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Herbert Otto Roth (7 December 1917 – 27 May 1994) was a notable New Zealand socialist, labourer, librarian and historian. He was born in Vienna, 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 in Austria.
On 23 March, after passing a medical examination and swearing an oath of allegiance to Hitler, Bert Roth fled Austria, his escape route taking him first into Germany, then across Lake Constance into Switzerland and ultimately to France.
Herbert Otto Roth (1917-1994) socialist, historian, and former Deputy University Librarian at the University of Auckland, Roth wrote several publications on New Zealand trade union history including Trade unions in New Zeland past and present (1973).
Roth became a socialist in 1934 while still at school and ultimately played a key role in the youth section of the underground resistance to fascism in Austria. He was the national leader of the Red Falcons, an underground socialist youth organisation.
- Kerry Taylor
- 1999
The Nazi invasion changed things. Bert, of non-practising Jewish parents and strong left-wing beliefs, was in mortal danger. Somehow he slipped through Germany and Switzerland to France, where he enrolled to study electro-chemistry at Grenoble. The Germans followed.
The Bert Roth Award for Labour History, named for the late historian Herbert Roth, is presented annually by the Labour History Project. It is awarded to the work that best depicts the history of work and resistance in New Zealand published in the previous calendar year.
As a labour and trade union historian, Bert Roth collected official records, private papers of trade unionists and politicians, ephemera, pamphlets and other publications.
