Spotlight
Former Ames resident and Holocaust Survivor, Ruth David, succumbs to COVID-19
By Robbie Sequeira Gannett
R
uth David was 14 when the Kindertransport — which helped 10,000 children to escape from Adolf Hitler’s reign of terror in parts of Europe controlled by the Nazis — saved her life. She would soon translate the tragedies of being a Holocaust survivor into two books, a life of teaching and speaking internationally on life during and after the Holocaust. On April 6, at the age of 91, David passed away due to complications from the COVID-19 in Leicester where she moved to in 2000. But during her life, she once called Ames “home” for 17 years. “I know living in Ames meant an awful lot to Mom,” David’s son, Simon Finch said to the Tribune. “She also had a real gift for (developing) friendships.” Finch said his mother, who moved to Ames in 1992, created strong friendships during her first year in Ames and even adopted the “Iowa Nice” attitude. “I think the joke her new friends would say is that she found herself being the one introducing people to her husband, a long-time resident of Ames, rather than vice-versa.” Barbara Pleasants, adjunct assistant professor at Iowa State University, said David was one of the most influential people to live in Ames. Since her arrival in Ames, David was a frequent Holocaust educator through lectures and speaking engagements at the university. She, along with Pleasants, was also a member of the Ames Jewish Congregation. “There were times where she would tell stories of horrors of the Holocaust to our students and she would engage with the community (about ) stories of other survivors, and those who didn’t,” she said. “But she embraced this community as it did her in every way.” David was born in 1929 and grew up in Germany. Her parents sought refuge for her in England before being murdered by Hitler’s Nazi regime. Her most well-known book, “Child of Our Time: A Young Girl’s Flight from the Holocaust” chronicled the reality and experiences as a Holocaust survivor to groups unaware of its tragedies. Upon her return to the UK in 2000, she would annually visit Germany to teach German school children about the Holocaust. Since Hitler’s Nazi regime ended, the country has had a complicated relationship teaching and discussing the Holocaust, according to the United States Holocaust Museum. “For two decades, on annual visits to Germany, many of them found it barely imaginable that as a former pupil herself, she had once been taught under a portrait of Hitler in a class that stood up and gave the Nazi salute to teachers,”
“I KNOW LIVING IN AMES MEANT AN AWFUL LOT TO MOM,” RUTH DAVID’S SON, SIMON FINCH SAID. “SHE ALSO HAD A REAL GIFT FOR (DEVELOPING) FRIENDSHIPS.” DAVID, A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR AND AMES NATIVE FOR A TIME, PASSED AWAY DUE TO COMPLICATIONS FROM THE COVID-19 ON APRIL 6. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
said Finch. Finch said that after his mother’s passing, people from all over the world reached out he and his sister Margaret Finch. But he was taken aback by the outpouring of “memories and love” from Ames, a city located miles away from Leicester, England. “In Ames, judging from the multiple letters of condolence my sister and I have received, she made several close friends and left a striking impression on dozens, if not hundreds of individuals,” Simon said. A lifelong friendship formed between Linda Emmerson and David on the tennis courts in Ames. “I remember talking to her that first time on the tennis FACETS | JUNE 2020 | 9
