ROTH & STERN
FAMILIES

My father, Josef Samuel Roth, was born in Sečovce, Trebisov District in the Kosice Region on 25 January 1925 which was Czechoslovakia at that time. His mother, Alzbetti (Bertha) Stern was born in Hriadky, Trebisov District, Kosice Region, and his father, Ignatz Roth, was from the town of Kalsa in the Kosice-Okolie District, Kosice Region. All these towns were within 30 minutes of each other, with Sečovce being the more modern and populated town of the three.

Soon after, all the Stern family moved to Sečovce. My father’s family owned land and built a homestead that included a farm, a pub, an inn, and their living quarters.

My great-uncle Eugene Stern (Alzbetti’s brother) immigrated to America first, in 1903. My father, his brothers, and their parents were sponsored by Eugene Stern and immigrated to the United States in 1934.

My father was only nine years old when he arrived in Las Cruces, New Mexico. His uncle, Eugene Stern, was a prominent and fortunate figure in Las Cruces by this time and brought his sister and her husband Ignatz Roth to their home, a ranch with acreage. My father often discussed how he and his brothers studied English (and Spanish) nonstop to try and fit in with the other kids. Until her death in 1969, his mother never cared to learn English. She spoke Hungarian and Yiddish.

Unfortunately, all the remaining siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins of Eugene Stern did not leave Europe. There were some survivors after being imprisoned during the Shoah, however many perished as martyrs.

After the Shoah, my grandmother Alzbetti Stern and her brother Eugene were reunited with cousins that ended up in Caracas, Venezuela and in Los Angeles through a Hungarian support group. They brought the very sad news that the Jews who were left in the town of Sečovce were deported or escaped; most never to be seen again.

I have been able to trace back my father’s maternal side to Shmuel Stern, born in 1814 in Sečovce (Galszecs, Hungary, when he was born). My father’s paternal family is connected to Shlomo Z. Roth, who was born about 1820-1830, in nearby Kalsa.

The Roth-Stern & Kaye-Piser Family Tree can be found in the Public section of ancestry.com.