Ruth Roth née Steinitz

Kurt and Ruth Roth had married in 1932. They lived what could be called privileged lives in the nearly thirty years they got to live in Germany – large apartments, good private education, respect in the community, many friends, vacations, some servants. Kurt worked for his father and father-in-law together in a successful export-import and insurance company. He was quite proud that he had “signature” authority. His wife Ruth worked too, in her parents’ belt factory.

It is not clear if it was Kurt’s second cousins in America who sponsored Kurt and his wife, or their own parents’ foresight, but in 1936, Kurt and Ruth Roth chose to leave their home, their friends, their family, their work and everything they knew to go on board of the SS Washington to New York City in the United States. There they settled in the Washington Heights neighborhood and had two children. Kurt worked for Adam Hat Company as an executive in the sales department and Ruth was a homemaker. In 1955 they moved the family from New York City to Dallas, Texas to follow the company for whom Kurt worked. They lived there until their deaths – Kurt in 1996 at age 90 and Ruth in 2006 at age 97.

In contrast to Kurt and Ruth, Kurt’s brother Ludwig and his parents Alfred and Elsa had decided to stay in Germany. They were deported and murdered in 1942.

The Stolperstein ceremonies in Berlin on September 30, 2022 were attended by Kurt and Ruth’s daughter and son, together with their spouses, their children and one of the five grandchildren.