The Diamant family settled in Leszno after the town had already been incorporated into Poland, at the turn of 1921 and 1922. Moses was a merchant originally from Konstantynów Łódzki, his wife Frieda, née Stecka, was born in Będzin. They came to Wielkopolska from Saxony, where their two older daughters, Edith and Cilla, were born (APL, Leszno City Files, file no. 1529, p. 8). The youngest Ruth was born in 1923 or 1924. In Leszno, she attended the Polish Common School No. 4. Her further education was interrupted by the outbreak of war. After the German army entered Poland, Ruth and her parents went to Łódź and then to Koluszki. Thanks to a chance meeting with Marianna Majchrzak, the Diamant family moved to Tomaszów Mazowiecki. In May 1940, the whole family found themselves behind the wires of the local ghetto.
With the help of the friendly Majchrzak family, Ruth obtained Aryan papers in the name of Zofia Olszewska and, as a Pole, she and their daughter Stefania volunteered to work in Germany. The girls were sent to Szczecin, where they were employed in a restaurant as kitchen help and then in the cardboard packaging factory "Wulcan Druck". In 1943, Stefania returned to her parents and Ruth remained in Szczecin until 1945. There she bonded with Peppe Razim, a worker from the Czech Republic. After the war, they moved to Prague. Ruth's parents died or were murdered in Tomaszów Mazowiecki. Both of her older sisters survived the occupation: Edith with her husband Perec Friedländer (as Elżbieta and Paweł Wnuk) and Cecylia with her daughter Jadwiga (Letter from Stephanie Mroczkowska to the Director of the District Museum in Leszno, 2 August 1994).
The photograph shows Ruth Diamant (right) and Stefania Majchrzak in the early days of their stay in Szczecin. The photograph was taken in the summer of 1941. The faces of both girls are pensive, expressing anxiety and uncertainty. Their smiles are subdued and their gaze focused, directed ahead. Both are dressed in jackets and blouses, with hats on their heads. On the back a handwritten description reads: "In memory/ for all/ from Stefa./ Szczecin 1941."
The photograph was given to the District Museum in Leszno in 1994 by Stephenie (Stefania) Mroczkowska, née Majchrzak, a resident of Arlington, Illinois (USA). She was Ruth's closest friend and companion in her escape from the Tomaszów Mazowiecki Ghetto to Szczecin.
Dariusz Czwojdrak