself at an orphanage in the village of Heiden. While she kept in contact with her family through letters, these correspondences ceased in 1941, when her parents became two of the millions of victims of the Holocaust. Her father was killed at Auschwitz, while the fate of her mother remains unknown.
Immigrating to Mandatory Palestine after World War II
Dr. Ruth began to show her zeal for independence, much to the annoyance of the orphanage’s leadership. An avid reader who was secretly given textbooks by the boys at the home, it was reported that, from an early age, she was unafraid to tackle taboo topics.
When World War II ended, Ruth found herself a 17-year-old Jewish girl with no family in the middle of war-torn Europe. As a result, she immigrated to Mandatory Palestine, as did many Holocaust survivors and their families. As tragic as her childhood was, her story was about to take a fascinating turn.
Dr. Ruth became a trained sniper
Shortly after arriving in Mandatory Palestine, Dr. Ruth became captivated with the idea of establishing a Jewish homeland and joined the Haganah, an underground paramilitary organization that served as the beginnings of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Ruth didn’t chalk this up to spectacular bravery, saying everyone was part of one organization or another at the time.
It was determined that, due to her short stature of four-feet, seven-inches, Ruth would make a good sniper, leading to her being trained for the role and as a scout. While that might seem like an absurd reason, it turned out she was an impressive shot. By Ruth’s own admission, she was surprised at how excellent a marksman she was, and she couldn’t attribute any reason as to why.
For anyone doubting her skills, she showed off her ability to put together a STEN submachine gun in the dark – when she was 90!
Injured in combat
As fascinating as all that might be, Dr. Ruth’s military career was cut short on her 20th birthday. While fighting in the 1947-49 Palestine War, a shell exploded near her position during a mortar attack, killing two and severely injuring Ruth. Both her feet were wounded, and she was temporarily paralyzed. It took months of painful recovery and rehab for her to be able to walk once again.
By her own admission, Ruth never used her sniper skills in combat – “I never killed anybody, but I know how to throw hand grenades and shoot” – but she did play a role in the establishment of the Jewish State long before she established herself as a renowned sex therapist.
Becoming Dr. Ruth, the famed sex therapist
From this point on, Dr. Ruth became the lovable, short, quirky sex therapist the world came to love. After being injured in the barracks bombing, she recovered, married an Israeli soldier and moved to Paris, France, to study psychology. Ruth eventually moved to the United States, and after a couple of marriages settled down with Manfred Westheimer.
She continued her education in the US and became a naturalized citizen in 1965. After completing her formal education, Ruth began to look into and explore human sexuality, leading her to share her knowledge on both radio and television.
Openly discussing topics related to sex and intimacy, Ruth aimed to tear down the taboo surrounding the topic. This extended past the pleasurable, with her approaching related health issues as problems that simply needed a solution, rather than issues needing to be kept private.
Over the course of her career, she ran a popular radio show, The Dr. Ruth Show, and was the host of several popular television series. She was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2019, and she was the recipient of the United Nation‘s (UN) Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Psychology Pioneer Award in ’23.
Attributing her boldness to growing up in 1930s Germany
Dr. Ruth attributed her audacity and boldness to her experiences growing up in 1930s-era Germany. She once stated, “I am what you call bold because the one thing that I’ve learned coming out of [1930s] Germany, is that I have to stand up and be counted for what I believe. And that is how people are listening to me, because they know it is not a put-on.”
When asked during a talk at the US Air Force Academy about what she’d tell her younger self at that time, Ruth explained:
“The importance of making the best out of every time you have with your family. That’s really the main thought that comes to my mind…fortunately I had that wonderful 10 year experience … that actually my parents gave me life a second time by sending me to safety to Switzerland, not knowing if they would ever see me again.”
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Dr. Ruth passed away on July 12, 2024, at the age of 96. She left behind a legacy not just as a sex therapist, but also as a survivor of the Second World War who worked to ensure what happened in Europe will never be forgotten.
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