A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER is preparing to celebrate turning 100 with friends and family from around the world.

Rosi Ruben, of Meadow Drive, Hendon, will celebrate her birthday tomorrow (September 25) with her two daughters, Stephanie Ruben, 65, and Jackie Robinson, 71.

Family and friends from Brazil, America, Israel and more will join Mrs Ruben for a party at Hendon Hall Hotel next week.

Mrs Ruben, who has four granddaughters and one 14-year-old great granddaughter, grew up in Germany to Polish Jewish parents.

One of nine children, she became a teacher after leaving school.

She said: “We were very close. We had a wonderful childhood because everybody looked after each other.”

But one night in October 1938, the Gestapo stormed the boarding school she worked at, and sent her to an internment camp in Poland.

She said: “I knew there was no way of arguing. I had to go into the dormitories to get out three of the children, and we had to go to the police station. I realised I had to keep my wits about me.”

She added: “I was ashamed of having a Polish passport, but it saved my life.”

A few months later, Mrs Ruben helped children escape to England on the Kindertransport.

She said: “It was heart breaking getting them away from their parents and all their friends.”

Shortly before war broke out, she settled in London, where she eventually met her husband, Jules Ruben, a renowned jazz musician.

Miraculously, the rest of her family survived World War Two, after they were hidden by farmers in Belgium.

She said: “I was elated when the war ended because I knew I would see them again. You cannot describe the reunion. It was a terrific moment.”

In 1954, Mrs Ruben moved to Hendon with Jules, and worked as a teacher in Wembley until retirement. Jules passed away in 2006, aged 94.

Speaking about turning 100, she said: “People make such a fuss, I laugh about it. I have been 99 for a whole year, and nobody turned a hair. I have had a very lucky life.”