BUTLER TWP — The Holocaust is remembered by many who read the history books, but Irving Roth is one of the few left who lived through the tragedy.

Roth, an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor, joined hundreds at Butler County Community College's Succop Theater via Skype Monday night. Flight cancellations from a snowstorm earlier this week forced him to tell his story from his New York home instead of in person.

For nearly an hour, while sitting in front of a computer in his home office, he told the story of his childhood and coming of age with detail and with ease.

Laws in his native Czechoslovakia began to change slowly, he said. In 1939, he was banned from going to beaches and playgrounds. His favorite sheepskin jacket was taken from him once Jewish people were no longer allowed to own luxury items.

By 1940, he was kicked out of traditional school and his soccer team. He was abandoned by non-Jewish friends. His father lost his job, being the owner of an international lumber business.

“And so begins the slide down the slippery slope for Irving Roth,” he said.

In 1942, he, his brother, his grandparents and several other relatives were taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp by cattle car train. Several of them were sent to die as soon as they arrived. He and his brother remained.

“I was converted from a name to a number tattooed on my arm,” Roth said.

In January 1945, he and his brother, with thousands of others, were ordered to march to another camp, Buchenwald.

Despite the harsh conditions, and starving, he said he had to appear strong or he would be shot.

“Think of something esoteric,” he recalled his brother telling him during that march, which lasted several days. “Be more spiritual.”

Eventually, his brother was taken away, never to be seen again.

A few months later, American soldiers raided the camp. They brought food and medical supplies.

Irving said he truly appreciated a warm bed, three meals a day and chocolate.

He was also reunited with his parents, who had moved to Budapest, Hungary, to keep their jobs. They eventually hid in a friend's one-bedroom apartment to avoid being sent to the concentration camps.

Roth's appearance was organized by The Source, the college's Christian student group.

Last semester, the group became involved with Christians United for Israel, and Source members have made an effort to learn more about Jewish culture and tradition.

“We have a mandate as Christians to support the Jewish nation,” said Karen Riethmiller, longtime adviser of The Source.

She said their affiliation is more a general understanding rather than a political stance.

Roth assured the audience that his is a story that could be repeated.

“Whenever you see hatred, prejudice, murder, you do not stand by,” he said. “Do something.”

Looking at a bigger picture, Israel was formed after World War II and has thrived, but Roth is afraid nuclear weapons in Iran, and hatred, can undo all of that.

“This is an existential threat to the Jewish people,” Roth said. “Join members of CUFI (Christians United for Israel), so Jewish people can continue to exist.”