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Ruth Posner

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Ruth Posner (born April 20, 1933 as Ruth Wajsberg) is a Polish Holocaust survivor,^[1] former dancer and choreographer and is today an actress and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Arriving in the United Kingdom as a refugee at the end of World War II, she married Michael S. Posner in 1950. In the 1950s she became a dancer and choreographer with the London Contemporary Dance School. When in the early 1970s her husband went to New York to work for UNICEF Posner went with him and taught Physical Theatre at the Juilliard School in New York, andBrandeis University in Boston. During her nine years in the United States she trained as an actor with Uta Hagen, and gained anMA in Theatre Arts at Hunter College in 1980.^[2] On returning to London she taught Physical Theatre at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and the Central School of Speech and Drama.^[3]

Later she concentrated on an acting career, and on television she appeared in Making News (1990), Love Hurts (1994), The Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1995), Bramwell (1997), To Anyone Who Can Hear Me (1999), Casualty (1987-2003), The Bill (2003),Coming Up for Air (2003), Timeless (2005), Apparitions (2008), The Pharmacist (2012), and Count Arthur Strong (2013).^[4]

Her film appearances include Leon the Pig Farmer (1992),^[4] Do I Love You? (2002) and The Football Factory (2004).^[5] Stage roles include Hiawatha at the Bristol Old Vic (1991–92), The Dybbuk for the Royal Shakespeare Company (1992), The Tempestwith the Actors Touring Company (1999), Woman in the Moon at the Arcola Theatre (2001), Ritual in Blood at the Nottingham Playhouse (2001) and Seven Jewish Children (2009) at the Royal Court Theatre.^[6][7]

She speaks Polish, German, Italian and Hebrew.^[2]

Early life

Ruth Posner was born April 20, 1933, in Warsaw, Poland. Ruth was an only child to a non-observant polish Jew. Her father was a local government official before World War II. In 1942 her father arranged for his 9-year-old daughter and her aunt to go to work at a Jewish-owned leather factory outside the ghetto walls, and from here they both escaped. Posner survived the remainder of the war by pretending to be a young Polish Catholic girl called Irena Slabowska.

Expanded description

Ruth Posner was a young child undergoing the most traumatic event in her life. As a nine year old she was faced with a life of death decision. She knew that if she tried to escape the concentration camp that she would either be shot or die anyways. Her and her aunt took that risk and escaped. They made it out of the ghetto walls alive. As for Posner's parents, they did not. Posner has an idea of what happened to her parents but she does not want to know exactly what happened. As if going through the Holocaust wasn't hard enough, Ruth experienced another tragedy at the age of thirteen. Her hometown Warsaw was evacuated and she was moved to Germany. At that time, she was still know as the little catholic girl. She was taken as a prisoner of war to Germany, not as a jew. Being a prisoner in Germany was not as bad as being a child in the Concentration Camps. In Germany, she was torched but not beaten. After the war with Germany was over she moved to England and has lived there ever since. In the last 25 years in England Ruth has re-enacted her life in a play called "Who Do We Think We Are," choreographed plays, acted in her famous movies, danced, and wrote a book.

Marriage and children

Ruth worked at the London Contemporary Dance Company for seventeen years, where she eventually met her husband Michael S. Posner. Ruth and Michael had one son who unfortunately passed away at the age of 37. Her and her husband have lived in England the last 25 years.

Published works

Ruth always wanted to be a dancer and danced most of her life. She felt life through her dancing. During her 40s she decided to switch from dance to drama. Many people told her she wasn't going to "make it" in the theater world because of her thick accent. Ruth proved people wrong and become a profound actress. Ruth had three very famous movies that she acted in, "In Between," "Almost Strangers," and "Bella." Mrs. Posner acted in many other movies along her lifetime. Ruth starred in bundles of Holocaust plays. She even starred in a Holocaust play about her life called "Who Do We Think We Are." Along with drama and dancing she also wrote her own book called "Bits and Pieces Of My Life." She wrote this book on her entire life. The book mainly shares many descriptions of her Holocaust experiences and life after.

References[edit source | edit]

Jump up^ USC Shoah Foundation Institute testimony of Ruth Posner
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Posner, Ruth Bits and Pieces of My Life R & MSP Publishing (2012) ISBN 9781471771514
Jump up^ Posner's profile on the London Contemporary Dance School website
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Posner on the Internet Movie Database
Jump up^ Posner on the Russian Theatre Festival 2010 website
Jump up^ Posner's official website
Jump up^ Hiawatha Posner's theatre credits on the Theatricalia website

External links[edit source | edit]

My best acting was in the war' - The Guardian 19 March 2001
Posner on castingcallpro.com
Agent Roger Carey

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