The long, successful life Arnold Roth has had after being liberated is the best kind of revenge on the Nazis.
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By Sydney Page at The Washington Post, via Jewish World Review 7/21/25:
Eight decades later, a Holocaust survivor reunites with his liberator
"Jack Moran entered Buchenwald concentration camp on April 11, 1945. Immediately, he said, he was overcome by what he saw.
"An American soldier, Moran was there to help liberate more than 21,000
people, most of them Jews, who had been imprisoned there for months or
even years.
"Moran, then 19, saw emaciated prisoners barely clinging to life.
"They treated them like cattle," he said. "They were malnourished; they needed medical attention."
"Among the prisoners was Andrew Roth, a Jewish Hungarian teenager who had
survived several concentration camps, including Auschwitz. Roth, 97,
remembers the day he was liberated from Buchenwald with complete
clarity.
"It was unbelievable," he said.
"Recently, 80 years after the men first crossed paths, their lives
intersected once again — though this time in Los Angeles, where they
both live. Their reunion was arranged by the USC Shoah Foundation, with
the goal of bringing together a survivor and a liberator whose lives
converged amid the horrors of the war. The reunion was first reported by
NPR.
"Organizations like the USC Shoah Foundation are racing against time to acquire as many firsthand accounts as possible.
"We are at this tipping point where the history could be lost, or it
could remain relevant for future generations," said Robert Williams,
chief executive officer of the USC Shoah Foundation. "I knew we were at a
moment where both the liberators and the survivors were passing very
quickly."
"For Williams, the reunion between Roth and Moran felt urgent. Williams' own great-uncle, Cliff, was also a Buchenwald liberator.
"No one who was touched by the Holocaust walks away unchanged," he said.
"This is a subject that shaped the present world, and we need to
remember it."
"Williams arranged for Roth and Moran to meet on June 5. He knew their
conversation — which was recorded — would be meaningful to both of
them, as well as those who listened to it.
"We've seen how powerful it has been in the past when survivors and
liberators had the chance to meet one another and share their common
bond," he said.
"Indeed, although Moran and Roth had entirely different experiences
during the Second World War, they felt an immediate kinship and
connection.
"We felt like brothers," said Moran, who is 99.
"I don't cry easily," Roth said, "but my eyes welled up when I saw him."
"Both men recounted their stories.
"Roth was born in Penészlek — a small village in Hungary — in September
1927, to an orthodox Jewish family. He had five siblings, only one of
whom survived the Holocaust.
"The Nazis deported Roth and his family to a ghetto in Romania in 1944,
and not long after, they were sent in a cattle car to the Auschwitz
death camp.
"After what seemed like an eternity, the train stopped," Roth recalled. "It was full of people, many of them were dead already."
"When Roth arrived at the camp, he lied about his age, claiming he was 18
(he was 16), making him eligible to work. Guards were separating people
into two lines, and while his mother and siblings went in one line,
Roth followed his uncle and cousin to the other.
"It was my instinct," said Roth, who received a numbered tattoo on his
left arm by the Nazis, as part of their system to track and manage
prisoners at Auschwitz.
"His family was murdered in a gas chamber that same day.
"Roth was transported to a forced labor camp, Buna, a sub-camp of
Auschwitz. He remained there for about nine months, until he was moved
to Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. Roth remained there for
about three months until he was liberated.
"It was hell on earth. We had no blankets, no mattresses, no heat," Roth said. "You had to be very resourceful to survive."
"He remembers starving.
"I stole food from the German Shepherds and the garbage can," Roth said.
"I didn't mind climbing over a fence, even if I was electrified. I did
what I had to do."
"Writer Elie Wiesel was in Roth's block at Buchenwald, and after the war,
he went on to write "Night," a memoir based on his survival story.
"We had similar experiences, so when I read his book, I read my story,"
Roth said. "All the survivors, we felt like we were brothers."
"Before they were liberated, Roth said, they were not given food for 40 days.
"The only thing I ate in those 40 days was dog food," he said.
"When U.S. soldiers, including Moran, arrived to free him, "it was a sign
from heaven," Roth said. "I couldn't believe it could happen."
"Since that day, Roth has celebrated his birthday on April 11.
"I was born again" said Roth, who worked for the Hungarian Embassy in
Paris after the war, and later moved to Los Angeles, where he worked for
another Holocaust survivor who owned a carpet business. He went on to
start his own carpet business, and he continues to be a real estate
investor. He has two children and two grandchildren.
"For Moran, who was born in Superior, Wisconsin in 1925, April 11, 1945 was also a momentous day.
"It was a miracle," he said. "It felt good comforting these people, giving them some of our rations."
"Moran was 17 when he enlisted in the army, and he was deployed to the
battlefields of Western Europe in 1944. During his first battle in the
Saar Valley, he lost his four best friends.
"It was very sad … people were dropping like flies" he said. "I had seen
so many kids fallen. We took it as a product of war and kept going. We
had no choice."
"During the Battle of the Bulge — the final major German offensive on
the Western Front — Moran was stuck in a frozen foxhole for six days.
"We had no food after the third day, and the snow was our water because
we had no water," Moran said. "I was scared to death, freezing. There
were dead bodies around us but we couldn't move, we had to live with
them."
"While in Nazi-occupied Europe, Moran said he saw many signs of the Holocaust.
"I remember opening up the doors of several boxcars, and there would be
hundreds of suitcases," he said. "The owners never got to see their
suitcases again."
"It's tragic that someone had the power to do that to the human race," Moran added.
"Of the 33 men in his platoon, Moran said, only two returned to the
United States alive. Moran moved to Milwaukee after the war, then
settled in Los Angeles, where he worked for a brewing company. He has
three children, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
"It was just an absolute miracle that I survived," said Moran, who, for
the last 20 years, has spent his time connecting with the families of
lost soldiers. "That gives me great joy … to give them comfort."
"It also gave him joy to meet Roth, who he now considers "a good new friend."
"He and I hugged and shared our good thoughts," Moran said. "He thanked
me for liberating the camp, and I was congratulating him on being able
to survive."
"Their reunion was a powerful reminder of all that was lost — and saved.
"I'm grateful to people like Jack, who took the trouble to fight for us," Roth said. "It was very brave of them."
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