The Oldest Living Holocaust Survivor Has Died

New Yorker Rose Girone, who celebrated her 113th birthday on January 13 and was believed to be the oldest living Holocaust survivor, died on February 24th, 2025. The cause, according to her daughter, Reha Bennicasa, was old age.

Girone—who ran a knitting shop in Forest Hills, Queens and credits the craft as helping to save her family during the Holocaust—was, by all accounts, a remarkable person, and was well-loved in New York’s knitting community. Girone was also outspoken about her experiences during the war; she provided testimonies to The USC Shoah Foundation, the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County and others.

“She was a strong lady, resilient,” said Bennicasa. “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. She was just a terrific lady… and I don’t know, when God made her, they broke mold.”

Born in Janov, Poland in 1912, Girone’s family settled in Hamburg, Germany, where they ran a theatrical costume shop. In 1939, Girone jumped at a chance to leave Nazi Germany: A cousin sent her a paper he said was a visa, written in Chinese. Shanghai was one of the last open ports in the world.

Conditions in the Chinese city were difficult for the Jewish refugees, but Girone—who had learned to knit from an aunt as a child and took to it immediately—was able to find wool and knit clothes for her baby girl. Soon enough, an entrepreneurial Viennese Jewish man saw her creations and helped her sell her work and taught her about business.

In 1947, when the family was granted a visa for the United States, knitting again played a crucial role in the family’s wellbeing: Each person was only permitted to leave China with $10, but Girone hid $80 cash inside buttons on her hand-knit sweaters. As Girone told the Herald on her 113th birthday, “the secret
to a long, healthy life is simple: Live every day with a purpose, have amazing children, and eat lots of dark chocolate.”