Ruth Andreas-Friedrich (; September 23, 1901 – September 17, 1977) was a German journalist. She was born Ruth Andreas in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and was a member of the

Wandervogel ''Wandervogel'' (plural: ''Wandervögel''; English: "Wandering Bird") is the name adopted by a popular movement of German youth groups from 1896 to 1933, who protested against industrialization by going to hike in the country and commune with na ...

movement as a girl. She trained as a social worker and also wrote articles for various newspapers. In 1924, she married Otto A. Friedrich. The couple had a daughter Karin but later divorced. With her daughter and her companion Leo Borchard, she helped Jews who were threatened with deportation by the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s by providing them with accommodation, forged identity papers and food ration stamps. The group also helped others to escape Germany and distributed flyers advocating resistance to

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

. Borchard was shot dead in August 1945 by an American soldier after his driver failed to stop at a military checkpoint in Berlin. In 1947, she published a memoir from her diaries ''Berlin Underground 1938–1945''. A second book ''Battleground Berlin: Diaries 1945–1948'' followed in 1962. In 1948, she moved to

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. There, she married Walter Seitz, who was also involved in her resistance network during the war. Andreas-Friedrich died by suicide in Munich at the age of 75. She was honoured posthumously by

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andreas-Friedrich, Ruth 1901 births 1977 suicides 1977 deaths German women journalists German journalists German Righteous Among the Nations 20th-century German women Writers from Munich German people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust Suicides in West Germany