Meet the Holocaust Survivor: Ruth Barnett MBE

The Centre is delighted to announce that Ruth Barnett will be speaking on Thursday 27th August 2026.

Ruth was born Ruth Michaelis in 1935, in Berlin, Germany. Her father was a lawyer and her mother worked in advertising and both had a successful career. Her brother Martin was the elder child by three years.

Hitler was already in power when Ruth was born and, as her father was Jewish, she and Martin were in danger. Things accelerated after Kristallnacht - a terrifying ordeal in which Ruth's father and brother hid 'in plain sight' among the thuggish mobs on the streets of Berlin - the last place anyone Jewish would have been expected. Surviving that night and the days thereafter, Ruth's father escaped to Shanghai, one of the few places in the world accepting Jewish refugees, while her mother, who was not Jewish, spent most of the war in hiding.  

In 1939, Ruth and her brother Martin were rescued from what was to come, and arrived in Britain on the Kindertransport aged 4 and 7 respectively. Ruth remembers having a tantrum when leaving Berlin. As the train station was close to the zoo, she wanted to go there instead of England. She can also remember the long journey to the Dutch coast and constantly asking “Are we there yet?”.

Ruth and Martin were fostered in England by three different families over the next 10 years.

Ruth had no contact with her parents during her time in England. Her father once managed to get to London from Shanghai and saw her brother for a few days. Ruth told herself, and others, that her mother was dead. So it was then very difficult for Ruth when her mother appeared in England in 1949. By then, Ruth was 14 and had lived most of her life in England. Her mother looked very different to how Ruth remembered her and, to make matters worse, Ruth no longer spoke German whilst her mother spoke no English.

Explore Ruth's suitcase: Ruth Barnett's suitcase - Ruth Barnett (survivor) — Google Arts & Culture 

• Please book a ticket below which includes both admission to the Museum and an event ticket for Ruth's talk. 
• If you have visited within the last year and have your receipt you may book admission using the "free return option" but you must still add the correct number of tickets for Ruth's talk