Roth, Stephen (1911 – 1967)

Stephen Roth original cartoon artwork

Roth was born in Czechoslovakia. In 1935 he became a political cartoonist on Demokraticky Stred, an anti-Nazi weekly. Along with other left-wing cartoonists such as George Grosz, John Heartfield, Thomas Heine, Arthur Szyk, Walter Trier, Joseph Flatter, and Saul Steinberg, Roth was forced to leave Nazi occupied Europe. He arrived in London only days before war broke out. By 1941 Roth was contributing political cartoons to the Ministry of Information, Central European Observer and the Free Norwegian newspaper Norsk Tidend.  He also contributed cartoons to the Star, Lilliput, Daily Mirror, Courier, Daily Mail (sports cartoons) and others, and the Czech premier Jan Masaryk wrote a Foreword to his book My Patience is Exhausted (1944). In 1961 Roth began contributing two series of portrait cartoons - "The Face is Familiar" and "Man in the City" to the London Evening News.