Archives West Finding Aid

Ruth Zadek Fast was born in Stettin, Germany (1920) into a secular Jewish Zionist family with musical talents. She was the middle child with an older sister, Hilde, and a younger sister, Edith. Ruth joined Hadassah’s Youth Aliya when she was 14 (1934) and immigrated to Palestine after restrictions against the Jews were introduced in Germany. She lived on a kibbutz for two years and eventually in Tel Aviv on her own. When her family immigrated from Germany to Palestine after Kristallnacht (1938,) she moved with them to Jerusalem where they opened a shoe business. Ruth sang with the Palestine Broadcasting Service choir. She served with the British Army in Palestine and Cairo and rose to the rank of lieutenant. Ruth emigrated to New York in 1947 as tensions rose in Palestine. Interested in meeting family in the West, she traveled by bus to Portland Oregon. There she met and married Alfred Fast, an immigrant and Austrian-trained architect. Ruth has a daughter (Josey), granddaughter (Alexandra) and son (Daniel). She and Alfred divorced in 1968. Ruth credited Henrietta Szold and Youth Aliya with helping her immigrate to Palestine and served Hadassah wherever she lived in many capacities. She was President of the Seattle Mt Scopus chapter and a member of the Herzl and Beth Am choirs. Philosophically, Ruth dismissed any difficulties she encountered with “ein brera,” there was no choice. Now, at age 99, she views her life and the world with optimism.