Obituary: Ruth Filler, fugitive from the Nazis who understood the power of history
Thursday, 9 September 2021
Ruth Filler: b March 15, 1929; d March 5, 2021.
If Ruth Filler had been consumed by hatred, she could have been forgiven, considering how she and her husband, Sol, , were treated by the Nazis.
Instead, Ruth led a happy and fulfilling life, all the time reminding people not to ignore the lessons of history.
Filler died aged 91 in Auckland, where she was influential figure in the Jewish community, after arriving in New Zealand in 1938 with her parents, Marguerite and Phillip Adler, and sister Inge.
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She was born in Hildesheim, Germany; her father was a proud German who won an Iron Cross in World War I.
“He was a proud nationalistic German. He saw himself more as a German than a Jew,” Ruth said in later life.
Finding it deeply traumatic that his beloved Germany had turned against him, he fled to New Zealand, taking 9-year-old Ruth with him.
The family was not wealthy, and Ruth later recalled that her father’s sister, Gertrude Meyer, was not so lucky.
“She was wealthy and didn’t want to go. In the end, she committed suicide. Her husband was murdered at Auschwitz.”
In later life, Ruth often spoke openly about how unpleasant life had been in Germany.
“One night, after attending a movie, we were harassed by hooligans. We narrowly escaped into our apartment. From outside the hooligans shouted ‘We’ll get you next time … don’t think you’ll escape’.”
Arriving in New Zealand, Ruth attended Newton West Primary and Auckland Girls’ Grammar and excelled as a student.
She met her future husband Sol, a Holocaust survivor, on a trip to Sydney in 1951, and they married the following year.
The story of her husband and his family was a further reminder to her of how lucky she had been to escape.
Born in Poland in 1929, Sol Füller survived harrowing persecution in his home town, and three years in Auschwitz-Birkenau, then spent a further four years in a displaced persons’ camp in Germany.
Seventy-four members of his family were killed by the Nazis.
In New Zealand he was known as Sol Filler. The couple settled in Auckland, had two children, Deb and Esther, and ran a successful bakery.
Ruth, however, never forgot her early life in Germany and spent much of her adult life reminding people what happened between 1939 and 1945.
In 2011, she featured in a book, Promised New Zealand: Fleeing Nazi Persecution, by Freya Klier, which was presented to every college in New Zealand.
Although she always acknowledged where she came from, Ruth liked to say she felt “privileged” to live in New Zealand, and in 2001 she received a QSO and was Zonta Woman of the Year in recognition of her community work. Zonta clubs support women and girls around the world.
Having been driven out of her country by the Nazis, and marrying a man who survived a death camp, she could be outspoken in her views.
In 2017, she wrote to the Sunday Star-Times defending Israel’s right to exist and criticising Hamas for undermining peace efforts. Always clever with words, she also had a dig at New Zealanders.
“Of course (tongue in cheek), our record with Māori land issues is so wonderful that we can sit in judgment on other countries,” she wrote. “Do not revise history – read unbiased accounts of what has really happened.”
New Zealand Jewish Council spokeswoman Juliet Moses says Filler was highly regarded in the Auckland Jewish community.
As one of the last direct links in New Zealand to the Holocaust, she served as a reminder of what happened in Germany and the lessons we can all learn about hatred.
“Especially for kids at school, it seems like it was so long ago, but when they talk to people like Ruth who had memories of Nazis in the street with swastikas, it was all so much more tangible.”
Ruth’s daughter, character actor, writer and comedian Deb Filler, says her mother was very strong-willed and had a presence about her that made people aware she was in the room.
“If you didn’t know her, how would you ever describe her? She was deep, she was complex, sharp and at times, very Teutonic. We certainly didn’t see eye to eye on politics or climate change.”
With such a big personality, she made an impression on everyone she met, says Deb.
“She was a matriarch, dignified, vivacious, feisty, intelligent, funny, full of zest and spirit. A wordsmith. The crossword puzzle queen. No slouch at bridge.”
Deb sister, Esther Haver, said her mother was “eternally proud” of being a Kiwi and often spoke of her love of Aotearoa.
Her death, earlier this year, preceded the death in Wellington of Inge Woolf, the founder of the New Zealand Holocaust Centre.
Woolf’s daughter Deborah Hart, chair of the Holocaust Centre, described Ruth as an “incredible woman” who believed in tolerance but with a powerful message in her words.
“The need to combat hatred and anti-semitism is more important than ever, and Ruth well understood that, and she was very staunch.”
Sources: Deb Filler, Esther Haver, the New Zealand Holocaust Centre, Deborah Hart, Shadows of Shoah and Juliet Moses.