Prominent Holocaust survivor and rights activist Dora Roth dies at 92
Roth fought for government benefits for victims of Nazis; shocked lawmakers into silence in 2013 with broadside against Knesset committee
Dora Roth, a well-known Holocaust survivor and rights activist, died in Israel on Tuesday at the age of 92.
Roth was a prominent activist in Israel, known for fighting for better rights and conditions for Holocaust survivors.
In 2013, Roth shocked members of the Knesset’s Health and Welfare Committee into silence when she lost patience with their proceedings and blasted the government for wasting time on endless debates while abandoning survivors to die in poverty.
“What you’re doing to the survivors is a crime and a disgrace. [Former prime minister David] Ben-Gurion made a pact, promising we would receive money for the rest of our lives,” said Roth, a resident of Tivon who immigrated to Israel in 1952 after losing her family and enduring WWII-Europe as a child.
“What have you done with the money?” demanded Roth, pointing her finger at the attending politicians. “Seeing a Holocaust survivor who can’t afford to heat his home in the winter and can’t afford to buy food or medicine is your disgrace. I don’t care about your committees. They mean nothing to us. I came all the way here to ask you one thing: Let us die in dignity.”
A month and a half after the Knesset meeting, Roth met with then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to argue for better treatment of Holocaust survivors. Netanyahu told her, “I was very impressed by what you said, by your passion and your truth.”
Roth said her parents were killed during the Holocaust and she was imprisoned in the Warsaw and Vilnius ghettoes for six years. German soldiers shot her twice in the back and she contracted tuberculosis during the war, she said.
The Foundation for the Welfare of Holocaust Victims said after her death, “Roth was a Holocaust survivor who was a great bright light throughout her life for many survivors. She was a voice for them as they struggled in Knesset committees and before decision makers.”
A survey released earlier this year found that over half of the Holocaust survivors living in Israel require food handouts, with many saying they don’t have the funds to pay for essentials such as eyeglasses and hearing aids.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2020, there were 179,600 people defined as Holocaust survivors living in Israel.
