Ruby Ring Symbol Analysis

In The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, the ruby ring that Alois Sträubleder gifts Katharina represents how deceptive storytelling can misrepresent reality. In one of Katharina’s early police interrogations, Head Crime Commissioner Beizmenne presents her with a ruby ring that investigating officers recovered from her apartment. She confirms that she recognizes the ring but was not aware of how valuable it was until Beizmenne told her its worth (approximately 8,000 to 10,000 marks). Later, it’s revealed that Alois Sträubleder, an important conversative politician, gave Katharina the ring as part of a series of romantic advances he made on her after meeting her at a party. Although it’s clear to all officers present for the interrogation that Katharina is being honest when she admits that she didn’t know how valuable the ring was, and although she will later explain that she never had any interest in Alois and that all his advances on her were unwanted, Beizmenne (and later the News) will use the ring to bolster their narrative of Katharina as a deceitful and immoral woman and Alois as her unfortunate, blameless victim, using the ruby ring as evidence that Katharina used her charm to seduce the wealthy and well-connected Alois out of greed.

In this way, then, the ruby ring also represents how wealth and social status influence the press and the police’s treatment of Katharina and Alois. While the News and the police use Katharina’s status as an unimportant, working-class woman to attack her character, accusing her of greed and immorality, Alois’s status as an important and well-connected conservative politician protects him from being subjected to the ruthless character assassination the News imposes on Katharina.