About 50 students packed into a small room in the New University Union last Wednesday night to hear Irving Roth, a Holocaust survivor from Czechoslovakia, share his life story of losing his childhood at age nine, surviving the Auschwitz concentration camp and experiencing the series of “miracles” that brought him and both of his parents through the war alive.
The event commemorated the 67th anniversary of Kristallnacht, also known as “The Night of the Broken Glass,” a massive destruction of synagogues and Jewish businesses in Czechoslovakia, in which at least 91 Jews were murdered and 7,500 businesses destroyed.
Roth reflected on the morning he received word of Kristallnacht; he said he knew his life would never be the same.
“The Holocaust for Irving Roth began that morning. My life was perfect, until that day,” he said.
From the morning after Kristallnacht, to his systematic removal from society through the implementation of anti-Semetic policies, through his time in Auschwitz, and finally his return home, Roth shared his story with the hope of teaching his audience something about tolerance and the importance of standing up against injustice.
“This is the message: when you see evil, you cannot stand by and do nothing,” he said.
Students and faculty in attendance were moved, many of them to tears, by Roth’s story.
Jacob Harel, a junior biochemistry major, had an emotional reaction to Roth’s story.
“It was the first speech I have ever cried at,” he said.
Harel said that the most emotional part of Roth’s story was his description of his mother’s face as he walked through the door of his old home following years of separation from his parents, during which they weren’t even sure if he was alive.
“The most moving part was just thinking about his mother’s reaction to seeing a child she never thought she’d see again,” he said.
While most of his family and friends lost their lives during the war, Roth and both of his parents survived because of a series of what he called “miracles.”
Roth’s parents lived in hiding for two years in a one-bedroom apartment in Budapest with three other people who were brave enough to take them in.
“My parents survived because someone cared, someone stood up and said ‘this is evil’,” Roth said.
His father also survived an illness that nearly took his life, another one of the miracles granted to the Roth family.
The audience was visibly moved by Roth’s heartbreaking story.
Elizabeth Klein, the Holocaust chairwoman for Hillel, said that the event was even better than she had expected, noting that they had to bring in extra chairs to accommodate all of those who came to hear Roth speak.
“I felt like everyone felt it together,” she said. “There was something very strong in the air.”
At the end of Roth’s story, when members of the audience were given an opportunity to ask questions, one student inquired how it was possible for Roth, who was amiable and lighthearted even in rehashing his most gruesome memories, to keep from getting angry.
“I don’t want to be miserable,” Roth answered, “I want to be happy; I’m alive.”
He said that his aim in sharing his story with students is to remind them to stand up against intolerance wherever they see it.
“If I have taught you anything today,” he said, “put an extra nail in the coffin of hatred, racism and bigotry.”