Ruth Hartz

You can download and easily print Ruth's biography here (pdf)
View her website Voices of Holocaust History

Ruth Hartz is a dedicated speaker on the subject of the Holocaust, tolerance, prejudice and discrimination. As a young girl, age four, during World War II she was a hidden child with her family in southern France. In addition to being sheltered by sympathetic villagers, she spent six months in a small Catholic convent to avoid capture by both the Vichy French Police and the Gestapo. Through unusual good fortune, she and her parents survived the war and returned to Paris shortly thereafter. Her childhood memoir, "Your Name Is Renee" was published as a hard-back edition in 1999 by the Oxford University Press. A French translation “ Tu t’appelles Renée” was published by Beachlloyd Publishers in 2005. As a further aid to teachers of the history of the Holocaust, a Teaching Guide has also been released which provides teachers with a course outline, typical questions and guidance on how to relate these experiences to current living for students ranging in age from ten through college and beyond. She is the director and producer of “A Legacy of Goodness”, a DVD about her rescuers.

Ruth Hartz went on to complete her studies and eventually graduated from the Sorbonne with a degree in Biochemistry. In 1958 she came to the United States where she married and raised a family. During that time, she took advantage of her cultural background by becoming a teacher of French language, literature and culture at the Springside School in Philadelphia where she remained for 22 years. During a sabbatical, she was an instructor of French at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania and also spent one summer as a French Instructor at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont.

Ruth is a member of the Pennsylvania Holocaust Education Council, the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) and the Alliance Française. She conducts workshops locally and nationally on teaching the lessons of the Holocaust.

In recognition of her accomplishments, a library section at the Springside School, dedicated to Holocaust studies, was named in her honor upon her retirement from the school after 22 years of service. She also received the Legion of Honor from the Chapel of Four Chaplains, awarded in recognition of her service to Bryn Mawr College and the "Selda Frieder Award" at Congregation Rodeph Shalom for her outstanding contributions to the Jewish Community.

She currently maintains a schedule of speaking engagements and is available to a wide range of groups including religious and secular schools, private organizations and professional meetings of all sizes.