Beate Ruhm von Oppen was born July 2, 1918, in Zürich, Switzerland. She was raised in Germany and later completed her secondary education in Holland. In 1936, she moved to England to study at the University of Birmingham. While in England, she worked as a researcher and translator for the British Foreign Office during World War II. Her remarkable career led her to pursue further translation projects in the United States, where she also was a visiting scholar and lecturer for various universities.

She became a tutor at St. John’s College, Annapolis, in 1960. She continued to teach at St. John’s until her death in 2004, making her one of the longest serving members of faculty. She gave lectures on the history of German resistance to Nazism, as well as some of her analytical interpretations of Bach’s musical compositions. She was also an editor and contributor for the St. John’s Review from 1973-2004. During her time at St. John’s, she also published her most well-known book, Letters to Freya: 1939-1945, a compilation and translation of Count Helmuth James von Moltke’s letters to his wife during the height of Nazi Germany.