On January 29, 2023, as part of a matinee, Ruth Weiss visited the Center for Persecuted Arts. Sylvia Löhrmann had invited her in her capacity as chairwoman of the Center's Sponsors' Association. Mayor Thilo Schnor warmly welcomed Ms. Weiß to Solingen. In the form of an interview between the two women, the now 100-year-old Weiss spoke to around 160 interested listeners about her eventful life and experience as a Jew during the National Socialist era. Ruth Weiss had to leave Germany in 1936 and was able to emigrate to South Africa with her family. There she experienced the apartheid regime, which she later campaigned against. During her fight, she met many freedom fighters, including Nelson Mandela.

Ruth Weiss was born in Fürth near Nuremberg and was eight years old when the Nazis came to power. Her situation changed from one day to the next. She was shunned, stopped being called upon in class, and dirt was thrown at her sister. Her father lost his position in the toy industry at the beginning of 1933 due to the racist Nazi policy. Following the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor on January 30, 1933 and the end of Weimar democracy, the situation worsened rapidly. Half of the Jewish judges and public prosecutors had already lost their jobs in spring, a third of the Jewish employees were unemployed, and around 37,000 Jews left Germany in the first year of Nazi rule. As Ruth Weiss only learned after the end of the war, her paternal uncle and her mother's relatives fell victim to the atrocities committed by the Nazis. In her work against anti-Semitism and racism, including in her novels, it is important to her to educate people about Jewish life in Europe. When asked by Mrs. Löhrmann what else she would like to share as a contemporary witness, she suggested that there should be more debate and exchange in schools, as in her opinion this is lacking.

Ruth Weiss's father was already in South Africa when she arrived there with her mother and sister in 1936. In South Africa, Weiss became a business journalist and novelist. Her book “My Sister Sara” was used to read German in some schools. She lived in Zimbabwe, England and Germany, among others, and received numerous honors, including the Federal Order of Merit 1st Class and the honorary presidency of the PEN Center for German-language Authors abroad. In 2022, PEN awarded her the OVID Prize.

The Sponsors' Association of Center for Persecuted Arts with Chairman Sylvia Löhrmann and the museum team congratulate Ruth Weiss on her 100th birthday on July 26, 2024.