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Holocaust Survivor Charlotte Roth Makes Aliyah at 96
Nearly 80 years after liberation from Auschwitz, five generations accompany her home to Israel.
Nearly eight decades after surviving the horrors of Auschwitz, 96-year-old Charlotte Roth has fulfilled a lifelong journey making aliyah to Israel surrounded by five generations of her family.
Born in Czechoslovakia, Roth was deported with her family in 1944 to Auschwitz. She endured the brutality of the concentration camp and survived a death march before liberation. From the ashes of Europe, she rebuilt her life in a Displaced Persons camp, later immigrating to the United States, where she married and raised four children in Ohio.
On Wednesday in Tel Aviv, Roth completed her immigration process with the assistance of Nefesh B’Nefesh, Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority, and partnering Jewish organizations. The moment was not only bureaucratic it was profoundly symbolic.
“Walking these streets with five generations of my family fills my heart with deep joy and strength,” Roth said, reflecting on a journey that began in unimaginable darkness and has culminated in the Jewish homeland.
Her family today numbers nine grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, and 11 great-great-grandchildren many of whom already live in Israel. From a survivor of genocide to a matriarch of a flourishing Jewish dynasty, Roth’s life embodies the triumph of continuity over destruction.
Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, co-founder of Nefesh B’Nefesh, described her aliyah as “a testament to the extraordinary spirit of the Jewish people.” Her story is not only personal; it mirrors the larger arc of modern Jewish history from exile and devastation to sovereignty and renewal.
Aliyah has long symbolized more than relocation. For Holocaust survivors in particular, settling in Israel represents the ultimate affirmation of Jewish survival and self-determination.
At 96, Charlotte Roth did not simply immigrate. She came home.
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