Following Gigurtu's introduction of antisemitic policies, Roth had to close down his legal practice. The rise of the National Legionary State, followed by the Ion Antonescu dictatorship, expanded on the persecutions. In late 1940, the family was threatened with eviction from its home, the "Siguranța" having reportedly opened a file on Roth's "Bolshevik" activities; Brudariu successfully intervened for his friend. From April 1941, Germany invaded and partitioned Yugoslavia, creating the Yugoslav Banat into a Nazified territorial unit. In 1942, Roth began fearing that all Banat Jews would be deported into Transnistria Governorate, and that the Romanian Banat would be joined up with the occupied west, under Nazi rule. At this stage in his life, he expressed regret at not having exposed his children more closely to Judaism.