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Extraordinary gift: a painting and sculptures by Auschwitz Survivors, twin brothers Paul and André Roth, in Museum Collections
The Collections of the Auschwitz Museum have received remarkable works of postwar art created by Auschwitz Survivors, French Jews, and twin brothers Paul and André Roth. The works were donated by their children.
Five sculptures by Paul Roth were donated by his daughter, Claudine, and his son Laurent. Three of them – “The Scream” (1980), “The Survivor” (1998), and “Pitié!/Mercy!” – are highly expressive, almost naturalistic depictions of human figures whose emaciated, hunger-distorted bodies bear the marks of a man condemned to Auschwitz. Two untitled sculptures portray a man standing against a wall with a cut wound on his chest, and hands emerging from the earth.
A painting by André Roth, donated by his son Claude, is entitled “Selection or Elimination” (1985). It depicts the interior of a barracks for prisoners where two SS men are carrying out a selection. Tragically, the rest of André Roth’s paintings dedicated to his camp experiences were stolen from the family.
“This extraordinary gift has not only deepened our knowledge of the history of those deported to Auschwitz and their postwar lives but also enriched our collection with works of immense artistic force. They present a profoundly subjective image of the camp, deeply marked by the emotions and feelings of both brothers. André Roth’s painting shows the scene of a selection from the inside – from its very center – through the eyes of a direct witness. Paul Roth’s sculptures, meanwhile, are characterized by great expression and power. They are deeply moving and do not allow us to forget the immense suffering of the victims of this largest of all concentration and extermination camps,” emphasized Agnieszka Sieradzka, curator in the Museum Collections.
The works were donated to the Museum by the children of Paul and André Roth so that they could bear witness here to the tragic fate of their family, and of all victims of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camps.
In her letter, Claudine Roth, daughter of Paul, wrote:“Inspired by our father’s stay in the concentration camp, marked by the death march that he was fortunate to survive together with his twin brother André, several of his sculptures are particularly painful and difficult. Both brothers had a highly developed artistic sensibility. My father sculpted, and his brother painted. Their works related to the Holocaust had the honor of being exhibited during the inauguration of the Memorial in Caen. As for our father, he did not want to part with his sculptures, but after his death my brother and I wanted these four works to rest in the Memorial, where they will find the peace and welcome they deserve.”
Claude Roth, son of André, wrote: “I met with my 103-year-old living aunt (Marcelle – the sister of Paul and André, also an Auschwitz Survivor), to whom I explained what would happen to her brothers’ works and where they would be taken. She was very proud of this. Once again, thank you so much.”
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 Leblanc, 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.
After retiring, Paul 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.
