Rose Girone, the oldest Holocaust survivor who lived through both German and Japanese oppression, has passed away at age 113.
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Girone died on the morning of Monday, February 24, her daughter Reha Bennicasa confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Girone, who had recently celebrated her birthday in January, died peacefully of natural causes attributed to old age.
Girone, who was recognized as the world’s oldest Holocaust survivor by the Claims Conference, was born in 1912 in Janov, Poland. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, her family later relocated to Hamburg, Germany, where they operated a theatrical costume shop.
In 1938, she entered into an arranged marriage with Julius Mannheim, and together they moved to Breslau, Germany—now Wroclaw, Poland—just as the Nazis unleashed Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, marked by widespread violence against Germany’s Jewish community. Eight months into her pregnancy, tragedy struck when Mannheim was arrested in 1939 and sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Rose Girone Flees Germany Only to Be Persecuted by the Japanese in China
After obtaining visas, Mannheim was released from Buchenwald, allowing the family to escape to Shanghai.
However, Japan was at war with China, and shortly after their arrival, the Japanese took control of Chinese seaports, forcing Jews into ghettos. The family ended up living in a small, cockroach-infested room under a staircase that had previously been a bathroom.
During their time there, Girone took up knitting, a skill that would serve her well after immigrating to the United States with her family in 1947. Once settled, Girone opened two knitting stores in Queens. She continued her craft with passion, knitting well into her 102nd year.
Rose Girone, the world's oldest Holocaust survivor, passed away at 113 in New York. Before immigrating to the US, Girone fled Nazi persecution by finding refuge in Shanghai, a place that sheltered tens of thousands of Jewish refugees during WWII. The Shanghai Jewish Refugees… pic.twitter.com/mTvb01yKEA
— Xiao Junzheng č‚–ĺ†›ćŁ (@ChnAmbXIAO) March 2, 2025
Per the Long Island Herald, Rose Girone divorced Mannheim in 1968 and later married Jack Girone. After Jack’s passing, she lived independently in an apartment in Beechhurst, Queens. At the age of 103, her family arranged for in-home care to assist her. When she turned 109, she transitioned to a rehabilitation center.
Last month, Girone shared her secret to a long and fulfilling life.
“Live every day with a purpose, have amazing children, and eat lots of dark chocolate,” she told the Long Island Herald.
According to the Claims Conference, approximately 245,000 Holocaust survivors are still alive today, with around 14,000 residing in New York.