Herbert Otto Roth (7 December 1917 – 27 May 1994) was a notable New Zealand socialist, labourer, librarian and historian. He was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria in 1917. In Austria, he was known as "Otti" but in New Zealand he was known as "Bert". Roth was the leader of the

Red Falcons Red Falcons was the name of various socialist children's organizations, popular in Europe and the United States which emerged during the First and Second World Wars. The first such group was founded in the early 20th century by Anton Tesarek, a soci ...

in Austria. He fled from thereto avoid conscription after having sworn an allegiance to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. He then lived in Grenoble, where he was later imprisoned as an enemy alien. His mother managed to organise a permit for him to emigrate to New Zealand, and he arrived in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in April 1940. He immediately became politically active in left-wing circles, but was forbidden by the Department of Justice to take on official positions, as he was classed as an enemy alien. Roth applied for naturalisation in 1944, and was granted

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

in March 1946. Roth joined the

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

and this allowed him to study towards a Bachelor of Arts degree at

Victoria University College Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

. After attending the New Zealand Library School, he worked for the National Library Service in Wellington. He was later the president of the New Zealand Library Association. In January 1962, he started work for the

University of Auckland Library The University of Auckland is a public university, public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest, most comprehensive and highest-ranked university in New Zealand and consistently places among the top 100 universit ...

. He retired in 1983. He married Margaret (Margot) Frances Hogben on 29 November 1946. She was a journalist, and the granddaughter of George Hogben, the seismologist. Roth's first book was a biography him. After that, Roth mostly wrote about labour history. His most important work is ''Trade unions in New Zealand past and present'', which was published in 1973. He was a major collector of union and labour publications, and his collection is today a major resource for the

Alexander Turnbull Library The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''Nat ...

. He died at his home in Mount Eden on 27 May 1994. He was survived by his divorced wife, two sons and a daughter. In recognition of Roth's contribution to labour movement archives and history, the Bert Roth Award for Labour History was created by the Labour History Project in May 2013. It is awarded annually to the best work in the field of labour history published in the previous calendar year.

References

External links

Labour History Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roth, Herbert Otto 1917 births 1994 deaths 20th-century New Zealand historians New Zealand librarians New Zealand socialists Writers from Vienna Austrian emigrants to New Zealand Victoria University of Wellington alumni People educated at Gymnasium Wasagasse

See also

References

External links