Beginning in 1941, Ruta’s Closet captures the extraordinary survival story of the Jewish Kron family and their neighbours during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania. The eldest daughter of Meyer and Gita Kron, Ruta, with writer Keith Morgan, helps tell this the harrowing story of life under Nazi rule.
Pre-war, the Jewish population of Lithuania was estimated at more than 200 thousand people. In 1945, the Krons were three people among a surviving population of only 2000. The family then lived under Soviet rule before fleeing in May 1946. They arrived in Canada in 1951, Ruta became Ruth, and went on to marry, have a family and pursue a career as Director of the Women’s Resources Centre at the University of British Columbia. Little was said about her horrific past and the adult Ruth struggled to come to terms with her wartime experience. As Ruth grew older, the need for reflection and a perception of rising anti-Semitism finally persuaded her to tell her story.
Vancouver journalist Keith Morgan met Ruth in 1997 when he was working on a series for The Province newspaper about outstanding community members. After learning of her Holocaust survival story, Morgan created a four-part youth-oriented series for The Province in 2000. The series was an unprecedented success and boosted sales by 30 thousand copies during its run. The pair then decided to translate Ruth’s experience into a biography. The resulting Ruta’s Closet is a work based on Ruth’s own memory, primary source family journals and interviews with survivors. The story is supplemented by Morgan’s own research on the period, including details taken from trips to the Kron’s hometown of Shavl, Lithuania, as well as Israel, Poland and number of U.S. cities where other survivors currently live.
Ruta’s Closet is a work described by historian Sir Martin Gilbert as “…one of the finest Holocaust memoirs.” More than one thousand copies of this special limited first edition, published in cooperation with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, are being sent out to donors as part of the organization’s spring fundraising drive. A further 1,000 will be made available for sale through local bookstores and online. An eBook version will also be available for download from commercial sites. An episodic version of the book aimed at youth, as well as accompanying teaching materials is expected to be available in the fall. 
It is hoped that the educational message spread by Ruth Kron Sigal, who passed away in 2008, will live on in this publishing venture. Her legacy also continues through The Meyer & Gita Kron & Ruth Kron Sigal Award, an award given annually at UBC’s Youth Holocaust Symposium to an elementary or high school teacher who has demonstrated a commitment to Holocaust education.