Ruth Shamir Popkin
Childhood
Childhood in Israel
I was born in Poland. When the Germans entered the country on September 1st, 1939, my father was in Israel at a Zionist meeting and fell ill which prevented him from returning to Poland. My mother decided to flee and took the last train to Romania. There, with the help of the Zionist Organization, we boarded a ship which took us to Haifa, Israel and were reunited with my father.
As a child, when my father was assigned to the Israeli Embassy in Warsaw, I was forced to leave school and traveled to Warsaw with my mother. At that time, Warsaw was completely devastated. We lived in a hotel for many months and the Israeli Embassy would not allow the children of Embassy personnel to attend a Jewish communist school which was established after the war. So, for about four years, I was not able to obtain a proper education and suffered greatly as a result. I missed friends and the youth movement and had to go through private tutors every few months to catch up.
Rimona painted us children during the curfew days forced by the British. We were transferring food between the two buildings.
Studies
Tel Nordoi Elementary School, Tel Aviv
Geula High School, Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv High School (General) from 1952 to 1954
Warsaw Poland
Youth movement - Gadna - Army
After high school, I enlisted in the army and worked as a social worker with soldiers’ families. Those were difficult years in Israel. There was a lack of housing and period of austerity.
During my service in the army, my father, who attempted to resume running of his business after a very long absence, went bankrupt and we were left without a means of subsistence. As a public figure, my father could not accept the crisis and shame. He became depressed and refused to leave the house. I realized that it had become my responsibility to find work to support our family which was the beginning of a difficult period in my life.
