Herbert Otto Roth

Herbert Otto Roth , later often called Bert Roth in New Zealand , (* December 7, 1917 in Vienna , Austria ; † May 27, 1994 in Mount Eden , Auckland , New Zealand), was an Austro-New Zealand socialist , historian and librarian at the university of Auckland .

Early years

Herbert Otto Roth was born in Vienna on December 7, 1917 as the son of Therese Pepi Heilpern and her husband Emil Roth , a railway engineer. As a child he was considered a bit introverted and an avid reader of books.

Interested in the political left at an early age , he joined the Red Student Union in Vienna during his last school year in 1934 . In 1935 Roth enrolled at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Vienna and studied physics and chemistry, but broke off his studies in 1938 due to the political changes in Austria in the 6th semester. In 1936 he joined the Rote Falken and became their state chairman in September 1937.

Escape from National Socialism

After the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938 and his conscription for military service, Roth fled via Germany to Switzerland and later to France . Roth tried to continue his chemistry studies in Grenoble , but was interned as an enemy in France after the Second World War . His mother, who fled to England in 1938 , helped him to emigrate to New Zealand in February 1940.

Life and work in New Zealand

Coming from France, Roth reached Wellington in April 1940, where he was not recognized as a political refugee but was viewed as an immigrant from enemy territory. Through his mother's contacts, Roth met the influential New Zealand left-wing economist and intellectual Bill Sutch , who was to become his mentor. Roth attended his readings at the Workers' Educational Associations (WEA) in Wellington and very soon made contact with the political left in New Zealand.

In 1941 he became a member of the Society for Closer Relations with Russia . He became a founding member of the left Young People's Club and its first elected secretary. But the Department of Justice intervened because they saw him as an enemy alien. Roth applied for New Zealand citizenship in 1944, which he received in March 1946.

Since arriving in New Zealand, Roth has worked in various jobs in a wide variety of industries, such as a temporary worker in a foundry, as a worker on a dairy farm in Wairarapa , as a woodworker in Petone and as an apprentice carpenter at Fletcher Construction . Called up for military service in 1944, he went to the Royal New Zealand Air Force and worked for them on Norfolk Island as a meteorologist. During his service in the Air Force , he enrolled at Victoria College in Wellington and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1946 . In August 1946 he first worked as a meteorologist in the civilian sector in the Rongotai district , where Wellington Airport is today.

On November 29, 1946, Roth married his wife Margaret Frances Hogben , a journalist and later poet . She later became known under the name Margot Roth . The marriage resulted in two sons and a daughter.

In 1947 Roth attended the New Zealand Library School , followed a year later by employment as a department head in the National Library Service in Wellington . In 1952 he took over another department and stayed there until 1961. In 1956 he became an associate member of the New Zealand Library Association , in 1964 its member (FNZLA) and later its president. From January 1962 until his retirement in January 1983, he worked as an assistant librarian at the University of Auckland . In 1968 he also took on responsibility as an archivist .

Roth's first book was published in 1952. It was a biography about the New Zealand educator George Hogben , his father-in-law. In the 1950s and 1960s, most of his writing appeared in academic journals. This was followed by further publications in book form. But most of his writings are unpublished. His collection of historical documents, starting with the so-called Waterfront Dispute in 1951, in which up to 22,000 dock workers were on strike for 151 days, to documents that he collected until his death, can still be found today in the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington can be viewed.

Roth lived separated from his wife from 1981 and was divorced on June 6, 1984. He died on May 27, 1994 at his home in Mount Eden .

Works

• Herbert Otto Roth: George Hogben: a biography . Whitcombe & Tombs , Christchurch 1952 (English, on behalf of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research ).
• Herbert Otto Roth: Trade Unions in New Zealand, Past and Present . Reed Education , Wellington 1973 (English).
• Herbert Otto Roth: The Historical Framework . In: John Deeks (Ed.): Industrial Relations in New Zealand . 1978 (English).
• Bert Roth, Janny Hammond : Toil and Trouble The Struggle for a Better Life in New Zealand . Methuen Publishing Ltd , Auckland 1981, ISBN 0-456-02860-9 (English).
• Bert Roth : Along the line: 100 years of Post Office Unionism . Ed .: New Zealand Post Office Union . Wellington 1990, ISBN 0-473-00958-7 (English).
• Herbert Otto Roth: New Zealand Trade Unions - a Bibliography . Auckland University Press , Auckland 1994, ISBN 0-19-647967-3 (English, 2nd edition).
• Herbert Otto Roth: Parnell, Samuel Duncan (exemplary) . In: Ministry for Culture & Heritage (Ed.): Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . ISBN 978-0-478-18451-8 (English, online [accessed October 28, 2012] Roth wrote a wide variety of biographies for the lexicon).
• was the author of several articles on working-class people and subjects in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand , Wellington , 1966, edited by Alexander Hare McLintock .

Web links

• Kerry Taylor : Roth, Herbert Otto . Dictionary of New Zealand Biography - Ministry for Culture & Heritage , accessed October 28, 2012 . 
• Roth, Herbert Otto . Dictionary of New Zealand Biography - Ministry for Culture & Heritage,accessed October 28, 2012(English, photo by Herbert Otto Roth). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Roth, Herbert Otto . In: Australasian Biographical Archive . De Gruyter Saur, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-598-32925-3 (English, 542 microfiches).
2. ↑ Herbert Otto Roth. In: Memorial Book for the Victims of National Socialism at the University of Vienna in 1938. University of Vienna, accessed on October 26, 2012 .  
3. ↑ ^{a b} werky Taylor : Roth Herbert Otto . Dictionary of New Zealand Biography - Ministry for Culture & Heritage , accessed October 28, 2012 .  
4. ^ The 1951 waterfront dispute . New Zealand History Online - Ministry for Culture & Heritage , accessed October 28, 2012 .