Ruth Solomon, daughter of Mina and Leon Schmalzbach, was born in Hechingen on November 3, 1920. Her parents had been wed beneath the chuppah on December 30, 1919.

Her mother Mina’s maiden name was Weil. She was born in Haigerloch in 1888 and attended the Höhere-Töchter school there for four years.

Her father Leon Schmalzbach was the last administrator of the rabbinate, cantor and teacher in the Jewish community of Hechingen. He was from Jaroslau in Galicia. He had emigrated to Munich with his parents, where another five siblings would be born.