Paul and André Roth were born in 1924 in Lyon. Their father, Joannès, worked in the metallurgy industry, while their mother, Laure, cared for the home and children. In addition to the twins, the couple had two daughters: Marcelle, born in 1921, and Françoise, born in 1927. In 1931 the family moved to Paris, but during the German occupation they were forced to return to Lyon.
Joannès, a veteran of the First World War, joined the Resistance under the name Blanc, as part of a network connected with the Armée secrète (Secret Army). He provided strategic intelligence to London. In June 1943, he was arrested in Lyon, interrogated and brutally tortured by Klaus Barbie’s team. He betrayed no one. First imprisoned in Fort Montluc, he was later deported to Compiègne and then to KL Buchenwald. He did not survive the war.
The rest of the family sought refuge in Villeurbanne near Lyon. On 22 May 1944, Laure and her four children were arrested. After four weeks in Fort Montluc, they were deported to Drancy, and from there to Auschwitz on transport no. 76 of June 30, 1944.
Laure, aged 55, was murdered in a gas chamber immediately after arrival selection. Marcelle, Françoise, André, and Paul were registered in the camp. Paul and André received the prisoner numbers A-16838 and A-16839, and were sent to Auschwitz III-Monowitz, where they tried to remain together throughout their imprisonment.
Marcelle and Françoise remained in Auschwitz II-Birkenau. They stayed together until Françoise fell ill, probably with typhus, and died in the camp hospital. Marcelle herself was once selected for death due to skin wounds caused by scabies, but managed to explain to an SS man – thanks to her medical training – that she suffered only from scabies. This saved her life. In late September or early October 1944 she was transferred to another camp and survived the war.
Paul and André remained in Auschwitz until the evacuation. During the Death March they were transferred to Buchenwald, where they were liberated.
After the war, Marcelle became a psychiatrist and today, at 103 years old, lives in Paris. Paul and André initially took over their father’s metallurgy business, though Paul later chose a career in medicine. Alongside their professions, both brothers devoted themselves to art – Paul to sculpture, André to painting.
From 1971, André exhibited his paintings in Paris, London, New York, Houston, Boston, Brussels, Mulhouse, Geneva, Tokyo, Osaka, Caen (at the Peace Memorial), Stockholm, and many other cities. Despite his tragic experiences, he expressed his love of life through portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. He passed on 8 January 2004, at the age of 80.
aul dedicated himself to sculpture. His four decades of medical practice gave him profound knowledge of human anatomy, which he captured in his art. In 1980, he was awarded the Bronze Medal at the Salon des Artistes Français in the Grand Palais in Paris.
“My brother and I sought, in artistic expression, a balm that allowed us, for a moment, to set aside the ugliness and disgrace of deportation and forget its repulsiveness,” Paul once said. He passed on 4 March 2023, at the age of 98.
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