Emerich Roth
{{Short description|Czech-born Swedish author (1924–2022)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Emerich Roth
| image = Emerich Roth under Romernas minnesdag på Raoul Wallenbergs torg i Stockholm 2017.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Roth in 2017
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1924|08|28|df=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|01|22|1924|08|28|df=y}}
| death_place = Stockholm, Sweden
| birth_place = Veľká Sevljuš, Czechoslovakia
| nationality = Swedish
| occupation = Author, social worker
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Emerich Roth (28 August 1924 – 22 January 2022) was a Czechoslovakian-born Swedish Holocaust survivor, author, lecturer and social worker who worked with spreading information about racism, violence, and Nazi atrocities.{{cite news |title=94-åriga överlevaren: Läget är mycket oroande |url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/svenskahjaltar/a/qngwLL/94-ariga-overlevaren-laget-ar-mycket-oroande |publisher=Aftonbladet}}{{cite news |title=Nazistbråk vid skola i Stockholm – en gripen |url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/QvoOx/nazistbrak-vid-skola-i-stockholm--en-gripen |publisher=Aftonbladet}}{{cite news |title=Han visar vägen ut ur hatet |url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/svenskahjaltar/a/5VRR9E/han-visar-vagen-ut-ur-hatet |publisher=Aftonbladet}}
Biography
Roth was born in Veľká Sevljuš in Czechoslovakia{{cite web|title=Elever fick möta Auschwitzvittne|date=16 March 2015|url=https://mitti.se/nyheter/elever-fick-mota-auschwitzvittne/|publisher=Mitt i Stockholm|accessdate=23 November 2016|archive-date=23 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161123133747/https://mitti.se/nyheter/elever-fick-mota-auschwitzvittne/|url-status=dead}} (now Vynohradiv in Ukraine) and grew up in Czechoslovakia with four younger sisters in a city of 15,000 inhabitants. When the Nazis arrived in the city, the city's 3,000 Jews were first forced to move to a makeshift ghetto, before the order came to move to "work for a shorter time in another country". After a several-day long train transport in overcrowded livestock carts without water and food, the train arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau.{{cite news |title=Emerich, 88: Är min livsuppgift att berätta |url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/svenskahjaltar/a/P3nRRp/emerich-88-ar-min-livsuppgift-att-beratta |publisher=Aftonbladet}}
Roth's mother and two of his little sisters Magdalena, 12, and Judit, 10, were immediately brought to the gas chambers, while his father, his sisters Edit, 17, and Elisabeth, 15, and Emerich himself were taken to labor camps. His father was murdered during one of the death marches at the end of the war, and his sister Edit died in another camp.
He was an inmate in five different concentration camps, and only he and his sister Elisabeth survived. After the war, Emerich was in bad shape and was 1.75 meters tall and weighed only 34 kilograms. He was in the hospital and received a letter from someone with the same last name, which was his cousin. The letter stated that his sister had survived and was in Sweden.
Roth came to Sweden in December 1950 and trained and worked for 30 years as a social worker.{{cite web |title=Emerich Roth – åretsNelson Mandela pristagare |url=http://www.fryshuset.se/documents/Fryshuset/fryshuset%20i%20city/fryshuset_i_city_emerich_roth_mandelapris_080603_sthlm.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100824001738/http://www.fryshuset.se/documents/Fryshuset/fryshuset%20i%20city/fryshuset_i_city_emerich_roth_mandelapris_080603_sthlm.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2010-08-24 |website=Fryshuset}} During these years he chose not to tell about his experiences, but was greatly influenced by a Nazi demonstration in Stockholm in 1992.
From 1993, he visited at least 1,600 schools around Sweden with the aim of countering racism. He was one of the founders of the Holocaust Survivor Association. He founded the nonprofit Emerich Foundation in 1994, which aims to encourage young people to do "activities that counter violence and xenophobia and pave the way for a pleasant and humane school environment".
He published several books on the theme of violence and racism, including Emerich är mitt namn: Hatet, förnedringen, kärleken (Emerich's My Name: Hate, Humiliation, Love). He also starred in many video-recorded documentaries and educational films.
Roth died on 22 January 2022, at the age of 97.{{Cite news|date=2022-01-22|title=Emerich Roth är död – "en oskattbar förlust"|url=https://www.dn.se/kultur/emerich-roth-ar-dod-en-oskattbar-forlust/|access-date=2022-01-22|work=Dagens Nyheter|language=sv}}{{Cite web | url=https://www.dn.se/familj/dodsannonser/#/CaseInline/762281 | title=Dagens Nyheter }}
Awards
He has received several rewards for his work on informing about racism and abuse.
- H. M. The King's Medal 8th size in blue ribbon (1998){{cite web |title=Medalj |url=https://www.kungahuset.se/monarkinhovstaterna/ordnarochmedaljer/medaljer/medaljer/sokmedalj.4.30963a1811be3fda3ab800012080.html?medaljar=1998&medaljtyp=0&medaljnamn=roth |website=Kungahuset |access-date=2019-11-29 |archive-date=2021-01-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126213537/https://www.kungahuset.se/monarkinhovstaterna/ordnarochmedaljer/medaljer/medaljer/sokmedalj.4.30963a1811be3fda3ab800012080.html?medaljar=1998&medaljtyp=0&medaljnamn=roth |url-status=dead }}
- Stockholm City's Nelson Mandela award (2008){{cite news |title=Kärlek är motsatsen till hatet |url=https://www.lokaltidningen.nu/lokaltidningen/karlek-ar-motsatsen-till-hatet/repsbu!leqNkAPm2ZYEZ@DXbezNuQ/ |publisher=Lokaltidningen}}
- Karin and Ernst August Bångs commemorative award (1997)
- Svenska Hjältars pris (2012){{cite news |title=Emerich Roth: Alla vi som kan vittna är snart borta |url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/svenskahjaltar/a/yvGLPK/emerich-roth-alla-vi-som-kan-vittna-ar-snart-borta |publisher=Aftonbladet}}{{cite news |title="Bästa pris jag kunde få" |url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/svenskahjaltar/a/KvWG5y/basta-pris-jag-kunde-fa |publisher=Aftonbladet}}
- Raoul Wallenberg award (2015){{cite news |title=Överlevare delar på Raoul Wallenberg-pris |url=https://www.svd.se/forintelseoverlevare-delar-pa-raoul-wallenberg-pris/om/emerich-roth |publisher=Svenska Dagbladet}}
- Olof Palme Prize (2017){{Cite web|title=2017 – Hédi Fried and Emerich Roth {{!}} OLOF PALMES MINNESFOND|url=http://www.palmefonden.se/2017-hedi-fried-and-emerich-roth/|language=sv-SE|access-date=2020-05-23}}
- Sokratespriset (2019) (shared with Hédi Fried){{cite news |title=Hédi Fried och Emerich Roth får ärofyllt pris |url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/svenskahjaltar/a/lA9819/hedi-fried-och-emerich-roth-far-arofyllt-pris |publisher=Aftonbladet}}
References
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{{Footer Olof Palme Prize laureates}}
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Category:People from Vynohradiv
Category:Auschwitz concentration camp survivors
Category:Czechoslovak emigrants to Sweden