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Source: Standard-Examiner, Ogden, UtahOct.self storage 24--OGDEN -- Irving Roth was a teenager when he, his older brother and their grandparents were loaded onto an Auschwitz-bound train with 437 other Jews.On arrival, Roth's grandparents were hustled off to the "group showers," a term Roth would learn later referred to the gas chambers. Roth's brother was relocated to Bergen-Belsen and was never seen again.Roth alone remains to share his story, which he will do tonight at Weber State University."I will talk about my life and history, and how they intersect," Roth, 82, said Wednesday. "One needs to understand what happened, and look at the signposts along the road to Auschwitz. When we understand the steps that led to it, we can look at today's situation and stop it early, so we don't repeat the mistakes of yesterday."Roth is seeing some familiar signposts, he said."We are going in the direction of terrorism, with one nation threatening another. All this is happening again. People are making speeches at the U.N. that are evil. One needs to listen and watch."Roth, now an author and an international speaker, was 14 when he was taken from his home in Czechoslovakia and loaded into a cattle car. His parents were at the hospital, where his father was in a coma. Upon his father's recovery, a nurse who was a member of the Seventh-day Adventist faith took them home and hid them in her one-bedroom apartment, saving their lives.Roth said there were many people who helped the targeted Jews, and many more who did not."There were people able to give certificates to Jews. 'I will make you a Swedish citizen.' 'I will make a baptism certificate for your grandfather, to show he is Christian.' The woman who took in my parents really stuck her neck out to do what she believed was right."But Roth can't help but think of the lives that could have been saved if citizens took action early."There were things that could have been done then," he said. "If the train tracks were damaged in the very beginning. By the time the death camps were operational and controlled by the army, it was too difficult. You have to stop evil early, like crabgrass. If you stop it early, you can prevent it from growing bigger. If you can catch a cancer earlier, you can treat it before it becomes terminal. Use this as a measure of events around you. Look and see what is going in the wrong direction, so you can prevent it from going too far."What Roth saw, experienced and lost in the death camps changed him 迷你倉orever, but he made a conscious decision he would not let it ruin his life."It takes a little time, of course," he said. "But my decision was 'This was done to me, but I will not collapse under it. I will try to rebuild and be human. I will speak to the world about it, so it never happens again.'"Evil people wanted to destroy my life, and I decided to fight back. It was like revenge, in some form. I will be a happy person, a person who has a family. I will rebuild despite the oppression. You dehumanized me, but I am still human. I will study. I will love and care. That is not what you wanted me to be, so that is my revenge."To fight signs of terrorism in today's world, Roth suggests people pay attention to terroristic threats and urge their leaders not to make pacts with nations.On a private level, Roth noted that many public schools have raised funds to build wells for villages in Darfur. Access to close water means residents don't have to walk to distant water sources, decreasing the risk of rape or murder by roving terrorists."There are many things one can do," he said.Roth said he is doing all he can to share knowledge from his lifetime of experiences, but many Holocaust survivors have passed away, and he knows his time will come. So his pet project is Adopt a Survivor (adoptasurvivor.com), which asks current and future generations to keep the stories flowing."The objective of this program is to transfer the life experiences of a Holocaust survivor to an 'adopter' by taking a joint journey through the life of the survivor," Roth wrote on the website. "By this personal journey the adopter becomes one with the survivor, absorbing his life, spirit and soul. He will be able to represent the survivor and tell his story with accuracy and feeling to any audience for two or more generations.""Get on the Internet and talk to a survivor," Roth suggested Wednesday. "Get to know a survivor, and become the spokesperson for him or her when the survivor is no longer around. Do what you can to make sure nothing like this happens again."Roth will speak at 7 p.m. in Ballroom B of the Shepherd Union Building, WSU, 3848 Harrison Blvd. The public is encouraged to attend this free event.Contact reporter Nancy Van Valkenburg at 801-625-4275 or nvan@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @S_ENancyVanV.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah) Visit the Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah) at .standard.net Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage