Ruth Maier

Ruth Maier (10 November 1920 in Vienna, Austria – 1 December 1942 in Auschwitz, Poland) was an Austrian woman whose diaries describing her experiences of the Holocaust in Austria and Norway were published in 2007; reviews described her as "Norway's Anne Frank."

Ruth Maier was born in Vienna to a largely assimilated Jewish family. Her father, Ludwig Maier, held a doctorate in philosophy, was a polyglot (mastering nine languages), and held a senior position within the Austrian post and telegraph service. He died in 1933 of erysipelas. Her first cousin, who survived the war, was the philosopher Stephan Körner.

Her younger sister Judith managed to escape to the United Kingdom. Through her father's contacts, Ruth was able to find refuge in Norway, where she arrived by train on 30 January 1939. She was housed for some time with a Norwegian family. She became fluent in Norwegian within a year, completed her examen artium, and befriended the future poet Gunvor Hofmo at a volunteer work camp in Biri. The two became inseparable, finding lodging and work in various places in Norway.

Ruth was also one of the models for the statue "Surprised", by Gustav Vigeland. It is on permanent display in Frogner Park in Oslo. Vigeland began work on the sculpture about 1904. The model for the face of the sculpture was Inga Syvertsen; the sculpture was completed in 1942. Maier was surprised by another person entering the room while she was modelling for Vigeland, and she tried to cover her naked body, hence the posture. The statue was eventually cast in bronze in 2002. Additionally Ruth was a model for Norwegian painter Åsmund Esval.

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