When Carole Roth arrived on the banks of New York Harbor in 1950, the weary Holocaust survivor finally felt free.
“That’s America – New York represented America,” the glamorous and spunky Hungarian emigre recalled to The Post, beholding the splendor and symbolism of the Statue of Liberty against a dazzling city skyline.
“America felt like the land of opportunity – a fresh start.”
Roth, who just celebrated her 103rd birthday, insisted, “New York was always good to the Jews – feeling safe was never a question.”
But times have changed and Roth, who endured the worst human atrocity in modern times, mourned the loss of security in her beloved adopted home.
“I don’t recognize my home of more than 75 years,” the longtime Upper East Sider lamented.
“It’s very scary living in New York now. I’m worried about my city. Jewish and Israeli businesses are vandalized, attacked and viciously targeted. Jews are being targeted.
“Synagogues, including Park East Synagogue that I’m a member of, was recently overwhelmed by an angry mob surrounding it.
“And the mayor doesn’t support rules to protect it from the mob,” she said about the recent buffer zone bill, stopping people protesting too close to houses of worship, which was approved by the City Council.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has so far not taken a position on the bill but said he is “aware of the serious concerns … raised regarding these bills limiting New Yorkers constitutional rights,” according to CNN.
“He’s dangerous,” Roth added, blasting the hostile climate she said is exacerbated by the anti-Israel mayor.
Roth, nee Karola Szanto, was the youngest of six children, and found herself on a cattle car destined for Auschwitz before the tracks were blown up.
With the current alarming spike in antisemitism around the world and in her backyard, Roth warns, “This is reminiscent of how it all started in the 1930s and 1940s in Hungary,” noting the infamous March 1938 Anschluss that formally aligned Germany and Hungary.
That led to anti-Jewish laws which severely restricted Jews from the workforce and further classified Jews as a racial group.
“And ended with me and my mother, two sisters, brother and relatives being trafficked by the Nazis in a cattle car to a work concentration camp near Vienna.
“We survived forced labor and being starved with almost no food, no bathroom and only a lake to bathe in when it wasn’t frozen,” Roth said of the inhuman conditions that she suffered for nine months.
“You never knew if we would be shot and killed for not obeying the Nazis. I was determined not to give up and we barely survived until we were liberated,” she said, emerging a skeletal 85 pounds.
Recalling her beloved older sister, Magda, and her five children who were murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Roth draws on the lessons of the Holocaust to make sure “Never Again” isn’t simply a slogan.
“No one believed it until it was too late and totally out of control, as many of us lived in a bubble then and still do today,” said Roth, who worked with her late fellow Hungarian husband, Joseph Roth, on his jewelry business and becoming a model for the brand of her skincare guru son, Peter Thomas Roth.
The bon vivant, who parties like a teenager, usually goes to bed around 3am and wakes up afternoon. She celebrated her birthday last week with a catered fete with 75 friends, including tennis legend Martina Navratilova.
Just as much as she loves her Cipriani, Bibloquet, and Avra meals — always ordering liver off the menu whenever possible — it’s her flexibility and openness to possibility that’s the secret to her longevity, according to her grandson, Ryan Roth, 27.
“She always wants to try something new. It’s human nature to be afraid of getting old, but she shows the possibility.”
As she primps for her birthday party – or even dinner out – Roth will look in the mirror and say, “I look gorgeous,” said Ryan. “And she means it. She’s a bitch – but in a good way.”
But the current climate and hostility towards Jews looms large for his grandma.
“The sad part of all of this is that it’s the first time we’re seeing it, but not the first time she’s seeing it,” he said.
For Roth herself, she’s steadfast about vigilance and being a proud Jew, even in difficult circumstances.
“We’re easy targets. Jews never have it easy,” she said ruefully. “But what starts with the Jews never ends with the Jews.”
“We must stand up to evil – it can never be allowed to win.”