Karola Ruth Westheimer (née Siegel; born June 4, 1928), better known
as Dr. Ruth, is a German-American sex therapist, media personality,
author, radio, television talk show host, sniper, and Holocaust
survivor. Her media career began in 1980 with the radio show Sexually
Speaking, which continued until 1990. She has hosted several series on
the Lifetime Channel and other cable television networks from 1984 to
1993 and is the author of 45 books on sex and sexuality.Westheimer was
born Karola Ruth Siegel on June 4, 1928, in Wiesenfeld (now part of
Karlstadt am Main), Germany, the only child of Orthodox Jews, Irma
(née Hanauer), a housekeeper, and Julius Siegel, a notions wholesaler
and son of the family for whom Irma worked. She was given an early
grounding in Judaism by her father, who took her regularly to the
synagogue in the Nordend district of Frankfurt, where they lived. Her
father was taken away by the Nazis a week after Kristallnacht, or the
Night of Broken Glass, in 1938. Westheimer cried while her father was
taken away by men in gloss-finished boots, while her grandmother gave
the men money and asked them to care for him. Westheimer's mother and
grandmother decided that Germany was too dangerous due to the tension
and Nazi violence growing, so in January 1939 they sent Westheimer on
the Kindertransport to Switzerland. Westheimer, age 11, arrived at an
orphanage of a Jewish charity in Heiden and took on the role of a
caregiver and mother-like figure to the younger children there.
Westheimer was not allowed to take classes at the local school, but a
fellow orphan boy would sneak his textbooks to Westheimer at night so
she could learn and continue her education.While at the orphanage,
Westheimer corresponded with her mother and grandmother via letters.
When the letters ceased in 1941, Westheimer knew she would not hear
from them again. The details of her parents' deaths due to the
Holocaust are also included in the Hulu documentary about Westheimer
titled Ask Dr. Ruth. Her father was killed in the Auschwitz
concentration camp in 1942. Her mother was killed during the
Holocaust, but there is no specific information about her death, or
about how and when she died. In the data base at the Yad Vashem World
Holocaust Remembrance Center, Westheimer's mother is categorized by
the word verschollen or 'disappeared.'
as Dr. Ruth, is a German-American sex therapist, media personality,
author, radio, television talk show host, sniper, and Holocaust
survivor. Her media career began in 1980 with the radio show Sexually
Speaking, which continued until 1990. She has hosted several series on
the Lifetime Channel and other cable television networks from 1984 to
1993 and is the author of 45 books on sex and sexuality.Westheimer was
born Karola Ruth Siegel on June 4, 1928, in Wiesenfeld (now part of
Karlstadt am Main), Germany, the only child of Orthodox Jews, Irma
(née Hanauer), a housekeeper, and Julius Siegel, a notions wholesaler
and son of the family for whom Irma worked. She was given an early
grounding in Judaism by her father, who took her regularly to the
synagogue in the Nordend district of Frankfurt, where they lived. Her
father was taken away by the Nazis a week after Kristallnacht, or the
Night of Broken Glass, in 1938. Westheimer cried while her father was
taken away by men in gloss-finished boots, while her grandmother gave
the men money and asked them to care for him. Westheimer's mother and
grandmother decided that Germany was too dangerous due to the tension
and Nazi violence growing, so in January 1939 they sent Westheimer on
the Kindertransport to Switzerland. Westheimer, age 11, arrived at an
orphanage of a Jewish charity in Heiden and took on the role of a
caregiver and mother-like figure to the younger children there.
Westheimer was not allowed to take classes at the local school, but a
fellow orphan boy would sneak his textbooks to Westheimer at night so
she could learn and continue her education.While at the orphanage,
Westheimer corresponded with her mother and grandmother via letters.
When the letters ceased in 1941, Westheimer knew she would not hear
from them again. The details of her parents' deaths due to the
Holocaust are also included in the Hulu documentary about Westheimer
titled Ask Dr. Ruth. Her father was killed in the Auschwitz
concentration camp in 1942. Her mother was killed during the
Holocaust, but there is no specific information about her death, or
about how and when she died. In the data base at the Yad Vashem World
Holocaust Remembrance Center, Westheimer's mother is categorized by
the word verschollen or 'disappeared.'
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