Nathan Roth - February 4, 1983
Family
You were already married when you came?
I was married. I married, I met, I met Edith in uh, in Ungvar. In fact at the American Joint Distribution Committee, they had a soup kitchen, but it wasn't exactly a soup kitchen the way we think about it today. It was a quite an elaborate uh, building with a restaurant with tables and uh, and uh, two or three or four course meals, that's where I met my wife. I met her. We got married in a November 25th, '45.
And you have how many children?
I have three children. The oldest one is Victor. Avigdor is named after my father, Zwi Avigdor. He is thirty-five, I think. He lives in Dallas, near my sister. He is not married, happy bachelor.
Next child...
My next child is Robert Shlomo, he is named after him. And he is married. He gave me my first granddaughter. He just--I never realized you can have so much pleasure from my, it's almost, it's almost indescribable how much pleasure she gives us. And uh, my, my, my daughter Lisa. Her name is Devora and she is named after my uh, wife's younger sister who never made it. My wife had uh, also a sister who didn't make it. A sister, a little brother who didn't make it.
Your granddaughter's name?
It is Elana, Elana Rochelle.
She is named after who?
She is named uh, Elana is, the Rochelle is after my mother, is after, no, my wife's mother. And the Elana is just, they wanted to pick a nice real Hebrew name that she'll carry through the rest of her life. Both in English and Hebrew. She doesn't have like me I'm Naftali and Nathan and my son Robert who is Rob and Shlomo and her name is Elana, period.
And her mother's name?
Her mother's name is Tamara. Her mother is converted to Judaism and her name, she took the name off Tamara, her name is Kay. And uh...
Your daughter's husband's name? She is recently married, isn't she?
Yes, she is recently. Her name is Jane Ralphert. Very nice guy. You know the nice thing about this is that the family all menschen are winners, as menschen, as people. They are good people, all of them. It's, it's a great source of satisfaction. It is hard to describe, but it is a great inner source of satisfaction to, to have a, have a family like that. And I, hope to have more grandchildren, before too long.
Is there anything else you want to add to this?
I just uh, I hope that something like this never happens again. Any place. Any place. You know what bothers me? What really bothers me now? Is that I read in the paper yesterday or the day before, it is happening again in, in the dark continent of Africa. There is no wild cry about it at all. There is 2 million people being chased out over borders from, from, from Nigeria to Ghana and there is nothing being done. The world is not shouting, why tonight midnight, why not give them two months to get out, why uh, pile them like cattle in ships and they get drowned and they get killed? Why? Where is the world outcry now? What are the United Nations say, "Hey, wait a minute, these are people, you come in and give them some time to get out if you want to get rid of them?" Why? I see a headline maybe on page four over here or six over there. Where is the outcry about millions of people being drawn through the same thing? Because there is hundreds of thousands that are going to be dying over there. It bothers me very much. I think that's about it.
Thank you for your time.
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