France’s highest civilian honor

Holocaust survivor Ruth Steinfeld received France’s highest civilian honor, the French Legion of Honor, in a ceremony that took place at Holocaust Museum Houston. The award first began 1802 and is given as recognition of merit or bravery. Ruth was born in Sinsheim, Germany, in 1933, to Alfred and Anna Krell. In 1940, the Krells were deported to the internment camp of Gurs in the French Pyrenees. To save Ruth and her sister Lea, 7 and 8 at the time, Ruth’s parents released them to the care of the French Jewish humanitarian organization OEuvre de Secours aux Enfants. They spent the remainder of the war in French orphanages and with a foster family. Later, Ruth and her sister Lea were among the first survivors to speak publicly about their experiences. Lea passed away in 2008. Ruth, now 88, continues to speak with young people about her experiences to teach the dangers of hatred, prejudice, and apathy. Pictured is Ruth with Valérie Baraban, consul general of France in Houston. Read more about Ruth and Lea’s survival story, plus the stories of other local Holocaust survivors in Russell Weil’s “Houston’s Holocaust Survivors.” 

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