This exhibition took its name from the advice given to Ruth Gruber by photographer Edward Steichen. Yet looking at her work – in journalism, books, photography, and activism – it is clear that with or without that advice, she would do nothing short of observing and interpreting the world around her with an open heart and the desire to see the best in the human spirit. A world-renowned journalist, Gruber had backstage access to Jewish history: she escorted war refugees from Europe to America, visited DP camps, detailed the plight of the Exodus 1947, described the establishment of the State of Israel, and the documented State’s ingathering of refugees – from Europe, Iraq, North Africa, Yemen, and Ethiopia. Emissary for Harold Ickes and FDR, friend to Eleanor and Golda, Gruber’s life and work were inextricably bound with the rescue and survival of the Jewish people.
This exhibition was made possible through the generosity and admiration of Friends of Ruth Gruber.