Rose Girone, believed to be the oldest living Holocaust survivor and a dedicated voice for sharing survivor accounts, has passed away at the age of 113.
The Claims Conference, a New York-based organization focused on Jewish material claims against Germany, reported her death on Monday.
Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Claims Conference, stated on Thursday that Rose exemplified strength and that her memory should inspire continued action. He emphasized the importance of preserving the lessons of the Holocaust.
Born in Janow, Poland, on January 13, 1912, Girone moved with her family to Hamburg, Germany, at age 6, as she recounted in a 1996 interview with the USC Shoah Foundation.
When asked about her pre-Hitler career aspirations, she responded that Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 changed everything.
According to a Claims Conference study released last year, Girone was among approximately 245,000 Holocaust survivors still living in over 90 countries. Their numbers are rapidly decreasing due to advanced age and declining health, with a median age of 86.
The Nazis and their collaborators murdered six million European Jews and other minority groups during the Holocaust.
Schneider stressed that her death underscores the urgency of sharing Holocaust lessons while firsthand witnesses are still alive, adding that the Holocaust is transitioning from memory to history, and its lessons are crucial to remember, especially in today’s world.
Girone entered into an arranged marriage with Julius Mannheim in 1937.
When Nazis came to take Mannheim to the Buchenwald concentration camp, she was nine months pregnant and living in Breslau, now Wroclaw, Poland. Because the family had two cars, she asked her husband for his keys.
She recalled one Nazi initially wanting to take her as well.
However, another Nazi intervened, citing her pregnancy as a reason to leave her alone.
The following morning, her father-in-law was also taken, leaving her alone with their housekeeper.
After her daughter Reha was born in 1938, Girone obtained Chinese visas from relatives in London and secured her husband’s release.
In Genoa, Italy, when Reha was only six months old, they boarded a ship for Japanese-occupied Shanghai, carrying only clothing and some linens.
Her husband initially earned money by trading secondhand goods. He saved enough to buy a car and start a taxi service, while Girone knitted and sold sweaters.
However, in 1941, Jewish refugees were confined to a ghetto. The family of three was forced to live in a crowded bathroom, with roaches and bed bugs infesting their belongings.
Her father-in-law arrived just before World War II but fell ill and died. They endured long lines for food and lived under the control of a brutal Japanese man who called himself “King of the Jews.”
Girone recounted the horrific acts committed by the Japanese military trucks patrolling the streets, stating that a friend was killed for not moving quickly enough.
Information about the war in Europe was limited to rumors, as British radios were prohibited.
After the war, they began receiving letters from Girone’s mother, grandmother, and other relatives. With their assistance, they boarded a ship to San Francisco in 1947 with only $80, which Girone concealed inside buttons.
They arrived in New York City in 1947. Later, she established a knitting store with her mother’s support.
Girone also reunited with her brother, who had gone to France for school and obtained U.S. citizenship by joining the Army. She hadn’t seen him in 17 years when she picked him up from the airport in New York.
Girone later divorced Mannheim. In 1968, she met Jack Girone on the day her granddaughter was born, and they married the following year. He passed away in 1990.
In 1996, when asked about the message she wanted to leave for her daughter and granddaughter, she said that even in the worst situations, something good can emerge.
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