Rose Girone, the woman who was believed to be the world's oldest Holocaust survivor, passed away this week, her family announced. She was 113 years old. Rose was born on January 13, 1912, in Janow, Poland. She moved with her parents to Hamburg, Germany, when she was six following the end of World War One. After the Nazis came to power and began rounding up Jews to send to the death camps, her husband Julius Mannheim was among those sent to the Buchenwald death camp. Rose was eight months pregnant when her husband was arrested. The family was able to bribe the Nazis into releasing him by handing over their savings and jewelry. After Julius was released, a relative in London helped the family obtain visas to relocate to Shanghai, where they lived throughout the war. However, the 23,000 Jewish refugees in Shanghai were rounded up and forced into the Shanghai Ghetto in 1941 by Japan, which was allied with Nazi Germany during the war. Related articles: Food programs for Holocaust survivors at risk of losing funding Jacqueline van Maarsen, Anne Frank’s best friend, dies at 96 New in NY: Yad Vashem Way Holocaust survivor addresses UN The family moved to New York in 1947 after the war. Rose became a knitting instructor and continued to teach until she was 102. “Rose was an example of fortitude but now we are obligated to carry on in her memory,” Greg Schneider, Claims Conference executive vice president, said in a statement. “The lessons of the Holocaust must not die with those who endured the suffering." Her daughter, Reha Bennicasa, who is also a Holocaust survivor and lived the first years of her life in Shanghai, said in a statement, “She was a strong lady, resilient. She made the best of terrible situations." “She was very level-headed, very commonsensical. There was nothing I couldn’t bring to her to help me solve — ever — from childhood on,” Reha added.
