Elias Canetti was a German-language writer, born in Ruse, Bulgaria to a Sephardic Jewish family. They moved to Manchester, England, but his father died in 1912, and his mother took her three sons back to continental Europe. They settled in Vienna.

Ruse is the fifth largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, approximately 67 km (42 mi) south of Bucharest, Romania's capital, 172 km (107 mi) from Varna and 249 km (155 mi) from the capital Sofia. Thanks to its location and its railway and road bridge over the Danube, it is the most significant Bulgarian river port, serving an important part of the international trade of the country. It is the 12th largest of all cities on the Danube river.