 When the Nazis came to power, her parents sent the young girl on a Kindertransport to a school in Switzerland for safety. They remained behind because of her elderly grandmother. Both of Ruth's parents were murdered by the Nazis in concentration camps. Ruth Westheimer never again was hugged as a child after the age of 10. She spent six years in a Swiss orphanage. When World War II ended, Westheimer emigrated to British-controlled Mandatory Palestine.