Ruth Manuela Pflüger Rosenberg Lara (17 September 1936 – 25 October 2000) was a Portuguese-Angolan educator, mathematician, translator, and activist.
She was the First Lady of Angola briefly, after her husband, physicist-mathematician, anti-colonial revolutionary, and politician Lúcio Lara, took office for 9 days on an interim basis after the death of Agostinho Neto.
Her parents were persecuted by Nazi Germany and had taken refuge in Lisbon, due to Lotte being Jewish and Hermann being a Communist militant.
It was during this time that she also met Angolan student Lúcio Lara,[1] already an important leader in the anti-colonial movement in Angola.
At this point, Lúcio was able throw off the secret police, going to, among other places, Rome, Tunis, Rabat, and Casablanca, while Ruth stayed in East Germany.
[1] From there, the family went to Conakry, where Lúcio would head the first international office of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in Africa.
[1] At the end of 1974, the party became known for having Lúcio participate in diplomatic negotiations on Angola's independence, taking part in the historic first delegation of the MPLA that was officially received in Luanda.
[1] On Angola's independence day, with Henrique Onambwé, Joaquina, and Cici Cabral, Ruth helped to create the Angolan flag.