Ruth Schneeweiss

Ruth Schneeweiss was born in 1911 into the environment of a well-to-do, assimilated and educated bourgeois family. She received her elementary education privately and then changed to a city secondary school for girls, known today as the Körnerschule.

There, she showed great talent in sports and the arts and afterward began studying art in Vienna, where Schneeweiss devoted herself to creating ceramic pottery. Ruth had a close bond with her brother Walter, who soon shared her love of Zionism.

Taking part in the Fiera del Levante trade show in Tel Aviv in 1934 would end up changing her life. She decided to continue her professional career by acquiring an interest in a ceramic pottery business in Palestine. Her desire to invest all of her energy in building an independent state that Jewish people could be proud of can clearly be seen in her works.

However, Ruth Schneeweiss’s sudden death during a visit to Linz in 1935 destroyed all of those plans. Her family and an extensive circle of friends mourned her passing. Her ceramic works survived the family’s escape into exile and their new beginnings in numerous countries.